Halloween Decorations

It all started when we moved into our house a little over seven years ago. Our house is the last on a dead-end street way at the back of our sub-division. I figured that I would have to lure children down to our end of the street. We had lots of moving boxes left over from the move, so with a few of them I built Hagrid's Hut:

We put it in our yard with a light shining on it and a few props and sign next to a grouping of trees nearby which said, "Forbidden Forest." I sat by the hut with a cauldron full of candy and told all of the little ghosts and witches and goblins that came by that I was Professor McGonagall and that I was handing out candy for Hagrid because he was, "away on Hogwarts business."

That little effort was a big hit and the next year as Halloween began to draw near people would ask me if Hagrid's Hut would appear again. Unfortunately it had gone the way of all used-up boxes, so I had to think of something else to do to lure the kiddies our way.

Each year we've picked a different theme and done the garage and the yard up. Our garage has been Balin's tomb from The Lord of the Rings movie, the treasure cave from Pirates of the Caribbean, Honeyduke's candy shop from Harry Potter, an Egyptian tomb, a witch's lair, and the home of a creepy old lady who kept her dead husband's casket on her table.

Here's the witch's lair - I 'magically' turned 'fun sized' candy into the regular big size in my cauldron and gave those out to the kids:

The creepy old lady with the dead husband lived next to a spooky graveyard:

Here are some 'artifacts' viewed through a hole in the Egyptian tomb's passageway:

Fog enshrouds the Shrieking Shack in our front yard (again made with boxes) - Honeyduke's was in our garage:

This year we will have a gypsy tent in our front yard. My daughter will play the violin and I will tell fortunes. The forcast for Halloween is 59 and clear. Hope they're right!