You could always put signs pointing the way. And go all out if you’re looking for a party. Boil peanuts and have lights and music. Make it a block party. You could even advertise early by placing signs at stores close by. I live in a small town and Halloween cranks it up. People come from far away to walk with their kids and have a good time. Someone does palm reading and others so music and peanuts while others set up haunted walk throughs. It is my favorite time of year! Good luck!

 

Did you decorate pretty far in advance last year? I feel like that sometimes helps neighbors' visitors make a mental note to stop by on Halloween if they see you're going big with the decor.

If your town has a Facebook or related social page, you could throw up a post asking people to stop by.

 

I have been doing this for a few years and have grown, I leave on a pretty dark street and no one else decorates but over the years and word of mouth things
have grown and what is nice the people don't just hit and run the grown ups like to take time and look and talk.

 

Nobody around my house decorates but I had probably 700 to 1,000 people come last year it’s mainly word of mouth i always decorate with large inflatables for Halloween and start early second week of September usually.
so if you want to attract people to your house I would suggest decorating early and with big inflatables from Home Depot Lowes etc. I love the minions so I always have a section in my yard for minion inflatables then another section for my ghostbusters inflatables and yeah lots of spotlights, pathway marker lights very looud sounds, halloween projector etc. I decorate way too early and put up some huge 16 foot tall inflatables so yeah that’s what I would suggest.

 

All are good ideas but word of mouth is king. It might take a year or two but they will hear about it and they will come. I live in a tired old cul de sac and have tried the ideas listed above, even had a huge "open house" for charity for the local school district.

Good luck and be patient, if you build it, they will come!

 

Yeah, the real question is what did you do in 2016? And what age group are the ToTs that come?

Full size bars are usually enough to get word of mouth spreading. The more tween-teen kids the faster word spreads.

 

Welcome to your first post, and that's a great Gaelic user name, "owl"!
I suffer from the same conditions- lame location for a great Halloween ToT experience!
Our neighborhood is built on a hill, with no sidewalks, and the majority of my fellow neighbors on my cul de sac /street are not into ToT. We actually had a new member of the neighborhood tell my kids that she doesn't "do" Halloween; she told them this on Halloween night, since they saw all her house lights blazing, and assumed she was handing out candy. I, too, have put out decorations in late September; a cemetery plot with several life-size "ghouls". Nothing slasher-violent, just creepy. night lighting is adjusted to Halloween levels (lots of orange and red wash lights with some purple-green spot lighting), and a band of pirate skeletons taking over the entire front yard on Halloween night.---I had a grand total of six kids show up! Dag nabitt!!
Now, I have a neighbor, who is also a member of this forum (cool, right?!) who lives on the main thoroughfare of our neighborhood up the hill from me, and he puts out an awesome display; he said he had at least one hundred visitors to his yard on the same night!
So, it's not that we lack ToT'ers coming to the neighborhood, it is apparently very inconvenient for them to get to my part of it! I am going to try the Facebook advertising, as well as using our "nextdoor" app that the neighborhood has available for local communication.
It is an understatement to say it's "frustrating" that hardly anyone shows up to take part in our Halloween joy, and I've been at this for three years now in this particular home/neighborhood. If my wife didn't think was crazy, I'd actually move to a more Halloween friendly location! If you come across any "marketing" ideas, please feel free to share!

 

Our first year we put out a little spooky totem-pole thing by the mailbox that was pretty fun and eye catching that said "Trick or Treat". We had a couple dozen kids throughout the night and everyone remarked on our fun graveyard, but as our display grew year after year so did the word and the crowds. Last year it was a constant stream of people for about 2 hours once it started getting dark.

Just keep building and making and doing. Eventually you will be "that house" and give a bunch of kids fond memories.

 

A good attractor after dark is a thunder/lightning set up. People can see that from a good distance and it grabs their attention.

 

A good attractor after dark is a thunder/lightening set up. People can see that from a good distance and it grabs their attention.

Absolutely!

We added a lightning setup last year, but put it behind our house pointed up into the trees so that it would silhouette the whole house with flashes of light. People remarked about how it reminded them of classic movies where the lightning illuminates a darkened castle.

 

I agree with the others when they say, build it and they will come. Add something new every year to your yard.

I myself don't really do themes, but I do try and make it so everything in my yard is cohesive.

