# The Only House On The Whole Street...



## kurtnotkirk (Nov 17, 2012)

Hi, this is the first Halloween I have done in my new house, that I bought in mid December last year. Around the first week of October, I started putting out the pumpkins, which I did not carve into jack o' lanterns at first, but created faces in the tops, by carving away the pumpkin skin, using the stems as noses. I slowly added a few elements as time went on. A couple of tombstones here, some webs there, then in the last week, started putting up the severed heads, lights, a strobe, and then finally the night before Halloween, I carved the jack o' lanterns.

I was kind of surprised that there was not one other house that had so much as a paper ghost of skeleton in the window. I walked around the block, or shambled rather, as I made myself up as a zombie... and was surprised to find that it wasn't just my street, but there was nothing on any of the streets around the block, on either side... so really, it was about a six block area with nothing up for Halloween.

The kids that came around were few, but there were some. Little ones wore costumes, but a large number just walked up to the door and held out a bag. Most of the kids were more excited about my parrot who would say "Hi!" every time someone came to the door. It was fun, but a little bit of a let down.

The next night, after I had taken everything down, my girl (gf) and I were coming back from dinner, and there were a couple of kids from the neighborhood, who were waiting for us, apparently. They were hiding behind a tree right across the street, and they were making spooky ghost noises at us as we got out of the car. I felt a little vindicated by that.

Anyway, does anyone else have this problem, being the only one who does stuff for Halloween? Any C&R's or HOA rules that prohibit decorating? Share your stories?


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## annamarykahn (Oct 4, 2009)

most houses in my neck of the woods don't do anything ... some have inflatables, which is, in my opinion the lazy way out, but at least they did something ... some have a few things out, but they're in the minority ...

just keep on doing what you're doing and the kids will come ... word of mouth will spread and maybe you'll shame some of your neighbors into doing something

amk


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## matrixmom (Oct 29, 2010)

My first years with just inflatables, only a couple kids. Next year or so, none. Last year, @5 kids. This year revved up the lighting in the [email protected] kids. I live in an area with alot of retirees. But its slowly changing, as everything does and cycles....


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## Nepboard (Sep 21, 2009)

Its a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time to build a following. We have went all out at a friends house for the past 4 years. This year because of the weather (hurricane Sandy) we went very lite with props. People were disappointed which validated our work up to this point. Kinda nice.


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## xPUMPKiNxKiNGx (Jul 5, 2012)

I think the recession might play a role in holiday decorating. Money is tight these days and people are cutting back on spending. However, there is no excuse for not putting up anything. You don't necessarily have to spend money to decorate. There are plenty of little things you can do to make your house full of the Halloween spirit. The other factor why most don't decorate is because of aging neighborhoods. Typically people with young children are more apt to decorating and dressing up in costumes. Similar to what others here have said, just keep doing what your doing and they will come! My previous neighborhood didn't do much in the beginning. However, the kids in the neighborhood thought my house was so cool and they started being amateur haunters of their own. In my new house this year I was surprised that even the house holds with younger children didn't even decorate.

I was the only one on my street who went all out decorating. However, there were some nice yard haunts nearby!


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## theworstwitch (Aug 14, 2006)

I'm surprised to hear people didn't even put out JOLs! Just curious, where do you live?
Keep it going, and others will probably follow. Very few decorate in our area, but the few that do probably encourage others who do a little. And I can't blame the kids for not dressing in costume when the houses aren't decorated!


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## kurtnotkirk (Nov 17, 2012)

theworstwitch said:


> I'm surprised to hear people didn't even put out JOLs! Just curious, where do you live?
> Keep it going, and others will probably follow. Very few decorate in our area, but the few that do probably encourage others who do a little. And I can't blame the kids for not dressing in costume when the houses aren't decorated!


I'm in Winston Salem, NC... Now, there is an area not far from me, where apparently it is a serious thing to out-do your neighbor in decorating for Halloween... I didn't know about it in time this year, but will go see next year. I'm definitely going to get bigger and better each year.


