# When do you set up halloween!



## Shadowbat (Sep 27, 2009)

right after Labor Day


----------



## OctoberDream (Aug 7, 2011)

I don't setup until the day of Halloween, but driving into work today, I saw that one of my neighbors has set up already.


----------



## themyst (Sep 4, 2012)

Outside: I'll set up my props and front yard scene Oct 1. 

Inside: I've already started setting up little odds and ends in my house. Probably because of you guys and my mind always being on Halloween now.  I just hung a creepy grabbing hand in my husband's bathroom; it's holding his hand towel next to the sink. And I set up a little skeleton butler across from the commode that holds a spare roll of bathroom tissue on his tray. I've been digging through some boxes that are more readily available than the ones in my attic and have been setting things out.


----------



## JoyfulCrow (Aug 31, 2015)

All of the Halloween decor I own is up year-round. But then again I don't have an "outside" so everything is just home decor.


----------



## Abunai (Jan 28, 2008)

We have a large walkthrough/maze. 
We started setting up on August 15th this year.


----------



## Skeletoncrew (Oct 10, 2013)

Usually the first weekend in October.


----------



## Alexscaresme (Jul 17, 2015)

October 1. 
Take down - November 2


----------



## amuck amuck (Jul 19, 2015)

I don't do outside until Halloween day because I am afraid of theft. But my entire downstairs is just about done now. It takes days to do it and because I will be busy with other things this month I did it early. Now I can just relax and enjoy it for the month of October. Only problem now is I had to schedule an appointment with a security company and they are coming tomorrow and will see all my stuff and think I am crazy. That is why I APPRECIATE Halloween forum people, they understand.


----------



## lilibat (Aug 10, 2015)

I am starting on inside stuff now. Will wait on party decorations till closer to Halloween because, cats. Outside I am probably going to do next week, or at least start on. I am having back trouble and it's going to be really warm, humid & yucky so that will slow me down.


----------



## cyberhaunt (Oct 23, 2006)

In the past I've set up on Halloween morning then take it down Halloween night. Afraid of theft or vandalism. Last year I set up the exterior coverings on the house and the cemetery several days before Halloween. This year I'm going bigger so I need to start set up at least a week before Halloween. The expensive props will still go out on Halloween day though.


----------



## Madame Leota (Sep 19, 2005)

Nothing Halloween outside before October, usually the first weekend so this year the big setup will be October 3 with me adding to it all month long. Any earlier would be too much wear and weather on all my props, plus I don't want anyone to be sick of it before the big night. I'll probably go ahead and to some generic fall décor around my doorstep this week, maybe today even. When I was out walking this morning, I saw one house with a few scarecrows and chrysanthemums out and it made me smile. I'll take fall any way I can get it!
Indoor Halloween can start anytime now. I put out my countdown skeleton from Michael's when I brought it home 10 days ago. I'm also getting ready to start setting up my Spooky Town village. I've just got to decide where, since my furniture arrangement has changed since last year.


----------



## mdna2014 (Jul 21, 2014)

Already up for the past few weeks. Because Halloween and Christmas are my favorite I start Halloween in August and Christmas in October.


----------



## mdna2014 (Jul 21, 2014)




----------



## LadyMage (Aug 15, 2014)

The kids go back to school next week, any time after that is fair game. I generally start with fall items and move towards halloween as the fall progresses. But usually the first weekend after labor day is when I haul it all out, take stock, and start figuring out a timeline. The most expensive items that go outside don't go out until the last few days, but by early October I usually have a pretty good display rocking.


----------



## nochevys (Aug 8, 2009)

I start setting up the 1st weekend in October with the graveyard scene. I add to it up until Halloween night. Big props go out Halloween day. Most comes down on Halloween night when the TOT'ers are done.


----------



## mdna2014 (Jul 21, 2014)




----------



## mdna2014 (Jul 21, 2014)

Can't wait until Sam comes again...