My first year I decorated I just had a giant spider and some cob webbing. (mind you I live on a fairly busy street, but none of my neighbors really do Halloween) Parents aren't fond of stopping for one house in several blocks and have to deal with loading and unloading the kids. So the first few years that I didn't decorate we would get maybe a dozen kids, mostly older ones. The first year I started decorating we saw an uptick, but not by much. The second year I added a cemetery and a grim reaper along with a few more lights. We saw another uptick in TOTs. Last year I added three large animated witches around a large cauldron, a packing tape ghost and more lights. I set everything up about 2 weeks before Halloween and my yard got noticed by someone from the local paper. They stopped and asked if they could take pics. and do a small write up about my yard. We ended up with so many TOTs on Halloween my hubby had to make an emergency run for more candy. Even though we were about the only house for blocks that handed out candy we had kids and cars streaming in.

Everyone loved my display. I had adults and children wanting to take pics. with my decorations. I told them that I would be adding more next year so be sure to stop by next year and see what was new.

I have a neighbor on one side of me that said I could use their yard as well to set up my decor. So I will be using their yard this year for my cemetery and will be making a haunted forest in place of the cemetery in my yard. I have so many plans and ideas for decor, that I will be adding more and more new things every year. So just keep adding and building and word will get around. Using social media or a local paper would also help spread the word.

 

Signs place around the main street and at the start of your street pointing down to your house...I have the same situation...on a cul-de-sac but out of view from the start of the road (I put a lighted blowup decoration in my neighbor's yard but it wasn't that helpful).

It's took 2 or 3 years to get kids to come down all the way but now I have folks that moved away that come back on Halloween to see what else is new...but I still only get maybe 50 kids. Maybe they just aren't into it in Florida.

 

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

It is true, I didn't do much in 2016, as my little sister was throwing a Halloween party and we were focused on the inside of the house. We certainly didn't hand out full sizers that year! If word of mouth really works, I might have to get an extra box or two!

Most of the ToTs I saw were literally tots... below 10 yrs old. Many seemed too young to appreciate the candy or decorations. However, I know that there are middle schoolers in the vicinity—I see a dozen every morning on school days at their bus stop a tenth of a mile from my house, and another dozen a quarter of a mile from that! I only saw 3 last year, though (dressed up as the witches from Hocus Pocus).

I love all the suggestions, especially the sign ideas and the lightning setup idea!

Really, I need to work on the decorations you can see from the main road. My coolest ones last year were concentrated by the front step, which is hidden.

One other thing—has anyone tried giving out beverages, like hot cider? Does that fly with parents?


Edmund K– You got it spot on!

 

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

It is true, I didn't do much in 2016, as my little sister was throwing a Halloween party and we were focused on the inside of the house. We certainly didn't hand out full sizers that year! If word of mouth really works, I might have to get an extra box or two!

Most of the ToTs I saw were literally tots... below 10 yrs old. Many seemed too young to appreciate the candy or decorations. However, I know that there are middle schoolers in the vicinity—I see a dozen every morning on school days at their bus stop a tenth of a mile from my house, and another dozen a quarter of a mile from that! I only saw 3 last year, though (dressed up as the witches from Hocus Pocus).

I love all the suggestions, especially the sign ideas and the lightning setup idea!

Really, I need to work on the decorations you can see from the main road. My coolest ones last year were concentrated by the front step, which is hidden.

One other thing—has anyone tried giving out beverages, like hot cider? Does that fly with parents?


Edmund K– You got it spot on!

 

Make a Facebook page. it helped our haunt grow 10 fold.

 

We are known in our area for having all-out Halloween decor but the kids have been aging out of our area and the ToTers have drasticaly dwindled. Because of that I now pop for the full size bars and post on the neighborhood FB page that we are giving out full size bars. OMG people came out of the woodwork! Still not as busy as it was 10 years ago but it did make a difference!

 

Thank you everyone for the suggestions so far!

I love them all, especially the sign ideas and lightning setup idea.

In reference to some of the questions, I actually didn't do much 2016, as my little sister was having a Halloween party, and we focused on the inside of the house. I definitely didn't have full sizers then! If word of mouth really works, I may have to buy another box or two!

Last year, most of my ToTs were literally tots...under 10 or so. Many of them didn't seem to be impressed by the candy or the decorations because of their age. I only saw three tweens/teens, dressed as the witches from Hocus Pocus (impressive costumes!) I know there are more teens, I see about a dozen every school day morning at a bus stop a tenth of a mile from my door, and another dozen at a stop a quarter mile from that.

