How to Decorate Outdoors for Halloween

Spook up the outside of your house this year with jack-o'-lanterns and ghosts, and make your house every child's favorite stop on the trick-or-treat trail.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Fake Body Parts
• Spider Webbing
• Halloween Candles
• Halloween Decorations
• Halloween Light Sets
• Cauldrons And Foggers
• Fans
• Fog Machines
• Jack-o'-lanterns
• Tombstones (prop)
• Halloween Sound Effects CD

1. Set out carved pumpkins and jack-o'-lanterns with votive candles inside them. Put them around your door and along your walkway. Or line your walkway and stairs with jack-o'-lantern candles or lanterns.

2. Hang white Christmas lights in trees or along fences.

3. Make a scarecrow. Scatter autumn leaves, miniature pumpkins, gourds and uncarved pumpkins around the scarecrow.

4. Have the scarecrow hold up a sign that says something fun like, "This way to tricks, that way to treats."

5. Make smoke around your doorway with a fog machine or by putting dry ice in a bucket of lukewarm water. The water-to-ice ratio should be about two-to-one. Hang spider webs and large plastic spiders around the front door.

6. Hang an old bed sheet and make it look like a ghost. Cut out a face.

7. Place a small electric fan underneath the ghost so that it flutters in the wind.

8. Display decorative ghosts or jack-o'-lanterns in every window of the house facing the entry.

Tips & Warnings

• Never leave candles unattended.

[MomyAJ]

on 10/31/2008 Can I keep a hurricane glass candle holder inside a Jack 'O Lantern outside on my (concrete stairs) last step in the corner, outside (with or without the pumpkin's top ?

Need to know ASAP, before taking the kid(s)out "Trick or Treating" !

Thank you, in advance...

[westorbust]

on 2/7/2008 It's a lot more fun when you do your own thing. I think it takes away from the mood, the fun of halloween when people mimic eachother. I suggest making your own decorations. It might be more time consuming but you can have a lot of fun with it.

on 9/21/2006 Items you'll need for this:
Cereal, cracker, cake mix boxes. Flat corrugated cardboard, string cloth, contact paper, white paper, masking tape, gold or silver paint pens, fonts, spray paint (any color will do).

Cut the covers and bindings edges out of the flat corrugated cardboard, bending the binding edge so that it is more curved (like a real book) . Tape the binding to the front and back cover, then cover with white paper and spray paint in color sets-all brown, blue, rust, etc. Making sure the inside edges of the covers that would show were also painted. Wait for paint to dry, use the string cloth, self adhesive contact paper to cover the edges of the box. Place contact paper over the edge to hide everything. When the cover is fully dry, hot glue them to the box. Once the book is assembled hand write the title you want on the cover and side in gold or silver paint pens using printed-out fonts for inspiration.

on 8/8/2006 Buy white sheets (I like to use the sheer type from Goodwill and such stores). Prepare a 5 gallon bucket. Soak the sheets for a day or so in a mixture of water, charcoal (smashed up), dirt and black or brown house paint (the cheap stuff). Use a stick to stir ever so often. When done soaking, wring the sheets out (wear rubber gloves) and hang dry from clothes line. Use the finished sheets on walls, or as tablecloths.

on 8/8/2006 For our outdoor party, we used a large cauldron with our favorite drink of choice and put a submersible light in it. It's pretty cool-looking at night. Dress it up with a skeleton or witch, whatever your theme is.