----------



## Madame Leota (Sep 19, 2005)

mdana2014, your décor is incredible! I have wanted a Halloween tree for years but just never got around to getting one. You may have inspired me to go out and find one today! Love it!


----------



## katshead42 (Aug 5, 2010)

I put Halloween ornaments on my Christmas tree every year. I've been permitted to start getting out Halloween decorations Sept. 1st. The holiday has grown on my husband and he even helped me solder a broken prop yesterday! I'm slowly converting him to be one of us, one of us!


----------



## DaveintheGrave (Feb 12, 2004)

I start prepping and repairing stuff beforehand, but I don't really display anything until after October 1st.
My cemetery fencing and swinging skeleton are normally the first things up.


----------



## Col. Fryght (Oct 23, 2012)

DaveintheGrave said:


> I start prepping and repairing stuff beforehand, but I don't really display anything until after October 1st.
> My cemetery fencing and swinging skeleton are normally the first things up.


I am with Dave on this one. Since I live in a HOA subdivision, I have not interest in pushing the envelope beyond a month. I think this year though, I will put up my cemetery picket fence in the front yard on the last weekend in September. I think that will help get me started and perhaps less procrastination.


----------



## Tx_pumpkin_king (Aug 1, 2015)

Inside I start my Spooky Town first week of September and the house inside it totally decorated by the middle of the month. My outside is done October 1st and the exterior parts of the Haunted House go up the week before Halloween. Usually the heat and humidity of southeast Texas have started to subside.


----------



## Jerseyscare (Oct 2, 2012)

Always my favorite post of the season......
Put out a Pumpkin in an unweeded (for Halloween) flower bed about the 15th.
Mowed the lawn last weekend, won't be mowed again until 11/1.
Labor Day weekend the fencing goes up and then game on , slowly adding, moving, changing until the 31st and then almost all but the fencing down with the fencing coming down (in the daylight, too much rebar to tripped over otherwise) 11/1.
My next favorite post is the number of ToTers for that year!


----------



## mdna2014 (Jul 21, 2014)

Madame Leota said:


> mdana2014, your décor is incredible! I have wanted a Halloween tree for years but just never got around to getting one. You may have inspired me to go out and find one today! Love it!


Thank You so much!
At Home sells them for $99.00 but Walmart will probably be getting them soon.


----------



## Kyriotes (Oct 4, 2012)

I probably won't set up anything but the lights until Halloween because it's a papier mache prop and I'm worried about moisture. It could be sealed, but I'm not sure it's 100% good for outdoors still.

Maybe I'll setup some cheesecloth skull ghosts in my parents' yard halfway through October.

My home decor is up year-round.


----------



## notoriousliz (Aug 8, 2015)

Everything goes up October 1st. I make a whole day of it! It comes down November 2nd.


----------



## Hallow Girl (May 8, 2015)

Oct 1 then it stays up a bit into November bc I get lazy to take it down.


----------



## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Anytime after Oct 1 for me, depends on my work schedule.


----------



## dbruner (Aug 23, 2012)

I'll set up outside the first Saturday in October, as soon as the lawn guy leaves! Usually last weekend in September for inside, and I usually do the office the fist Monday in October, I may go in on Sunday and do it.


----------



## Ravenfell Manor (Oct 2, 2011)

For us it is a gradual thing. As soon as Sept. arrives we begin building stuff. So every now and then there are large props in the front yard at different levels of completion. But also in Sept. the skeletons begin to come out. I try to drum up attention to our facebook page with skeleton pics and posts along with stories about them and other props or characters of our haunt. So starting in Sept. I get stared at by neighbors as I haul them around the yard and set them up in different positions and situations for photo shoots. I also randomly set a skeleton or 2 up in random places in the yard peeking out or playing with a pumpkin to kinda hint that it is coming. 

Once we get close to Oct. the basic framework of scenes begins to appear. Fencing, cemetery columns, basically large props that take a lot of set up. All during that time, the scenes kind of change. Skeletons move around the yard for more photos but also usually come to rest in entertaining poses for a day or two when I find something I like. We slowly fill weather proof stuff in over the month of Oct. And then finally the last week it all goes nuts and we start the final countdown of getting everything else set up. Most years there are even times we are still setting up on Halloween day.


