It seems like Labor Day Weekend was yesterday, but it’s already fall entertaining season. The question: How to trick out your home for a party in festive (but not tacky) Halloween-inspired decor?

Skip the bloody skeletons and blow-up Frankensteins — you want to embrace fall, cozy up to warm, autumnal themes here — and possibly weave in a few subtle spooky touches.

Let’s start with the gourds. Pumpkins don’t always need to be orange. I love little white pumpkins placed individually as punctuation against dark walls around the house (on top of piles of books, or as standout tiny sculptures on shelves — or especially in the center of windowsills). Likewise, mini orange pumpkins placed individually in the center of sills on white windows. The contrast of both are so dramatic, minimalist, natural, and unexpected.

Then, on tables where food is being served, in come the big decorative gourds. They look so cool, artfully piled into a heap — especially on a black or dark green, gray, or gray platter or bowl — and make an organic and naturally beautiful statement. The flashes of color in the guards (yellows and oranges) highlight the lowlights of dark greens and blacks, and call guests’ attention to the table — especially when surrounded by bittersweet. I like the 32″ Faux Bittersweet Stem ($7.20 per stem on etsy.com) from HouseFloral, which you can bend around your platter or vase, and wind around the table.

Which brings us to candles. Fall demands them. There are conventional candles, of course, and this time of year, few of us can resist a pumpkin-themed candle. But that doesn’t mean it needs to be overly sweet or without nuance. Case in point: the anise and black pepper notes of LAFCO’s Pumpkin Seed and Sandalwood ($75 on lafco.com). It creates a whole world of senses for your soirée.

Then there are candles of another stripe: The Floating Candles with Wands ($41.89 on amazon.com). Technically they’re not candles, since they’re flameless LED warm lights that “flicker” and are battery-operated, but they sure do look like taper candles, and they certainly set a magical mood. They come in packs of 20, with a 164-foot transparent fishing line you can easily cut, and then use a remote control to turn them on and off.

Guests always delight to clever cocktail napkins. And they won’t soon forget the Beautiful Barn Owl William Morris Inspired Napkins ($31.40 on zazzle.com) designed by Critter_Couture. Owls after all are cute, but with a touch of nocturnal mystery, flying silently through the night air.

And if you do want to go down the road of witchery, do it in a whimsical way. As in: The Holding Hands Witches ($77.40 for a set of three on grandinroad.com)  The black-clad figures stand in a circle, holding hands, with blank, featureless faces that light up and glow easily — more of a suggestion of spookiness than in-your-face horror. They also can be ordered with a little twig broomstick for one of the witches to hold on to ($17.70 on grandinrod.com).

And one of the most sought-after items this season so far has been the Frosted Glass Pumpkin ($32 on anthropologie.com) — a must-have for tablescapes or mantels. It has a hollow bottom for putting a flameless candle inside to create a glow, it works inside as well as outside — so may actually become a regular on your buffet table, or a replacement for a jack-lantern on your front stoop.

Floating Candles with Wands (Photo amazon.com)

Faux Bittersweet Stem (Photo etsy.com)
The Holding Hands Witches (Photo grandinroad.com)