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## Deadna (Oct 19, 2002)

My neighbor had never decorated or let her kids TOT until this year. I think my decorating and talking about how fun it was convinced her and altho' their jacko'lanterns had crosses carved into them at least it was something


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## rcspider (Sep 20, 2011)

I moved to a neighborhood unknowing that it was a Halloween one. The second year I lived here the street behind had a Halloween 
parade it was amazing 25 kids and it stopped at my house. My yard is more kid oriented so when I decorate I have kids coming by after
school saying stuff like I love your yard and I can't wait for Halloween. And my favorite is how did you make that one prop. Man getting kids involved
in making props is great, even a couple took there r.c. trucks and made r.c. spiders like mine.


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## Terror Tom (Nov 3, 2008)

I'm the only one who decorated for about a 3 block radius!!!!!! I had new neighbors move in around early September and they mentioned that they loved Halloween when I was putting up some of the decorations. I thought "Great! Finally I won't be the only one!!!!" They didn't put out anything! Nothing, zip, nada, zero, zilch....
They didn't even hand out candy! They didn't even take their kid TOTing. He went out with his friends. I need to move to a haunt-friendly neighborhood....


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## kurtnotkirk (Nov 17, 2012)

@Terror Tom: Yeah, Cloak_Dagger posted that it could be due to the recession, which is very likely in myt area, however... the malls have TOT night where the kids are given candy, and the adults are handed coupons, heh... and many church groups Trunk Or Treat, out of a want for safety, which is all good. I do think that as I do more each year, that others will join...


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## bethene (Feb 12, 2007)

we have a couple of families that put out pumpkins, and a block over, some one has a blow mold and orange lights in the trees. And a few blocks over one other person puts a few orange lights out,, and random pumpkins here and there. other wise,, nope,, just me. But that's ok,, I do it for me as much as the TOTers


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## Deadview (Aug 9, 2011)

We've been in our new house for five years now. The first year I was the only one on the block who set up for OUR night. The neighbors were quite surprised at what they were seeing when I started to bring things out. At my old house I had been doing the whole yard for ten years. So people knew about our haunt. When we left there I made a point to let people know where we would be and tell their friends where "Deadview" was located for future fun. Well after everything was out and running, neighbors were stopping by looking at all the props in the yard and saying no one had ever done anything like this before around there. I told them to come by at night and have fun. What better way to meet the new neighbors. The first year we had 100 TOTer's, after that others on the street began to put Halloween items out and it has grown from there. This year even after storms and having Halloween in the middle of the week, which sucked, eight other houses on the street put some type of Halloween props out and everyone had a great time with the number of TOTer's that came by. Although all ran out of candy at some point of the night, but me, it was a blast and everyone knows what to expect from here on out. A great time for all. Looking forward to 2013 !


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## xPUMPKiNxKiNGx (Jul 5, 2012)

^ See Halloween decorating is infectious. If you go full out others will follow.


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## Deadna (Oct 19, 2002)

Terror Tom said:


> I need to move to a haunt-friendly neighborhood....


I've mentioned before that just around the corner from me it's like Mardi Gras and I nearly broke down in tears when I saw it because I was so close and no one came to MY house. This year I realized how lucky I am when I think about how much it would have cost to buy candy...LOL!
I have also noticed that nearly all of the yard haunts have vanished on that street so I don't know what is bringing the TOTers other than the paper is always there to take pics of the kids.


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## boo who? (Feb 28, 2005)

My immediate neighbor puts out a Halloween flag and a window decoration... but she is one of those people that has a flag/wreath and window decoration for EVERY holiday. Nobody else in my neighbor hood does much- except for one house with a couple of inflatables.

Since you have just a few TOTs, I would suggest giving OK treats to the non-costume kids and really great treats to the costumed ones.


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## The-Dullahan (Feb 26, 2011)

Keep doing it, bigger and better. Trust me, the crowd will grow every year.