----------



## AZHalloweenScare (Aug 25, 2014)

Usually first weekend of Oct.


----------



## mb24 (Sep 7, 2013)

I started setting up on yesterday.


----------



## NOWHINING (Jul 25, 2009)

I managed to hold out until last week! Except I am working on outside theme. Living room is Skelly theme with a couple of Franks and the kitchen is witchy theme. Outside its mix. I would love to get more out door props, but that will not happen. I will be content with what I have and make the best of it. I am slightly worried now that I have Great nease (sp?) and she is only 9months old, I worry that it may scare her. She don't think too kindly of Frankie. haha


----------



## Balthazar (Aug 26, 2015)

I normally start the cemetery out front September 1st, and then work through the rest behind the scenes there rest of Sept and Oct. This year I started early because I have a very busy October planned with the BloodMoon Faire.


----------



## annamarykahn (Oct 4, 2009)

recently, I've started putting out a few things out on labor day weekend ... just so that the tots know that yes, we're doing Halloween ... unfortunately, we've had to skip a few :-( ... stupid weddings & births ;-)

haven't decided what i'll be putting out this weekend ... but stuff is going out/up 

amk


----------



## RCIAG (Jul 19, 2010)

Everything except inside decor & blow molds which go up end of Sept/first weekend of Oct. goes up day of & comes down the same night. Always has & most like always will as long as it's just me & the husband doing it.


----------



## DavyKnoles (Dec 5, 2009)

Last year we set up on the 30th. But that was only because there were only two of us and there was so much to do and set up. We didn't set up everything, though. The Crypt went up in the driveway last.


----------



## bayoubrigh (Jan 12, 2007)

HOA sets nothing outside until October 1st and I usually wait until second weekend as we usually get our final rains at the beginning of October. I take down most things the next day (electronics that night). I kind of like waiting until a little later - makes it special and I don't get tired of it. 

However working on the garage haunt as soon as I can convince my wife to park our van on the driveway.


----------



## Boone6666 (Aug 22, 2014)

oct 1 down nov 1 or 2 depends but usaly it may take a day or so for either people strart driving by about the 1st too see whats going on


----------



## LairMistress (Jul 31, 2009)

I sneak a few things out around the house year round. I also have a metal haunted house "stake" out near my flowers year round. 

Setting up the display for the kids, I do that as late as possible, due to possibility of theft. Oh, and wind. The wind always destroys something around here if I set up early. I'd do it all on Oct 1, if I could!


----------



## ooojen (Sep 4, 2014)

I'll start a little indoor decorating soon-ish (I have a couple recent purchases on shelves already-- seems pointless to put them away and drag them back out so soon.), but anything that might get in the way of daily life will have to wait. It seems more special and fun to me if the decor isn't up so long that the novelty wears off. Six weeks is plenty for keeping most of it novel and fun. 
Outside stuff --I'm moving into fall decor over the next couple weeks. I'll put some mums in planters, maybe get a couple pumpkins to supplement the ones I'll be harvesting when they're done growing. The front yard won't turn Halloweenish until the first week of October. Then I'll put out some skeletons, dress them up, change their looks, and move them around-- try to catch the interest of neighbors going by. I'll put light-up foam Jack o'Lanterns in the windows and on the deck, facing out. (I take those down just ahead of our party, and use the window space for other decor that makes more of an impression from inside.) The front yard display goes up gradually, the timing and the extent of it is dependent on the weather. 
I'll start takedown Nov. 1st, but it takes a few days to get it organized and packed away.


----------



## chupacabra (Aug 18, 2012)

1st week of Oct


----------



## Palladino (Aug 29, 2013)

I start working in the backyard/garage/workshop (non-public areas) around this time. The front yard doesn't start going up until October 1. It comes down the next day if I'm not too whacked!


