Choices in Halloween-themed decor

If you're planning to decorate your house this Oct. 31, retailers are ready for you. Americans spent $3 billion on Halloween decor last year, a 21 percent increase over 2005, according to Unity Marketing, a research firm in Stevens, Pa. And this season, many upscale home catalogs are marketing Halloween-themed objets.

That's a good thing for people who like understated designs -- no fake fog, no plastic ghosts. We looked for products around $60, figuring this would rule out anything too aesthetically scary.

Yet when we got our purchases, we actually wished some had more bite. The white-glazed ceramic pumpkin set from Ballard Designs was a nice bit of fall decor, but not particularly Halloweeny. Viva Terra's metal garden cat was sweet but didn't quite set the mood. Williams-Sonoma's cheery bat topiary didn't do it, either.

But the realistic black-feathered birds from Grandinroad struck the right note. The owl and crows, actually two separate purchases for a total of $53, are our Best Overall. Sturbridge Yankee Workshop's good-looking, $49.95 witch-shaped weather vane, is Best Value, with an asterisk: A vandal-minded teen might be inspired to dismantle it and use it to stab pumpkins.