Get ready for a spooktacular Halloween

Greet trick-or-treaters with ghoulish décor at your door

Pumpkins make great Halloween décor, even if you’re not into carving them.

We have all enjoyed Halloween at one time, dressed up in a favourite costume, ready to walk the neighbourhood with a pillowcase or pumpkin pail. Grabbing trusty flashlights and dragging your parents along as you went from house to house, knocking on each door.

Your favourite houses were most likely the ones with spooky decorations out front, adding to the allure of the paranormal and scary on Halloween.

Now as an adult, it’s your turn to have fun, but in a different way. It’s time to decorate your home for trick-or-treaters.

Whether you enjoy going all out and covering your lawn in a spooky scene or you are more minimal with the holiday, such as hanging ghosts and ghouls in a front yard tree, you’ll enjoy these tips. Some are budget-friendly while others might require a trip to the Halloween store.

Safety first

Before you start covering your lawn with four-metre-tall skeletons and lights galore, you’ll want to consider safety. Make sure your front entry is safe if you’ll be inviting trick-or-treaters to the door. You don’t want a child to slip because they didn’t see that small step up on your walkway. Think of creative ways to have fun with it.

Place caution tape along a stone wall. Light up dark walkways with cute Halloween decorations. Also make sure you have a front light or something that tells trick-or-treaters they are welcome to knock on your door.

Simple solutions

There are a few budget-friendly tips to make your house really stand out in the neighbourhood this Halloween. Consider decorating your windows with artificial spiders and cobwebs. Apply broken glass stickers to the windows, too, for a haunted house effect. Darken your porch lights from their usual white light to black or yellow bulbs for a spooky look. Hang your porch swing crooked or prop a scrap of wood across your windows to make it look boarded up. Grab that old broom that’s been sitting in your garage and make it look like a witch’s broom. If you’re creative, it can look like an entire coven has descended onto your house.

Visit your local dollar store and pick up window clings, candle holders and more to decorate the house. These can be easy ways to decorate an office or workspace, too.

Dollar stores are a great source of inexpensive Halloween decorations.

Think of a theme

It’s easiest to design when you think of a theme. Maybe your house will be alien and UFO-themed with a landing pad in the yard. Or it’ll be a graveyard with tons of creative tombstones.

Another fun one is to make it look like a skeleton’s home. Have skeletons walk a skeleton dog or have a dance party on the lawn.

Pumpkins and more pumpkins

Some people don’t like carving pumpkins. Between the squishy seeds to when they rot and mould later on, carving isn’t for everyone.

Instead of carving, consider painting your pumpkins with scary themes or funny faces.

If you just like pumpkins as fall décor, give uncarved, unpainted pumpkins and gourds a bleach bath. This will help them last longer before decaying on your front steps.

— Hartford Courant