----------



## Jenn&MattFromPA (Sep 4, 2013)

Due to a family trip we take every year during the 2nd week of October, we don't normally start decorating until after that. We'll put the cemetery fencing and a few tombstones out first, and lay electrical wires first. Then we'll gradually add more & more - lights, smaller props, stuff hanging from the trees, cornstalks & haybales, etc . We put the biggest or most expensive items up the day of Halloween & fill in details then also. 

We actually try really hard to take down EVERYTHING late Halloween night. We mostly pile it in our downstairs room, garage (already packed) and backyard area. So it's not put AWAY so much as it's just taken down. Our neighborhood is shocked how quickly it disappears!

This year, since our indoor decorations have gotten bigger & bigger, I think I want to start pulling them out earlier. My birthday & DD's birthday is this month, as well as mine & DH's anniversary, so September is normally pretty busy. But, I think I'm going to talk to DH about getting the indoor stuff out on the weekend of 9/18 since we don't have anything going on. This might be the plan from now on - it'll be fun to enjoy the items longer! Plus, since I started shopping earlier than ever before this year, we've already got a life-size witch, life-size pumpkin scarecrow man, skeleton butler, singing pumpkins, eyeball doorbells, spooky trees & corpse skulls in our family room. And some of them have been there since July! LOL! 

ETA - I'll for sure put out a fall wreath & some pumpkins on our doorstep by Oct. 1!


----------



## 1983ss454 (Sep 18, 2014)

I'll start setting mine up the last weekend in September, maybe even during that week before. It will turn on for the season on the 3rd, have a bunch of people coming for the first night. That's the light show, the rest if I'm not done by the night I will add to it during the next week until it's done.

Take down will be 50-60% done Halloween night after the trick or treaters stop coming. I take down what I'm worried might get broken or grow legs and put it all in the back yard behind the fence until the next day


----------



## LurkerNDdark (Sep 9, 2010)

September is for preparation and shopping. Well, so is August and theoretically July, but it is hot and I am a wimp (most of my construction is done on the carport). October 1st gets a little garden flag, the door gets a black wreath, maybe there is a little something else around,. First weekend in October, an inflatable appears in the back yard, visible from the side of the house -- previous years was the crouching cat, but this year is a giant skull with weird-looking eyes. I'll probably put the Don't Feed the Zombies sign near it. Each weekend, the inflatable moves closer to the front. This year, I'm also putting a skeleton out the first weekend, and adding a new one each weekend, along with other decorations. 

The expensive and less weather-proof decorations wait until Halloween. I haven't had a problem with Halloween vandalism yet, but I have had Christmas decorations damaged and stolen.


----------



## Kingofpain86 (Apr 19, 2015)

We start putting out a few indoor decorations every day starting September 1st. Everything is up by October 1st, including most of the outdoor props. We've never had a problem with theft or vandalism, but we put out our better props outside on Halloween night.


----------



## Greenwick (Apr 25, 2013)

I put out my Halloween wreath, & haven't done much else outside besides pumpkins. We have no electrical outlets outside, so I've been trying to figure out what to do for lighting.


----------



## halloween71 (Apr 22, 2007)

october 1 I would sooner but I do wait.


----------



## Greenwick (Apr 25, 2013)

Oops. I just realized the question was when. I leave some things up year round. Nowadays I wait till October 1st to put stuff up, but I'm always tempted to start in July.


----------



## LadyMage (Aug 15, 2014)

Greenwick said:


> I put out my Halloween wreath, & haven't done much else outside besides pumpkins. We have no electrical outlets outside, so I've been trying to figure out what to do for lighting.


I havn't got a halloween wreath up, but I have a fall one and a few fall decorations up already despite it being nearly 40C out. Do you have any outlets in the back on the outside? I don't have any out the front, but I have some in the back, so I run an extension from the backyard around to my post timer. When the purchase of the house goes through one of the things on the list is some electrical work, new panel with breakers and some new outlets strategically placed for decorating.