Almost no house in my entire community decorates, though there was always this one house on the corner that would always sort of rip-off my ideas and styles from the previous year as they set their yard and house up. I never decorate until the day of and I take it down on November first. This year, I threw together some scarecrows (which were really nifty, still waiting for photos though) and put them out ahead of time. To my surprise, by Halloween, as I finished the pneumatic coffin setup and skeletons, lights, music, fog machines, tombstones and everything else...I was the only house on the entire street (a very LARGE street) with any decorum. I guess if you averaged it off, I made up for the rest of them. Anyhow, maybe decorating early made the "rical" on the corner just give up earlier than usual this year. No idea really.

Anyhow, after doing this every year and getting larger and larger crowds every time (from counties away) I have created a name for myself. My sister will make friends throughout the state and add them on The Face Books and tag me to Halloween photos from some year once-upon-a-time when they visited. At one point this year, I had someone take photos of the street outside my house as I had continual streams of people constantly all night, but at one point in particular, I had to have had over 300 people outside and to be realistic, that is far more than actually LIVE where I do (Vacation/seasonal homes and such)

Trust me. Don;t be discouraged...just go bigger and bigger. They'll remember and come back...They'll tell stories and bring friends.


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## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

luckily i'm not the only one here who decorates. my immediate neighbors do. i agree, just keep doing it, and they will keep coming


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## matrixmom (Oct 29, 2010)

Well,certain age groups may follow. My neighbors are great but we would literally have to go and decorate their yard (over 65 and retired with no "handy" hobbies). Im too tired! But I have thought of just lining up the street with carved JOL's here and there at all the neighbors yards might be easy enough and they would love.



Cloak_Dagger said:


> ^ See Halloween decorating is infectious. If you go full out others will follow.


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## Dr. Phibes (Nov 10, 2010)

My neighborhood sucked this year. Out of 100+ homes only 5 or so even handed out candy and only two o three had anything up.

I did have a couple parent say 'this is cool' and one even said something like 'this is a real nice thing you did here for the kids' so I felt good with my efforts. Most TOT's were kids that walked the city steps down from the projects down to my street. I even had cars dropping kids from the projects off just to walk up and get candy then get back in the car.

The way I see it is those kids lives are crap most days so I can go all out and brighten one day of their lives.

(City steps is.Pittsburgh thing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steps_of_Pittsburgh )


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## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

Don't know what kind of house you have available to decorate but I'll pass on something that got us noticed In our new neighborhood, which was a new subdivision and not decorated much for halloween, and it drew in the kids like moths to a flame--"Hallowindow" in our upstairs front room's window. 

We bought cheap shower curtain material from Walmart, my husband borrowed a projector for a few days, and I bought Hallowindow I & II from Mark Gervais when it first came out. We started a few nights before halloween, early in the evening for a few hours, and would run one of the tracks each night so that people would be enticed to see what was new each night, saving our favorite, the eye ball, for halloween night. Parents with kids driving past in their cars on their way home noticed our house. We went from maybe 15-20 kids from the previous years to 120 that night. Parents and kids stood outside our house and congregated watching it halloween night. Even had some parents say something to us about how cool it was the following weeks afterwards when they saw us outside. The following year for halloween I didn't run it (hubby couldn't pick up the projector) and I overheard a kid in the street in front of our house telling his friends they should have been there last year to see the giant eyeball! It has drawing power! 

So if you want to get noticed and attract TOTers I'd say figure out how to set up Hallowindow or something like it at your house Halloween week. We always put out decorations and like you were just about the only ones around that did anything but I have to say the video really worked for us. More and more homes have gotten into the halloween and Christmas decorating spirit and I think it makes the neighborhood a welcome place to be. BTW our downtown, a little walk from our street, has been doing TOTing in town from 6-8 for the past few years and they get a good turnout but I think the kids might go there first but seem to start appearing in our neighborhood around 6:30 - 9 pm. I was concerned when I saw the kids heading downtown but they still came around so don't be discouraged. I'll bet after seeing you decorate this year a few of your neighbors will think to put stuff out next year as well. There are always one or two families that will take it as a challenge to decorate as well.

Here's a link to Mark's website if you aren't familiar with his animations: http://www.hallowindow.com/


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## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

dr phibes, that is very interesting about those steps.