I definitely need to work on the decorations view-able from the road. Most were concentrated in front of the doorway.

One more thing—has anyone tried giving refreshments, like hot cider? Are parents okay with that?

Edmund K–you are spot on!

 

we never handed out drinks but last year we started a thing where we gave out dog treats to any dogs that came in costume. believe it or not we had like 30 dogs come last year LOL

 

My suggestion is to go over the top, and eventually word of mouth will quickly spread. For several years we did just one pumpkin carved for myself and my three children. One year I decided to do around 9 jack o lanterns and everyone that came by said how impressed they were. Now these weren't your normal "cut a couple holes and call it a jack o lantern" jack o lanterns. I downloaded patterns from Zombie Pumpkins and did more interesting ones.

The year after that we did around 13, the year after that we were around 30, the year after that around 50 and this past year I believe we did 60 patterns on 53 pumpkins. Now granted, our neighborhood usually gets a pretty good number of TOTs, but as my display grew, so did the number of people stopping to check it out. Each year I had more and more people say how they look forward to it every year.

This past year our yard was packed from the very beginning until after TOT was officially over. I had one lady tell me that she drove 45 minutes because her sister told her that she had to come see our house, and another guy tell me how his son raves about our house every year and that he had to stop by. Each year I start putting the pumpkins that I grew myself, as well as the ones I start purchasing around the middle of September out in the front yard and I have people that are taking a walk by our house tell me how they are so excited and look forward to our display every year.

If you live at the end of a cul-de-sac you have to give them more incentive to go out of their way, especially if your neighbors don't do much decorating. Definitely put your display out early enough to let people know that you are celebrating and make it interesting enough that they remember to stop there on Halloween night.

Make the decorations interesting and different than what you can just buy in the store. I made cut outs that are in all of the windows of my house so when the lights are on everyone can see them. These really make the house standout, and I usually put them up a couple weeks before Halloween. People love them and not only are they different than what you can buy in a store, but they are also incredibly cheap, and easy to make. Here's a picture showing part of our front yard.

Basically, just stand out from the rest of the neighborhood and people will definitely show up. Word of mouth is the easiest way to get people to show up. Over the years I've taken pictures of all of the carvings we've done and posted them on Facebook and each year we have people say how they saw what we've done in previous years and decided they had to see it for themselves.

Here's a picture from last year that shows a majority of the display:

 

Oh, one other thing I thought that could help as well. Remember that a lot of kids have food allergies, nuts being the most common. So think about supplying candy or treats that are allergy free. Then if you put signs out or advertise on social media be sure to note that you are offering allergy free treats. A teal pumpkin is the symbol for allergy free treats. Parents will greatly appreciate you thinking about their kids. Here is a bit more info on that.

https://www.foodallergy.org/education-awareness/teal-pumpkin-project/get-started

 

My above comment double posted.

 

Firs time post here, I've been lurking for a long time, but, this thread here gave me a bit of a push to join, as I face the same issue. First, a bit of intro, and about 2017 Halloween, and what I do to attract more trick-or-treaters.

I'm not on a culdesac, but, it is down a street that terminates, however, there are plenty of houses around. Not lots of auto traffic, since the neighborhood was designed so traffic that enters, is pretty much doing so for the neighborhood, and not to shortcut someplace. Part of the issue for me, is it seems less, and less people trick-or-treat anymore, but, who knows, maybe like rollerskating rinks, trick-or-treating will make a comeback!

I notice some neighbors nearby, they don't even bother trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, they just take their kids to the mall, trunk-or-treat, or one of those things. I think part of it is the, "Safety" thing, also some parents and kids can't be bothered to walk much. Not much fun in that, I think. I have awesome memories of trick-or-treating, I doubt I'd have the same if I had gone to something like that.

Anyway, I had a comment in 2017, I had not had before, some 12+ kids said to me, Halloween night, "You have the BEST HOUSE" (around here)". I had not yet heard that one before, so, I took the compliment, and said thanks.

Also, later that night, I had a few kids attempt to trick-or-treat a 2nd time. i caught them though, also kids about 12, 13, 14. I gave them a bit of a hard time about it, to let them know I caught them, but still gave them a few small pieces. I like the challenge, to see if I recognized them...

Also, the next day, I had someone knock on my door, it was a group of mostly older kids from the night before, including 1 or 2 that either did not go trick-or-treating, or missed my home. They asked if I had anything left over. I had plans for the leftover candy, so I gave them each some bouncy balls and fake bugs. Maybe a few small pieces of candy, I forget.