----------



## Greenwick (Apr 25, 2013)

Nope, no outlets whatsoever. We do have a porch light that I can screw an adapter into - but that light no longer works. (A lot of the lighting in our house is on the verge of breaking, it seems. Landlords are super slow to respond to maintenance requests & very reticent to fix anything.)


----------



## boo who? (Feb 28, 2005)

One night only.

I love that except for a few minor outdoor decorations, there is nothing that gives away the huge display to be seen for Trick-or-Treat. Curious kids will ride their bikes up and down my street, trying to glimpse clues of Halloween, but except for a few tarp-covered piles and a few staged electrical cords- Nada!

Then, like an evil mushroom appearing overnight... there it all is on Halloween!

And then- poof! It's all gone the next day.


----------



## mdna2014 (Jul 21, 2014)




----------



## lisa48317 (Jul 23, 2010)

Once I get off my butt from the computer, I'm going to dig out my fall stuff and start with some of that. As soon as my daughter's birthday rolls around on the 28th, it's fair game to start setting up the cemetery on the 29th!


----------



## ReelSore (Jan 19, 2015)

Actually start the week before the 31st and I normally take that whole week off for vacation. Normal setup is between 3-4 days, it use to be a few hours but it has been growing last few years. I'm still in build mode right now.


----------



## Papa Emeritus (Nov 14, 2013)

mdna2014 that is a superb looking Halloween tree! Great job!


----------



## hostesswiththemostess (Aug 16, 2012)

I usually have a couple things out year round. I start decorating outside October 1st  Can't wait to start!!!


----------



## booswife02 (Apr 2, 2013)

I usually start the inside Sept 15th. I like it to be completely done before October 1st so I can enjoy it all month long. 
I put a wreath on the door, small porch décor and fall mums out October 1st.
Then the last weekend before the big day I put all of the yard stuff out, cemetery, lights, I save the big props, they go out the day of.


----------



## mdna2014 (Jul 21, 2014)

Papa Emeritus said:


> mdna2014 that is a superb looking Halloween tree! Great job!


thanks so very much Papa!


----------



## Melanormal (Aug 15, 2012)

I usually haul all of my stuff out the first weekend before October and spend a few days decorating. But September is crafting and gathering month. So I've already made my pinterest list and started working on the new things I want to create.


----------



## HalloweenDan73 (Sep 5, 2015)

YEAH buddy! my **** will start going up around my days off this week=) Slowly start with the fence and then BOOM =)


----------



## jackrum (Aug 21, 2015)

Last year I started 2 weeks before Halloween. I was making a bunch of stuff (fence, cemetery columns, WeepIng Angle) and I didn't want to put any of it up before it was all done. That didn't happen because I was behind schedule. This year I'll probably start the first weekend of October. Of course I'm probably already behind so I might not be done til the week of the big day.


----------



## gildedviolet (Aug 26, 2015)

I'm putting mine out this Saturday.  I only work the morning shift, plus we've suppose to have fall-like weather here that day, so it'll be perfect. I might save some of the outdoor stuff for the first week of October. But most of it will go out this weekend.


----------



## Great Pumpkin (Aug 23, 2007)

October 31st, it appears and then late that night it disappears. Just like it never happened...


----------



## creepybob (Jul 27, 2003)

I'll start setting up this weekend since the kids are back to school they'll have a month and a half to walk by the house and tell their friends


----------



## Lukewa (Sep 14, 2014)

I'm setting up the inside and outside next weekend. I can hardly wait!


----------



## mb24 (Sep 7, 2013)

Setting up little by little. I'm so happy to be using a lot of items from my past Reapers.


----------



## mrincredibletou (Sep 17, 2007)

I start Sept. 1 (per wife rules) inside. I will have the garage walk through done by mid Oct and the outside is usually done 1st week of Oct. I like to enjoy the month instead of work crazy.


----------



## Berserker (Sep 4, 2012)

Last weekend of September.