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## xPUMPKiNxKiNGx (Jul 5, 2012)

rcspider said:


> I moved to a neighborhood unknowing that it was a Halloween one. The second year I lived here the street behind had a Halloween
> parade it was amazing 25 kids and it stopped at my house. My yard is more kid oriented so when I decorate I have kids coming by after
> school saying stuff like I love your yard and I can't wait for Halloween. And my favorite is how did you make that one prop. Man getting kids involved
> in making props is great, even a couple took there r.c. trucks and made r.c. spiders like mine.


Okay this made me smile. This is the way to do it. Get the neighborhood kids involved, because they are the ones who are likely to carry the haunter gene.


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## Reynard Muldrake (Oct 29, 2004)

Wow, bummer! Maybe next year a few people will be inspired by your display from this year and do something. In my area of NJ, there are a lot of decorations every year, luckily. My neighborhood has some nice little set ups, so that's pretty cool. I mean it's not Halloween town, but there's enough to show people care. 
At least your neighborhood has you! I'm sure the kids liked it, you can't blame them for being excited about the parrot though.


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## creeperguardian (Aug 22, 2011)

Its the same thing in my area there is maybe like 2 other houses that go all out on halloween like i do, there are others that put some halloween things up so it totals to like 4 houses with halloween things but thats it and i live near a school which in a way helps but not much the first year we got a few kids maybe like 20 and it would increase but this year think we had like near 70 i bealive but i dont know because i dont count LOL. I wish there was one whole block with halloween homes i would like that, when i was trick or treating a few years ago in like bloomsburg i think it was that they had tons of houses with halloween decorations and i loved it


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## kurtnotkirk (Nov 17, 2012)

Terror Tom said:


> I'm the only one who decorated for about a 3 block radius!!!!!! I had new neighbors move in around early September and they mentioned that they loved Halloween when I was putting up some of the decorations. I thought "Great! Finally I won't be the only one!!!!" They didn't put out anything! Nothing, zip, nada, zero, zilch....
> They didn't even hand out candy! They didn't even take their kid TOTing. He went out with his friends. I need to move to a haunt-friendly neighborhood....


Yeah, I know it seems lame, but... moving into a place in September, I'd give them a break THIS YEAR, hehe... if they dont put anything out next year... I will send you a case of toilet paper.


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## kurtnotkirk (Nov 17, 2012)

Ghost of Spookie said:


> Don't know what kind of house you have available to decorate but I'll pass on something that got us noticed In our new neighborhood, which was a new subdivision and not decorated much for halloween, and it drew in the kids like moths to a flame--"Hallowindow" in our upstairs front room's window.
> 
> We bought cheap shower curtain material from Walmart, my husband borrowed a projector for a few days, and I bought Hallowindow I & II from Mark Gervais when it first came out. We started a few nights before halloween, early in the evening for a few hours, and would run one of the tracks each night so that people would be enticed to see what was new each night, saving our favorite, the eye ball, for halloween night. Parents with kids driving past in their cars on their way home noticed our house. We went from maybe 15-20 kids from the previous years to 120 that night. Parents and kids stood outside our house and congregated watching it halloween night. Even had some parents say something to us about how cool it was the following weeks afterwards when they saw us outside. The following year for halloween I didn't run it (hubby couldn't pick up the projector) and I overheard a kid in the street in front of our house telling his friends they should have been there last year to see the giant eyeball! It has drawing power!
> 
> ...


These are VERY COOL! Thanks for the link!!


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## xPUMPKiNxKiNGx (Jul 5, 2012)

kurtnotkirk said:


> These are VERY COOL! Thanks for the link!!


^ Made me want to purchase a cheap projector too!


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## jimmy666 (Mar 13, 2013)

same problem here. 2013 will be the first year that we do something big ourselves (finally my twisted mind convinced myself to not mind what the neighbours would think, old people you know)

most off the time you see the younger generations putting up some stickers on the windows and some uncarved pumpkins at the door and some candles, but that's it. 
this year (allready started making plans in my head) i'm gonna do something with the front yard. and when i start building tombstones and fences i'm gonna start posting the pics on my facebook so that friends and people from my street know that i'm doing something more than usual, hoping that they get inspired. and when halloween is almost a fact i'm gonna invite as many people possible so the neighbours see that it attracts fun and happy kids faces.