Less people decorate nowadays, compared to when I was younger. Halloween, when I was younger, was an event. I loved the experience, seeing the house, etc. My mother would get into it, also. Nothing super fancy with the yard, but we decorated, and sometimes with some wacky stuff.

---

Where I am now, for many years, it has been a bit on the decline, like kids can't be bothered, but, I notice more kids in the neighborhood now, than in prior years. Kids grow out of it, or eventually move on someplace new, etc.

I used to do some basic stuff, with Jack-o-lanterns, a spooky "Welcome" sign in the yard, something hanging on the door, etc, then, I many years ago, I had to think back to what I enjoyed when I was younger... What really stood out to me

One of the first things I, 'Brought back" was the spooky sounds Record/cassette/CD. People may recall these from Hallmark, etc. I have a CD, so it is easier for it to be on repeat, loop. I stash a boombox someplace with it. That gives some kids an audible thing to track down. A few of the younger kids are a bit apprehensive about it, but, they are normally with parents, so it's fine.

Decorations, the jack-o-lantern, sounds. Something visual, something audbile.


What I've, is gradually add things. The person posting above, showed some of the things he puts in his window. I do something similar, for Halloween night, I light up some windows with colored lighting.

I gradually add decorations, but keep to a theme. Try not to clutter it up, and make it too much of a mish-mash. I like skeletons.

Halloween night I leave my storm door closed, and my main door open, so people can see someone is there. Though, i recently stopped having normal lighting there, inside the front door, and I now light it with colored lights. So, from afar, people can see at ground level, an odd light coming through the door. The porch light, i swap that out for a dimmer bulb on Halloween night. Always a good idea, regardless of decorations, to have a porch light on.

So, each year, I try to add a little something extra to the outside. Something a few others in this thread have already mentioned. I also think back to things I enjoyed.

Last year, was the first year I decided to do goodie bags. I've often handed out not just candy, but some other trinket. Usually bouncy balls. Candy will be consumed, then gone. The bouncy balls, hang around, though. I recall one year a kid exclaimed, "WOW! A bouncy ball!"

The goodie bags, and some other additions last year, seem to have got a bit more word around. It was the first time I had kids looking for goodies the next day. I am expecting a bit more this year, 2018.

Also, my number for 2017, was about 65. Not a lot, I've had worse years, I've had better. Though, most of the better years are from at least 10 years ago.

Another suggestion, is to be fair to the older kids, kids not in costume, or in a lazy costume. Especially if you don't get many trick-or-treaters to begin with. Older kids, i leave alone if they are in costume, since I trick-or-treated for a while, and also, why not. If the kid has no costume, I do give them a bit of a hard time. I mention to them they could at least go get an eye patch or something. I had one older kid a few years ago approach the door with his mask tilted up, and talking on his phone. I ask him what do you say, I wait for "trick-or-treat". I also asked him about his mask being propped up, talking on the phone, and asked him to put his mask on proper so i could see what he was, before giving the candy. So, i have some fun with it.

I started doing treat bags, since I remember that being a big deal when i was younger. I would sometimes open the bag while walking away, to see what was inside. The surprise element. Also, it keeps kids from being picky about candy in the bucket. With the goodie bags, it's random. I put an assortment of candy in there, some chocolate, gummy, etc. I also toss in some trinket(s), like the bouncy balls.

I also keep some loose candy, in case I get more kids then expected, I have enough to hand out. I also keep enough loose candy around for the kids who show-up a 2nd time. No goodie bag for them, but, here's a small treat for trying to fool me.

Also, i suggest decorating early enough, and not the last few days leading up to Halloween. Getting the decorations out there, lets people know there will be something there Halloween night. I start at the beginning of October, and if I see something cool, I may add to it. I also let some pumpkins sit out front for a while, then, Halloween, I carve them into jack-o-lanterns. A tradition with me, I just always did it that way, even as a child, before going out to trick-or-treat.

I also put a few things in the backyard, so neighbors behind me, who may not otherwise drive by the front of my house, have something to look at


So, that is what is working for me. Thinking back to things I thought were cool, and just adding a bit every year. Also, people don't really decorate much anymore. A few people where I am do something, but, it's not all that many. So, I try to do something a bit more memorable for people who bother trick-or-treating. If I had more trick-or-treaters, I'd probably slim down the treats per kid, but for now, it's OK.