----------



## zo6marlene (Oct 20, 2011)

I start in early September when I put out my village. Takes a couple days just to set up the 6 foot tables (9+) and take down all the Orange tubs from storage and that is if I get help which isn't always forthcoming. The interior goes fast....table decorations and my skeletons (I have 11 now, not counting the animal skeletons) start the last week in September. I don' t do exterior except for a few tombstones , pumpkins and bat lanterns around the outside doors.
Of course my mind is always churning during the rest of the year on how I can do things better.....with the village ( Lemax/Department 56) it's finding unusual things to add....bought the huge California scream machine roller coaster on eBay a couple years back to add to the Carnival section of the village. It was cheap as it wasn't "perfect" , which is right up my alley as I painted it brown, gray and green anyway.


----------



## Queen Of Spades (Jun 7, 2013)

Some Halloween is left up inside all year. Every other year except this one (because we aren't doing a party), outside decorations go up just before the party and stay up until we are no longer too lazy to take them down.

If you're Disneyland, it appears Halloween goes up the day after Labor Day. Amyml and I were there this weekend. Monday, just your normal 'ol Disneyland. Tuesday at opening, BAM lots of Halloween out.


----------



## Davidthedfactor (Jun 25, 2015)

^^^ I'll be at Disneyland in October, I can't wait!! As far as decorating goes I am going to step up my game this year. Last year I didn't even decorate due to a heavy work schedule  This year I plan to start with some fall stuff mid-late September, and slowly add in Some Halloween stuff after October 1st. I hope to be done by the middle of October so I can enjoy it. I love the idea some of you guys have of putting it all up and taking it all down on Oct. 31st, but I really love to enjoy the decor for at least a few weeks since I wait all year for it!


----------



## Saki.Girl (Aug 22, 2012)

I started 4 months ago


----------



## cipher (Sep 16, 2015)

I'm planning on October 1st. Most people I know target the first week in October. That way you get the whole month, and can still take it down a day or two after Halloween so my place won't look too tacky in November.

I'll be making skeletons by hand (joint compound/glue paper mache with hammered paint), along with some chicken wire & cheese cloth covered ghosts until then. Including of course, all of the other decorations. Will be fun!


----------



## meltyface (Sep 13, 2012)

I'm putting my stuff out starting right now


----------



## pookiemonster (Aug 26, 2009)

Already got my apartment decorated!
Just gotta wrangle this glow in the dark spiderweb and ill be done for now lol


----------



## xxScorpion64xx (Oct 15, 2011)

I tried to set up my wood furring/pvc fence for my cemetery but underestimated how much work it was, ran out of daylight, will resume tomorrow, I went the whole cemetery up and running by Oct. 1st., my neighbor saw me and asked if I wanted to borrow this huge rustic cart with big wheels and a barrel, I told him I wasn't feeling the barrel and he said I could temporarily take it off because he was going to spruce it up, that's when I said, now I'm feeling it, it's going to look great with a couple of skellys in the flatbed and a couple pulling it, awesome!!!


----------



## DarkhavenManor (Sep 27, 2014)

We'll be setting up probably two weeks before Halloween this year. Typically, I set up everything either October 1st, or the last day of September. We're planning on selling the house so I figured it's best that it not look awfully haunted while we're showing it


----------



## 22606 (Aug 11, 2008)

At my current rate of doing things, Thanksgiving or, even more likely, Christmas


----------



## Ugly Joe (Jan 13, 2004)

In Soviet Russia, you do not set up Halloween...Halloween set YOU up.



(this is the passe, Soviet Russia joke forum, right?)


----------



## themyst (Sep 4, 2012)

I was in the next town over yesterday and saw that someone had decorated outside already! They had some stuff in their windows, and an inflatable Jack o'Lantern outside along with some lights.


----------



## crashwitch (Mar 9, 2009)

I usually start to set up around the 13th of Oct and take down Nov 1st. We also decorate outside for Christmas so I like to get Halloween down and put away and have a week or so to rest up before we start on Christmas.


