Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet....Is That A Dead Body On Your Porch?

Last year, our daughter decided she was too old for trick or treating so we started a new tradition of spending the evening around a fire in the backyard and handing out candy from the arbor that opens onto the sidewalk.  It's fun and gives us an opportunity to decorate more than just the front porch.

So once again, we roped off the front walkway with "Danger" tape and hung a sign directing the trick or treaters around the corner to the backyard (our house is on the corner).


We still wanted to have a Halloween display on the front porch, so we converted it into a morgue, complete with a dead body.




We placed our pumpkins along the route to the "Haunted Gate".







Last year, we had creature silhouettes peeking out the side windows.  This year, we opted for zombies, instead.  They were a big hit.  A group of boys stood on the sidewalk watching them to see if they would move.



It was chilly, in the 40's, so we stayed close to the fire when we weren't handing out candy.  We had our torches lit for some additional light.



We had Halloween themed music blasting and there were ghosts and bats strung across the backyard, fluttering and flying in the wind.    

When the evening was over, we had given out nearly 400 pieces of candy, but we still have quite a bit left.


How was your Halloween?



Willoughby

9 comments:

Jenny said...

Wow. You must be the favorite house on the block. We put out some lighted pumpkins on both side of our folding chairs.

Yeah, we're all about the drama.

When our oldest daughter got married she wanted to have a 'Haunted Wedding Shower' and we converted a large part of the front yard into a graveyard complete with bones poking up, tombstones, fog machines and strobe lights. It was soooo cool. She dressed up as the corpse bride. I gotta find a picture to send you. It sounds like it would be right up your alley. I'm not too big of a fan of scary!

Bill Lisleman said...

We had more kids than the last few years. The neighbor has been refresh with new families which is a great sign.
You really do Halloween big. Great idea doing the morgue.

Unknown said...

I adore your Halloween posts. It's always fun to see what you come up with. I've been such a "stick in the mud" these past few years. We didn't even carve pumpkins this year. We had a cauldron full of candy and it was still half full by night's end. I told the kids the Almond Joy's were mine. :o)

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

Ok...ya convinced me. Next year I'm comin' to your house!!!

Since we live smack in the middle of Nowhere USA, we don't always get the little ghosts and ghouls. On our best year we had seven.

Sad to say the only hand I heard rustlin' in the candy bowl was Hubs. ....and I smacked it...smacked it hard! Heeehehehe!

God bless and have a marvelous day sweetie!!! :o)

ballast photography said...

What fun! I wish I'd been at your house! (I am sure the zombies were a huge hit.) I was a little melancholy this year...my kids always loved Halloween and would probably still be trick or treating if they weren't waaay too old. We live on a dead end street with old people so we get no foot traffic and just didn't come up with much this year other than eating a bag of candy and watching It's a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

Joanna Jenkins said...

Now that's what I call getting into the Halloween spirit!!! I love it. All your decorations are terrific and those pumpkins! Wow, you're good.

I wish we had enough trick or treaters to hand out 400 pieces of candy. This year I think we got maybe 25 kids-- It was so disappointing. Maybe I need to decorate like you next year to attract some more action.

Hope all's well with you WIlloughby. xo jj

Jenn Erickson said...

I love the way your Halloween tradition has evolved with your daughter so that you're still spending time together and having fun. All your spooky and creative touches are fabulous, especially the dead body in the morgue, the silhouettes and all those intricately carved pumpkins.

My girls are still enjoying trick-or-treating, but I can sense that the end is drawing near for the older one. This year was the first year that both girls requested that we put out some scary decorations. So, we created a little vignette on the porch with a nursemaid skeleton pushing a pram with a baby skeleton. Macabre, but fun.

Wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving, my friend! Can't wait to hear all about yours.

Jenn

Bill Lisleman said...

just popped in to see what condition your blog was in

abby jenkins said...

AWESOME idea and decorations!!! Nice to "see" you again.