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## xxScorpion64xx (Oct 15, 2011)

I hope you have good turnout Jimmy666


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## piraticalstyle (Sep 1, 2009)

As the years went by and our (now her) haunt grew and changed, we would give props to our neighbors that didn't fit with how we were evolving. It was a great way to spread the spirit, and by the time I moved out of that house, a good portion of the neighborhood was decorating and they'd all come down on Halloween to have a beer around the fire pit and go through the haunt.


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## Guest (Mar 19, 2013)

As I have stated too many times before, we live in Military housing and move about every 3 years.

I have to say, we were stationed at White Sands Missile Range, NM, and there were maybe 1 or 2 houses that decorated. Here, in MO, we have feast or famine: some houses are amazing, but there are huge stretches of neighborhoods without a single JOL. There was a Marine that did a huge faux cemetery fence, Mary Shelley coffin, graveyard, PLUS inflatables in his side yard...but he moved. 

So, I wait for October and often drive around at night looking for Haunted Houses. It is such a treat to drive down street after street, through IDENTICAL homes with lawns the size of a parking spot, and find a yard haunt! 

I do wonder what is 'wrong' with the hundreds of others I pass. Hello? Pumpkins? A single string of lights? A blowmold? Halloween equals nothing to you, and your kids are just locked of of a great holiday? Sad.


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## LoomisPirateHouse (Feb 24, 2013)

There are more and more houses in our area that are not participating in Halloween over the last 10 years. Many of the folks we talk to and ask why have told us that they do participate in Halloween, but they do it by going to the HUGE truck or treat events at what we call the "Big Box Churches" in our region that have come in in the last decade or so. 
I don't want to make this a commentary on religious views, but am rather disappointed in the reasoning that this has pulled families and kids away from Trick or Treating in the local neighborhoods.

The reason that we hear from our neighbors is that the Trunk or Treat is much safer for kids. You aren't going up to houses of folks you don't know and possibly getting tainted candy. This is the official line presented by the organizations and by my neighbors.

On the whole, I find this sad and very offensive. First off, we live in a Northern CA community that most people in our region refer to as Mayberry. I guarantee that if I don't actually know someone in the community, I know someone that knows them personally. A very small town. We don't have crime for the most part (little stuff, and they get caught quick) or gang problems (knock on wood!).

So what these organizations are telling their constituents is, "don't trust your neighbor. You are only safe under our watch."
They are, in fact, doing the community a disservice in my opinion.

If I was to look at it from a kid's point of view, they do get a candy BONANZA with little effort, so it's hard to argue with a kid that they're not cool. But the amount of community building that Halloween can create is lost.

Off my soapbox


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## slash (Sep 9, 2010)

LoomisPirateHouse said:


> There are more and more houses in our area that are not participating in Halloween over the last 10 years. Many of the folks we talk to and ask why have told us that they do participate in Halloween, but they do it by going to the HUGE truck or treat events at what we call the "Big Box Churches" in our region that have come in in the last decade or so.
> I don't want to make this a commentary on religious views, but am rather disappointed in the reasoning that this has pulled families and kids away from Trick or Treating in the local neighborhoods.
> 
> The reason that we hear from our neighbors is that the Truck or Treat is much safer for kids. You aren't going up to houses of folks you don't know and possibly getting tainted candy. This is the official line presented by the organizations and by my neighbors.
> ...


Never heard of Truck or Treat before, interesting.


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## jimmy666 (Mar 13, 2013)

people these days are losing touch with social and personal contact, things like that big "event" are part of why that happens in my eyes. children learn that way that they can't thrust people anymore. they learn that only big companies and sortlike organisations can be thrusted. and that's not good in my eyes because small, social events and things like that don't get appreceated anymore and lose their good name. same happens here, small bussinesses don't stand a chance against multibillion companies and the government get their benefits from. the bigger it is, the more money they can pull off. but that's how i look at it. it's a shame that it makes traditions disappear and the ones that stay are celebratuions that makes people spend lots of money, like valentines day :s


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## LoomisPirateHouse (Feb 24, 2013)

Sorry... meant to say "Trunk or Treat" not _Truck_ Not enough coffee this morning


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## His and Hearse (May 19, 2011)

I tend to agree with Jimmy666. You don't see as much decor these days for the same reason you don't see kids out playing football in the corner lot like you used to. People stay inside these days. On the internet, in front of TVs, playing video games.