----------



## Goog (Sep 3, 2012)

My spouse won't let me start until October 1st. If not the inside of the house would be done.


----------



## The Auditor (Apr 2, 2006)

That implies I'm ever not set up...


----------



## ChrisW (Sep 19, 2006)

Just today (Sunday the 20th) and this evening we saw two houses decorated outside for Halloween.
On the minus side, we stopped in K Mart, and the Christmas decorations were already crowding out the Halloween decorations - ditto at Big Lots!


----------



## LairMistress (Jul 31, 2009)

Maybe I'm developing an ego, but I may have infected my town with Halloween spirit! Last year, there were so few decorations, and NONE out this early, except for my very small things like garden flags and solar lights.

So far this year, I've seen Jack o'lanterns on porches (mostly fake, some blow mold!), orange lights draped around doorways, spider webbed porches, two different houses have skeletons out, and two within walking distance are completely decorated already! The DD home around the corner has their skeleton couple out on their bench, and their porch lights covered, the works!

Then there's a neighbor one street over, who came to remark about my cemetery last year. I'm not sure if I misunderstood what he said, because it sounded like a negative remark, but guess who has a cemetery set up in his yard this year? Yep, that guy! Last year, he only did inflatables. Tonight, I saw that he has his whole porch decorated in lights and blow molds, has a reaper with LED eyes (smallish, not life size, but not tiny), and he has a mini cemetery with some fairly cool tombstones!

And here I've barely put anything out, myself! I did haunt a little this week, though. 










I made the bat roost. Sort of. As soon as I saw the metal whatever-it-is at Goodwill, I thought that it would be perfect to hang a sleeping bat from. Then I took a Dollar Tree bat, and stapled him into a sleeping position (poor bat!), and said really bad words while I tried to tie his little feet to the "hooks" with fishing line. I nearly gave up and went in search of black twist ties, which I now have an abundance of. 

I have battery operated candles for the wall sconce. Now if only I knew where that box is!

The arbor below also has four bats hanging from the back arch (more difficult to steal, as they'll have to walk around it, rather than just lazily grabbing them from the sidewalk...gotta work for my ten cent clearance bats, you know!). It's also difficult to see the Dollar Tree chalkboard with the poorly lettered Halloween countdown. At some point, I'll take it down and write it nicely...maybe in colored chalk. 

Provided that I can find THAT box, too. My oldest and youngest both realized that I was taking a picture, and tried to make a run for it!










Oh, and I can't forget my 4 yr old's inflatables. He loves them dearly! (I have no idea why I named the file blowmolds...eek, tired I guess)


----------



## JackWickerman (Sep 25, 2015)

One guy in my neighborhood seems to put his decorations up near the end of August, but I usually put them up around Oct. 1 so they are up long enough to justify all the work, but also not too early to where Halloween becomes like Christmas is today.


----------



## matrixmom (Oct 29, 2010)

I think the real answer to this question is:

1. weather (how long can your props be out there in your climate until oct 31)
2. Crime area (do kids steal stuff? do you feel comfortable if something gets taken?)
3. HOA rules (if any)
4. or the heck with #1 -3 and Ill put it out when I want to.


----------



## Saruman of Many Colours (Sep 8, 2010)

I'll usually put out my favorite inflatable spooky tree and ghosts a week or two before Halloween (which is the earliest the HOA allows), and start setting up the other outdoor decorations several days before Halloween, depending on my work schedule.

This year, however, we'll be moving to a new home and our settlement date is scheduled for October 22. Our current home is for sale right now, so cannot do any decorating here. I'll have to see what all I can do, but it my time and energy will almost certainly be limited by the demands of the move-in process . . .


----------



## Frightshow (Sep 14, 2015)

I start building props in July - the neighbors must think we're nuts, and then we trickle our decorations out each weekend starting in September - to give the neighbors something to watch and talk about. It's just as much about the build up as the big night. Some years, we'll pull down all the stuff we set up at the beginning and bring the real props out just for Halloween in order to create a totally different theme and experience.


----------

