New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
With Halloween just around the corner, it’s time to consider decorating our yards, windows, porches, walkways, etc. to make sure the local kids have a positive blast Trick or Treating this year. It seemed that the easy, lazy way to celebrate Hallow’s Eve was to just stop by a chain store and grab a few bags of candy, toss them in a bowl and mete it out when the kids rang.
Boring!
I’m happy that the “Tricking” aspect of the holiday has had a sort of revival these past years. I am seeing bigger, more creative, displays. More holiday spirit. Some are so elaborate they could charge an admission fee!
If you’re just stopping by the pharmacy to grab a few bags of candy then this isn’t for you. Keep your boo-ring self away! For those of you who have loads of Halloween spirit, this article is for you. I’ll share some of the best ideas I have seen in local yards or online, so you can add a little extra to your decorations. Some are incredibly cheap, others will take a bit of money to pull off – it just comes down to how much spirit you have. Pardon the pun.
Dismembered Digits
Use some hot dogs or cocktail wieners, and cleverly slice them up to resemble the wrinkles on knuckles. Shape some onion slices and glue them onto the “fingers” with some pasta sauce and serve! Make them really fun, by putting them in a hot dog bun before serving.
Zombie Heads from Food
All you need for this one is some pasta for hair and the base, a bunch of mozzarella cheese to sculpt the face, a few olives for eyes, peeled tomato chunks for the nose, and either tic-tacs or chiclets for teeth. Voila – very creepy!
Have a Gruesome Barbecue
Almost everyone has a grill. Unhook the propane tank, drag it out. Use some rubber body parts or create some eyeballs or fingers with some arts and crafts or the hot dogs or pasta and cheese that we mentioned above. 
Creative Signs
Don’t have a heck of a lot of money to spend or time to create? If you have a tractor, excavator, backhoe or even a few shovels, you can place a sign like the one in the photo. “Halloween Special: bodies buried $5. Buried very deep: $10.” Let your imagination run wild and you can come up with something even better, even let the kids get involved and you can litter the yard with signs to strike terror into the local trick-or-treaters – perhaps even straighten out the annoying neighbor.
Skeleton Invasion
Over the years, you may have accumulated the popular Halloween skeleton. Perhaps you can borrow a few from the neighbor. Attach them to the house with some nails or heavy staples, so it looks like they are climbing up the side and trying to get into the house through the windows. Even one skeleton will look great!
Horrible Pumpkins
Instead of the classic pumpkin, you can make a vomit pumpkin that will be a conversation piece for the kids coming towards the house. Simply make a larger mouth and instead of clearing out the inside of the pumpkin, pull it all out through its mouth – spill the contents down a step or two.
Creative Uses of Clothing
Take some old shoes and pants, place some sticks through the legs to add some structure. Stuff with rags and/or hay. Place upside down so that all that is seen is from the waist down and it looks like the rest of the body is stuck underground. Inversely, if you have more money or “gear” you can do just the upper body and make it look like the lower body is underground and this person or creature is crawling out.
If you have a bunch of white pillow cases or sheets, make a circle of half a dozen ghosts. Add some branches or twigs underneath, with balloons for heads and make it look like they are holding hands.
Creepy Dolls
Have a bunch of dolls in the attic or cellar. Pull them out, remove a head here, a limb or eye there. Put some fake blood and wounds on them and place a bunch of them in the yard standing up or beckoning trick-or-treaters.
Crow Wreath
The dollar stores have crows for cheap. You can glue them in a circle. Place a few eyeballs or hot dogs fingers within the circle. Attach to your door.
Use Peppers instead of Pumpkins
Want a cheaper, cleaner alternative to pumpkins? Use yellow, green, red and orange peppers. Cut the top so it’s a lid, just like you would with pumpkins. Carve a face just like usual.
