If it's an uninvited houseguest it gets squished, no questions asked.

I harvest Spanish moss to use as garland on my Christmas tree. I try to line-dry it for a couple days before bringing it indoors, but even at that I can expect a few web-spinning visitors. Just makes the tree a little more interesting.

Cindy - I wouldn't be too worried about the tree. With a fresh tree, it probably has a few "guests" anyway -- but the dinner table...well..something about finding a creepy crawly using the gravy for a hot tob that "bugs" me. (OK, so it was a bad pun, but I couldn't resist.)

I do it all the time.....and only most occasionally do I have a guest. I usually arrange my stuff in the sink....and where possible gove a quick rinse....and that's it...no problems!
BUT...once I made a wonderful arrangement of dried hydrangea blossoms which eventually bacame covered with web.....so I stuck the whole thing in the micro for 30 seconds.....seemed to do the trick!
Linda C

I often give fresh flowers to friends and always tell them any spiders or guests are considered a sign of good luck! I fill the sink or a large pan full of water to rinse my greens and filler stuff, while flowers get a quick glance over. I sometimes have little spiders come out of my rose blooms, but guess they don't bother me. Chemicals and a "kill" mentality bother me more. I had a green lacewing fly out of a flower the other day - I tried so hard to catch him/her to release back outside - they are such wonderful bugs to have in the garden, but I lost him. I just had a pumpkin full of fall leaves, grass plumes, etc., and never saw any bugs on it. ~ Suzie

My mother uses vegetation for decoration all of the time. we can find pine cones in the forest and wash them off. i enjoy spray painting them gold or silver. you can use dried berries and other goodies too in pretty little bowls. it's sometimes better, and easier, to just go out to your local michaels and get these things though. we have so many pointsettas. they may be a little pricey so get the one's you will like next year and the year after that so that you can save later. be sure to take care of them and put them away properly. Hope i could help you out any.

: : : : [ s t a r g a z e r ] : : : :

So it sounds like I may be worrying about something that is really a rarity. That's good. I had visions of Invasion of the Giant Spiders or Ant Kingdom (OK, I watched too many bad horror flicks in my youth.)

Stargazer, I like the idea of painting the pine comes silver. I have some silver napkin rings and that would work for a center piece.

Renee - One thing I am doing at my open house is making small cards for the different food items so, hopefully, I don't have to keep repeating what everything is. I bought a few placecard holders at Target and am planning on using painted pine cones to hold some more cards. Thought a mix of 'holders' would make the table more festive and creative looking. ~ Suzie

Suzie - that's a great idea, especially if some people are vegetarian or on special diets. Keeps you from having to repeat yourself time and agian and keeps them from maybe feeling awkward about drawing attention to a special diet.

I squish them like Cindy Mac. Ants sometimes come in with flowers, but I expect them to find the door by themselves if they don't want to get flattened.

Lars

This time of year there aren't too many multi-legged critters outside to come in. I let the spiders stay, unless of course it's a brown recluse or black widow, ants and earwigs get killed, and everything else gets escorted outside.

I just did a major greenery collection and all I got was mud and sap. Mother Nature provided the greens already cut with the ice storm last week.