My husband takes Halloween a bit seriously. He plans our decorating months in advance and has built a few of our best decorations. Our house has become the house of the neighborhood (and sometimes people drive in from outside of the neighborhood) each October 31st evening.
Now, I'm going to share a few pointers.
1. No cutesie decorations.
Okay, sure, "cutesie" isn't really a word, but you know what I mean. We've seen all the witches flying into trees and all those cute ghosts. No. Save the cute stuff for Christmas. Halloween is a time for scary and trick-or-treaters are much more impressed with a house that gives them the chills than one plastered with cute decorations.
2. Lighting is your friend and your enemy.
If you use lighting properly, it can cast an eerie glow on your decorations. Blue and purple lights can cast a moon-light like light. Just be careful not to flood your yard with too much light.
Those Christmas-wanna-be lights have to go. Just don't do it.
3. Don't rake up those leaves!
Leave the leaves in your yard until after Halloween. The dead leaves bring a bit of autumn to your decorations and keep your yard from looking clean and pristine. That's not a look we want for Halloween.
4. Jumpy is not scary.
My husband has become a master of giving a person the feeling that something is going to jump out at them when it won't. We find this much more affective than the pop-up scare tactics. We're looking for chills, not thrills.
5. Get into it.
No, I mean, literally, get into it. Be a decoration. Dress up as something creepy, preferably robed. If you stand still enough, people will think you're a prop ... until you move. Wahahahahaha!
6. Let there be sound!
Sound is a crucial sense to play on peoples nerves. Don't ramp up "Monster Mash" and think that will do it. Find a track with screams, wind, hooting owls, crashes, bangs, etc. This will drive people toward your house and set the proper mood.
7. Don't forget about the little ones.
When you've set up a scene that's a bit on the scary side, have an alternative for the little ones. They will probably be too scared to approach your doorstep, so pull down your hood and be ready to go down to them on the sidewalk so they can have some treats as well.
