Thread: What kinda makes me feel upset..

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I moved from Lakewood to brook park a quiet suburb of Cleveland, but my neighborhood feels empty in turn of Halloween decorating. Only my house(maybe a few others) done some decorating. Is the Halloween spirit dying in these folks? Halloween the way they look at it is not a holiday to celebrate.

Any comments to any Halloween scarce neighborhoods near you?

That's pretty much what I am used to. There are probably 200 homes in my general neighborhood and less than 10 will decorate.

Pardon me for being so blunt, but as one politician once said "it's the economy stupid" or something to that effect. When things are bad economically people roll back what they spend and for most Halloween is one holiday they will scale or cut back on. Also it depends on the neighborhood you live in, if there's lots of little TOT's you'll have more parents getting involved in decorating where as in gentrified neighborhoods, as my own, your lucky to get two house on a street to decorate. Don't despair, make a big deal out of Halloween and put up one crazy haunt and I promise you in time, if not right away, the TOT's and their parents will come.

As long as I can remember I do not remember people decorating the way I do. My dad did it in the very house & I am in now, but walking around a pumpkin here and there or a thin cardboard ghost or those jointed skeletons n witches. I am 45 and lived here 43 years and I can only think of one house that went out of their way to decorate and that didn't even last long. I don't believe its the economy at all. They will hand out candy but that's about it. I do this out of the love for Halloween and I was raised with my dad doing it for years when we were kids. Once my dad handed over the house to me is when I started doing the display outside started under the carport with maybe 3 tombstones a black cat 2 black lights and a spinning bat. As the years went by I bought more props. Some years were hard so I tapered down or bought nothing at all and some were better so I got more. My dad and husband have helped me a lot. Now I have 3 different displays. We always have kids in our neighborhood I don't recall a time when there wasn't any kids running around. I don't know what it is. I have people on Halloween night say to me I wish I can do something like this and I tell them then do it little by little but no one seems to But it feels good to know that I can give that something extra special to those who come to my house for candy and that makes me feel really really good. When my kids were in school they said other kids use to tell them hey you live in that house that is all decorated for Halloween. So my house is known around here, and I know its appreciated.

We are the only white family in our hood. The poverty level in Memphis is very high. We are the only house on our street that decorates. One street over there is one house. Only a few blocks away is one of the historic rich neighborhoods but there are only a couple families there that decorate. It is sad but I feel it just makes what we do all the more important. I had all the neighborhood kids in my yard this weekend and all my neighbors stop by to see what I have done that day everyday.Makes me proud of my lil haunt.

We lost one of the only other houses that decorate all out a couple years ago.

Now it's a drughouse.

these days, it's just me and maybe 2 other houses doing stuff. REAL stuff. Not just putting out things like a headstone or two and some lights. Full on decorating. Only 3 houses including mine.

snigglez,
You made my point about our present economy when you said "Some years were hard so I tapered down or bought nothing at all and some were better so I got more". When things get tough people "taper down" which is one of the prime reasons I believe you don't see homes decorate or business sell products for Halloween. Case in point if you can remember a few back before the economic bubble burst the stores such as Wally World were overflowing with Halloween products and now your lucky if you can find a bag of spider webbing! Enough said, back to the Devils Workshop!

I'm not too far away from you, in Parma, and my neighborhood has a good amount of decorations out. Most of it is fall, yes, but there are definitely some Halloween decorations, too. This is actually the most decor I've seen in years, so I'm really excited. I don't know what the norm is for this area, as we just moved her this past spring, but I'm loving it so far. We move around a lot, so I never really know what to expect when we get to a new place, and usually my Halloween expectations are very low. I'm so glad they were exceeded in this case.

Ophelia

Well, this is one thing I can't blame on the economy. Good times, bad times, and in between, people around here just don't decorate big for Halloween. Trick or treaters turn out in droves, but decorations are few. I've lived in this town almost all my life and this is how it has always been. Who knows why?

Originally Posted by Spookzilla

snigglez,
You made my point about our present economy when you said "Some years were hard so I tapered down or bought nothing at all and some were better so I got more". When things get tough people "taper down" which is one of the prime reasons I believe you don't see homes decorate or business sell products for Halloween. Case in point if you can remember a few back before the economic bubble burst the stores such as Wally World were overflowing with Halloween products and now your lucky if you can find a bag of spider webbing! Enough said, back to the Devils Workshop!

But what I was trying to also say is as long as I can remember from being a little kid I only seen one other house decorate other than the paper witch ghost or skeleton in a window besides my dad and now me. Yeah I cut down when I needed too but no one around here or the adjoining neighborhood decorate with the economy was up or down. I've always wondered if it had to do with Disneyland Knotts 6 Flags and Universal Studios where people would rather spend money to go get scared rather than doing the entertainment themselves.