Halloween party decor can easily skew cliché or childlike, but creating a look that’s sophisticated yet still centered on the holiday spirit can be done by mixing natural curiosities with spooky details. Use the following tricks to treat your guests to a chic display:

• Adorn a chandelier or light fixture with a significant amount of fake cobwebs, and then stick black crows, spiders, stuffed mice and other gothic creepy crawlies within the web.
• Mix bones, moss, and skulls with eyeballs, twisty twigs, and drippy dark wax.
• Incorporate a possibly poisoned shiny apple, a mysteriously abandoned birds nest, and a ghostly white pumpkin.

Expert tip from Courtney Agosti in Charleston, SC.