This year I am adding a fog machine. I have been gathering information, also from this site, about the fog chillers, and methods to diffuse it. It's not a huge cost, seems like it could be fun, so, I'll go for it. I was going to add it last year, but, i added some other stuff in 2017, and I wanted to save something for 2018.

So, I try to do things to keep the house a bit fresh, and also stand-out a bit more. Bring attention to it. Also, have some memorable treats. The goodie bags have added an element of surprise, it has also saved me time, with picky kids who want only Reese's Cups, Snickers, Sour Patch Kids, whatever.

I would like a bit more kids, 100 would be cool. Its been that way before. Having a reasonable amount would allow me to continue being so generous with the treats. If I had 500 trick-or-treaters, like some have mentioned here, I'd have to slim down on the treats. I think this thread, or another, a poster mentioned to, "Be careful what you wish for", if you are trying to get lots of trick-or-treaters.

Well, that's a good first post. I'll post here a bit more often, been lurking for a while. A lot of good information here!

 

I get a lot of traffic (both vehicular always, and pedestrian on Halloween as mine is a perfect Halloween neighborhood) on my not main street, so I can't really relate. I would love to move to a quieter street (cul-de-sac, dead-end) but until how I figure out how to do that financially, I am stuck. That being said, I recognize that it will be different having my large display on a quiet street.

But, at the end of the day, I understand who I am really decorating for: myself. Yeah my kids enjoy it, other kids enjoy it (I love seeing the school bus stop across the street with all the little faces pressed against the glass), but ultimately it is for me.

Don't worry about how many people come (or don't); that is ultimately out of your control. Decorate for yourself. If, over a few years, Halloween traffic increases because your display strikes a chord in others, great. If not, who cares? There will still be a number of children who will always remember your house. It might even be more special for them (for a couple of reasons) if it is a little out of the way, less well known, thus spookier, more something of theirs and not everybody's.

 

Looking back at the original post, the title says "How to attract more people". There is a difference between attracting more TOT's and drawing more people to see your display. Honestly, most TOT's couldn't care less about a great display, they just want candy, and nowadays most areas have TOTing limited to daylight hours. Most home haunts don't really "come alive" until after dark. All of the best home haunts draw people just to view the display, and most have their haunts going well before the big night. So I guess my point is, if you want more TOT's, a big display might not help much. If you want to attract more people to see your haunt, then by all means, keep adding whatever you can.

 

Yes and no. I agree that many ToT's are only interested in candy, but some of them love the displays, too. Also, the younger ToT's have their parents tagging along, so if you've got a great display set up, word will get around. Many of the kids come from outside our neighborhood to TOT, and the first year we opened our doors to the public, we had a surge of repeats later in the evening. BUT, the repeats were mostly parents bringing their friends to see the house (inside and out).

 

windows projections or the singing pumpkins with a projector should work well

 

Unfortunately, "if you build it, they will come" isn't always a sure fire way to attract people to your home. Now-a-days it seems you either need to be direct like suggested with signage or...you need to be the crowd that everyone is staring at. Notice if there's a crowd of people, everyone who isn't a part of it wants to look and see what it is?! Throw a party! Invite all your friends and their children to your house every year and have them ToT in your neighborhood, starting and ending at your house. I started this in my neighborhood when my kids were very young and 12 years later, all their friends would text me every year asking for the date for our party. It got so big, and the decore became so outrageous and detailed, that when I had to move and downsize, half the neighborhood came to purchase my stuff. It was crazy but def made me feel good. As another member said, we really do this for ourselves, but knowing all those people got enjoyment and were entertained by my creations was rewarding. Start your own trend!

 

I like the idea of lightning - I can flash light under the tall trees in the front of my yard. I'll need to get a bright spotlight...
Otherwise, last year I advertised on Nextdoor.com to many surrounding neighborhoods and probably got a handful of TOTs from that. Also, some good signs (scary, well printed, and very legible) on the main street, well ahead of Halloween to catch drivers and school buses passing by.

 

I always wanted to do a treasure hunt...get 4 or 5 kinda near folks to help.
If we made a map of all the houses that wanted to participate . Or maybe just did a list of clues.. The kids could start anywhere and get a map or list of clues. Each house they stopped at could stamped their hand, the map or list of clues... Then the last house could pass out a something fun.... It wouldnt have to be easy.... I would have preferred if only a few kids managed to finish. That way we could have afforded to do a better treat...