Products used in this Tropical Halloween Mermaid post were sent complimentary from Oriental Trading. Commission may be earned on orders placed through my links. #OTCSkeletonSquad #OTCHalloween #orientaltrading
Want something different from the ordinary orange and black Halloween decor? Try a tropical Halloween Mermaid decor!
I’ve been slowly transitioning my home to reflect more of a tropical feel. So this year, I challenged myself to create Halloween decor that fit into a tropical theme too. Since I grew up in Hawaii, I decided to look up Hawaiian legends to get inspiration and came across the mo’o or lizard god. According to legends, mo’o spirits lived in ponds and were able to shape shift into slick black geckos, dragons, or beautiful women. The mo’o could be evil or good and often were very protective of their pond and surrounding areas. Hmmm….sounds like I could work with this!
Now that I had my inspiration, I went to Oriental Trading and found the a mermaid skeleton. She makes the perfect ‘beautiful’ woman water spirit and star of this year’s Tropical Halloween Mermaid Decor. And until 10/10/2019, Oriental Trading is offering FREE Shipping on ANY order! Use code BooCrew19 at checkout (this has ended) —>HERE!
Tropical Halloween Mermaid Skeleton Display
To pull off this Tropical Halloween Mermaid, I first created a base and back drop. For the base, I placed down some black glitter tulle (13684090) over some black creepy cloth (70/1648) and sprinkled some sea shells (13696823) and starfish (17327292) around.
For the tropical mermaid back drop, I used green (70/1075) and 50 black paper plates (70/1077). Oh, and here’s tip! I originally used double stick tape and my plates kept falling off. I have semi-gloss, slightly textured walls and switched to Mavalus Multi-Purpose Adhesive Tape (13682502) to stick the plates up. This tape is AMAZING and held all the plates up, but can still be removed without damaging my walls.
Finally, for the star…the skeleton mermaid! To help prop her up, I dressed up a wooden box with natural raffia fringe (34/296) and used fishing line to hold her skull up. The fringed wooden box not only helps add to the tropical theme, it keeps her upright and is a great place to fill with Halloween candy.
Of course, no tropical mermaid would be complete without a crown, lei, and shell necklace. The crown is made from a green plastic fern garland (13791351) that is cut to size to create both the haku crown and lei. While raffia, flowers, sea shells, and various flowers are attached to the fern head piece, only raffia (13780264) is used on the lei. The necklace is created by draping sea shell necklaces around her neck and gluing on bleached finger starfish (13727292) and mini natural sugar starfish (34/466).
These are optional, but there are a few other things I did to customize the mermaid skeleton. Brush on some black paint and quickly wipe it off to highlight the grooves in the skeleton and to make it look weathered. To hide the screws on the skeleton, glue some gem stones over them and add sea shell details. And to make the eyes and nose stand out, paint it black and sprinkle glitter on them. Easy peasy!
Tropical Halloween Mermaid Table Setting
I like creating a nice table setting if it’s simple. This tropical Halloween setting was made using existing pieces and a few Oriental Trading items.
For each setting, I used round luau fringe placemats (34/296) and placed artificial tropical leaves (70-1514) on stacked black and white plates. I also placed napkins in white mugs to create a erupting volcano look. The runner on the table is a combination of black creepy cloth (70/1648) and faux tropical palm garland (13822226) with bleached finger starfish shells (13727292).
To create the look of mermaids swimming, I filled a glass jar with a crystal spray acrylic garland (13766385) and a skeleton mermaid light string (13908203). Doesn’t it look like bubbles and mermaids?
Of course, I didn’t want to leave my chairs undressed and made tropical chair covers using burlap fabric (13724180) and natural raffia fringe decoration (34/296).
I hope you enjoyed my spin on Halloween and will create your own Tropical Halloween Mermaid theme!
What a prefect twist on Halloween! I love it! Thanks for creating this. I can’t wait to give it a try and share this article with my sister.
Thanks. I hope she enjoys it.
I love love love this party decorations. The mermaid skeleton is adorable.
Thanks so much Grace. Oriental Trading extended the free shipping sale, so you can use code SQUAD19 to get free shipping on any order till 9/19!