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If you’re a fan of Halloween and want to encourage trick or treaters to your door, there are some simple – and cheap – things you can do to get your home looking spooktacularly creepy.
1. Pumpkin carving
This isn’t as hard as it might sound, and can be fun for all the family. You can buy pumpkins at any supermarket at the moment and you need a good sharp knife – obviously only for use by adults. Patterns can be found online if you want to go beyond the usual smiling pumpkin head and you can carve anything from a cobweb pattern to a witch on a broomstick into the hollowed-out pumpkin, and pop a nightlight inside to light it up. Just make sure it’s in a safe place it won’t set anything on fire.
2. Cobwebs and spiders
If you already have cobwebs in your house, it’s the one time of year you can feel free to show them off! If not, these can be purchased at any discount store or supermarket and strung up around your front door to give that ‘haunted house’ feel. It’s simple to make some giant spiders out of black pipe cleaners, so you can scatter them around the cobwebs.
3. Front yard coffin
If you’re feeling seriously ghoulish, now’s the time to express yourself. Try making a lifesize Dracula-style coffin out of plywood or even cardboard and painting it black. Drape some fake cobwebs over it – and if you or a volunteer is available for the evening, rise out of it making creepy noises every time a trick or treater opens the front gate. They might be scarred for life, but hey, it’s all in the spirit of Halloween… isn’t it?!
4. Window silhouettes
If you’ve got big front windows, keep the lights down low and make some silhouettes to stick behind the window - the Martha Stewart website has some templates you can print out and use.
