Thread: Quick Yard Idea for the Folks with Little time

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Last year at the end of Sept. I moved from Houston to Boise -- bad Halloween planning, I know -- who knew the stupid house would sell in 3 days??

So on OCT 1st i found myself barely unpacked in the new home with only 2 weeks to plan and execute a Hallows display -- u, my people understand that I wasn't going to SKIP it this year, lol.

Anyhow, I wanted to give a little inspirations to those of you who might be in similar time crunches.

I did a Haunted pumpkin patch, buying up real pumpkins as well as those plastic pumpkin pails -- from thrift shops, of course. I drew faces on the pails and stuffed them with xmas lights and then hooked up a fading adapter to the lights. (I have video to show the fade effect, but couldn't figure out how to attach it.)

I hung lights and spider web trails in the trees and of course the patch was presided over by a huge scarecrow made from vines. Pulling it all together was the pallet fencing. Yes, look at those free pallets strutting their stuff!

I only have work-in-progress pix which my friend and i took to remind us what things looked like at end of day and what needed more work, but i hope they give you some idea. Just imagine it at night, filled with fog, and eerie music.

There were red and green spots highlighting the yard, a strobe and fogger on the scarecrow and a partially buried corpse with another fogger at the door. All in all it took 2 of us about 7 days to pull it all together. And the neighbors had never seen anything like it apparently. Not only did we meet every kid in the block but soon parents were taking their kids on afternoon walks to see what new things we added. Great way to meet the new neighbors!

Happy Haunting!

I love feel good stories like that.

Also, excellent job on the fence. Is that corner piece supposed to be 'fallen' like that?

DeadTed -- Yes, the corner piece is supposed to be a fallen gate -- I worked for Disney for 10 years and i LOVE backstories! So my friend and i constructed a backstory for our scenario -- and the story sparked so many great ideas we didn't have time to execute -- like the headless minions running around, and an execution haybale with an animated scythe!

The story goes that Jack, the Pumpkin Ripper, broke the gate down when he chose this patch as his new domain. He holds a great scythe that he uses to hew the heads from his pumpkin minions and their smashed heads and guts lie at his feet...

I"ve attached another photo where u can see the broken pumpkin skulls pieces and pumpkin guts littering the gate and a few days before Halloween we put out many more smashed pumpkins -- mid -Oct was still reasonably warm so we couldn't put them out too early and have them stinking up the neighborhood, lol.

love that some much imagination ! great job