THAT SAID, Haunting is contagious. It may take several years, but if you do a big haunt and bring kids to the street, the neighbors will more than likely join in eventually.

I began "haunting" my parents house on Halloween in 1984 when I was 8 years old. Continued haunting the same house until 2011 (I didn't live there after 1999, but always lived in non-hauntable city apartments so I'd go back home to haunt). We were the only ones to really do it, but by the early 90s some other people on the street began to do a little decorating. By the late 90's, we had several houses on the street decorating and most houses at least putting out JOLs and handing out candy. By the 00's we had 5 or 6 houses decorating heavy, including our next door neighbors, who did up their yard, which created one big long two house haunt! People in our town began diving kids to our street just to TOT. We were getting like 400 kids, and this in a small town. It was great. "If you build it, they will come"

In 2012 my wife and I finally bought our own house, and started from scratch. We and one house were the only ones that decorated, but other neighbors said they had more TOTs than in previous years because of our haunt. People remember, and more will come next year. That's how you have to do it- think long term!


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## xPUMPKiNxKiNGx (Jul 5, 2012)

I was just thinking.... Candy cost me $30 this year and I spend a good $40 on batteries. And that's not including the other money I spend on props and decor. It doesn't bother me that I dropped that kind of cash on my favorite holiday, however, others might not have the money in their budget to spend on Halloween props, decor, and candy. In addition, there is increase in the Trunk or Treat trend. Some neighborhoods demographics are aging. These are just a few factors that may contribute to low Trick or Treat traffic. For instance, my neighborhood has few families with young children. All I can suggest is to go even bigger the next year blast loud music, use fog and strobe lights, and perhaps a DLP to project specters in the window!


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## jimmy666 (Mar 13, 2013)

40$ is that much? i don't know how to compare it with euros. i was thinking to set u budget for 75uero on candy for halloween itself and try to find some second hand materials for building props. i probably will spend more than i was thinking to spend, but well ;-)


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## xPUMPKiNxKiNGx (Jul 5, 2012)

jimmy666 said:


> 40$ is that much? i don't know how to compare it with euros. i was thinking to set u budget for 75uero on candy for halloween itself and try to find some second hand materials for building props. i probably will spend more than i was thinking to spend, but well ;-)


It's not a lot too me, but it could be costly to those affected by the recession.


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## jimmy666 (Mar 13, 2013)

guess the recession is bigger than we think :s


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## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

there are a lot of people that can't afford $40.00, but they can turn their lights off and not participate. my daughter and i pull it together. she buys the candy bars, i buy the pop. there is one bad thing about trunk and treat, there are a lot of elderly people and they don't have many visiters, this is a time of year they can look forward to just for the interaction. i live in a town of 400 people. there are about 25 kids here, the rest are mostly elderly. most of them love halloween. let's keep trick or treat on the agenda


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## jimmy666 (Mar 13, 2013)

being the only one that has his own house with a front yard and who doesn't have to ask permission from the parents i'm going to be the host for our haunt. we discussed the financiel part and came to an aggreement between me, my girlfriend and my best friend and his girlfriend. we are going to put together a fund for the haunt, to get more candy and building the props. we all put down some ideas for props, try to find out the cost for each prop and the person who gave the idea will fund that build. and when the other couple have their own house they will allready have some props for when they have their own haunt, but meanwhile we can have some fun allready, all together ;-)


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## mamadada (Aug 18, 2008)

*is ur spouse on ur side?*

Below is s quote from His and Hearse which makes me want to pose/post a question 

"In 2012 my wife and I finally bought our own house, and started from scratch"

do any of u have spouses thay have no interest in doing a haunt or decorating at all? DH doesnt like halloween and tolerates my decorating and parties for DS and Halloween night. its tough because as a woman i have limitations as to what i can do. very little believe me. any advice on how to bring him over to my side?


