Halloween paper and diecut decorations are not in vogue these days. That's a shame. The earlier decorations have a wonderful sense of playfulness and macabre mixed into their bold colors.
When it comes to pumpkin carving, Pumpkin Masters Pattern Books are the black cat's meow. My favorite one, hands down, is the Universal Studios Monsters Carving Pattern Book put out in 2003.
Patterns for Dracula, Frankenstein Monster, Bride of Frankenstein, Wolf Man, Mummy, and Creature From the Black Lagoon, make for quite the monstrous jack o' monsters patch indeed. Sadly, the book is long out of print and nearly impossible to scare up a copy.
So here are three patterns from the book to wet your pumpkin king carving soul.
Just Download Pumpkin_Masters_Monsters (Frankie, Gill Man, and Wolfie) and print out the patterns. This is a PDF document around 7MB.
I found these irresistible table toppers at Dollar Tree for one dollar each (click the image to enlarge). A bargain indeed for these fairly large and stylish paper decorations that don't play it cuddly cute, yet don't overly traumatize with terror, either.
Just look at those faces! The witch actually leers like a creepy wicked witch should for Halloween. And both the mummy and the vampire look like they want to scare the hell out of you with their ominously gaping mouths filled with sharp teeth.
While perusing the slim offerings on the shelves (this year it looks like every store is cutting back on inventory), a little girl in the next isle over–I'd say no older than five–told her mommy to hurry up because she wanted "to see Halloween."
She ran over to the display of decorations, taking in everything with glee. She seemed most fascinated by the life-size, plastic, dismembered feet dangling in pairs from the hooks. I was going to mention they were fake, since her mother seemed not to think it important enough to tell her, but decided not to after I saw she was not frightened at all. Just mesmerized.
I am sure most of you will recall that feeling. Why spoil it?