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## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

no advise from me. sounds like my hubby. good luck to you. I hope it's better than my luck. anytime you want to build something, someone on here will be probably able to help you. or direct you to someone who can.


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## awokennightmare (Jan 17, 2013)

I'm not the only houses, but i'm definitely the biggest by far! I'm glad to see even a few tiny things out from neighbors.


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## lanie077 (Sep 2, 2009)

when we moved into our house 6 years ago no one decorated but us. Last year 3 other houses finally put some stuff out. It makes me so excited to see other people get into the spirit of halloween


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

We are the loners on our street too, but we are on the edge of a neighborhood on a road everyone uses as a cut-through between two main roads. We mainly get the "drive by" TOTers who pull up, unload a few kids who run to the door and run back to hop in their parents car, but we are getting more each year. Had around 30 last year, which was an all time high for us and several parents got out to look and compliment. Hopefully this year weather will be better and with my display nearly doubled in size, we will get more visitors and will be able to sit on the porch and enjoy some "witches brews" while we hand out the goodies.


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## SpiderWitch (May 6, 2013)

We moved into the neighborhood 2 years ago. Mostly jack-o-lanterns, a few cornstalks, maybe some skeletons. A few have inflatables. One or two houses put some effort into it, having costumers mixed with static costumes so you don't know who's going to jump out. I think we're the only ones with a "theme". It seems to be appreciated it- a lot of the kids barely get the candy, they're in a hurry to go get pics taken in the graveyard! More than one group has told us we "won" Halloween 

The best thing, though, happened last year- a group of teens came to the door and excitedly told my husband they had been by last year. They were happy at being part of the experience, which is what we hoped to accomplish. Hubby played it well, he told them (with great sincerity) that he remembered them and was happy to see them again. After they left he told me the first thing that popped into his head was "oh, yeah- you were the one with the costume!"


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## vwgirl (Jul 16, 2012)

We are the only ones on our street. We do not get many TOT's, but we do get a lot of drive by people coming by to see the display the days leading up to Halloween night, this last year was expecially busy after the local news did a spot about out house.


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## His and Hearse (May 19, 2011)

mamadada said:


> Below is s quote from His and Hearse which makes me want to pose/post a question
> 
> "In 2012 my wife and I finally bought our own house, and started from scratch"
> 
> do any of u have spouses thay have no interest in doing a haunt or decorating at all? DH doesnt like halloween and tolerates my decorating and parties for DS and Halloween night. its tough because as a woman i have limitations as to what i can do. very little believe me. any advice on how to bring him over to my side?


Oh believe me, my wife tolerates my decorating more than she participates in it. I do all the work, but she does dress up and participate in the haunt. As bad as it sounds, I don't think I could marry anyone who downright hated Halloween. It would be a deal breaker.


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## Ragged Grin (Nov 5, 2012)

There are a few here, well....allot that have SOMETHING really, but probably only a handful that go....that really GO. Saddest part is a few days after this past year I had a knock at the door on a late Saturday morning, went to the door to find 4 kids, probably my youngest sons age, 12 or so, asked if I could help them, they shuffled a bit and then one kind of blurted out "Mister, we want to know if you still have your stuff and can we see it, the scarecrow". I was a little surprised and considered it for a moment, but decided to do the unthinkable and take these 4 potential vandals into the garage basement to where the props were resting before being packed for storage, I took my wife along for support and had one of them call their parents first. So down we went, it was raining, the two car garage is a seperate building and the basement is windowed on three sides so we all sloshed in and you could hear a muffled, gulping "oh" as they walked in, light filtering through the windows onto faces of 8 foot tall witch props. I flipped on the lights and they walked towards them, one asked if he could touch the one I call "pumpkin" and I reluctantly ok'd. So for a few minutes it was just a bit of staring and my wife talking to them while I considered how furious I'd be if I came down the next day to an empty basement and then my son Dylan came down and as is often the case when "Dylan comes down", the party started, or at least the mood brightened considerably. Questions were flying, kids were laughing, photos were taken and a pizza was ordered. One of the kids, that knew my son ended up sleeping over and we discussed Halloween, horror movies, PumpkinRot and paper mache in front of the fireplace until after midnight. My house is off the road a bit and the general opinion is the majority of kids didn't know what was back there or parents didn't want to walk up the driveway, so we didn't get the turnout that some other houses do so it was suggested we do something closer to the street to draw them in, which is why the new scarecrow prop was initiated, anyway....

About a week later I came to the door again, same kids, asking to see the spider, which is seperated, packed away at this point and I could not oblige due to other commitments. So, through Dyl, we arranged a day where it was set up in the largest yard and what was supposed to be a couple kids turned out to be a dozen pre teens and a couple teens standing around what amounted to a month of work for me as I watched from a window 50 yards away, occasionally walking out. Happy to report, no damage, no fights, just kids milling about in the yard, some taking pics with camera phones.....yes, times have changed...a football game in adjoining yard...fire pit going, s'mores, hot dogs, hot chocolate, all while my spider sat watch. 

So, sad part........at least a few times during all of this, during "spider day", the afternoon in the garage, etc. I was told that trick or treat was "kids stuff" and other parents thought that people like me needed to "grow up", a notion that at first made me inwardly very angry, but brought me to my next step. While dismantling the spider and moving it to the garage basement the subject of "kids stuff" came up and I suggested that maybe, because there was so much real horror in the world that Halloween could in fact be cathartic, a way of controlling the very real fears we deal with every day, that in fact this "kids stuff" is a perfect antidote to a far too sober, adult problem society. At some point my son brought up my military experiences and I was asked for pictures (kids not so subtle way of subtly asking for proof) so, after a few minutes of thought I went to my attic locker and brought down photos of a past life, with images of myself, some friends I still stay in touch with, others that I speak to only in thoughts and the memories they all hold. A little more than I bargained for on a Sunday afternoon with a Halloween prop. I hadn't opened the locker since Dylan had asked about it when he was about 8 I believe and hadn't opened it prior to that since I had given my older son a republican guard beret a few years before. 

So, a beautiful day, with some sadness thrown in, but all in all I believe all of us involved left it with some new perspective, a bit of an eye opener about the world for some and hopefully a renewed appreciation for the things, like Halloween, that give us a bit of an escape and hopefully, a wonderful, exciting Halloween 2013. Cheers.


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

> So, sad part........at least a few times during all of this, during "spider day", the afternoon in the garage, etc. I was told that trick or treat was "kids stuff" and other parents thought that people like me needed to "grow up", a notion that at first made me inwardly very angry, but brought me to my next step.


I soooooo need to grow up if that's the case. lol


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## Guest (Jul 30, 2013)

We bought our house on Halloween last year. We had the final walk thru a few days before, of course, and I don't really remember seeing my neighbors decorate much, if it all. Its a large neighborhood and we are one of the first 10 houses so I didn't see everyone. 

I am getting a feeling that this town is very, I don't know? The town doesn't have a liquor license and they don't sell beer on Sundays. I am hoping to find at least SOME Halloween here, haha. Either way, I am decorating


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## Guest (Jul 30, 2013)

and I just looked at the Events calendar and they have nothing Halloween related  Oh well. I guess I will be driving back to the town I grew up in that has a Halloween Festival


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## His and Hearse (May 19, 2011)

Ferryman's Wake said:


> So, sad part........at least a few times during all of this, during "spider day", the afternoon in the garage, etc. I was told that trick or treat was "kids stuff" and other parents thought that people like me needed to "grow up", a notion that at first made me inwardly very angry, but brought me to my next step. While dismantling the spider and moving it to the garage basement the subject of "kids stuff" came up and I suggested that maybe, because there was so much real horror in the world that Halloween could in fact be cathartic, a way of controlling the very real fears we deal with every day, that in fact this "kids stuff" is a perfect antidote to a far too sober, adult problem society. At some point my son brought up my military experiences and I was asked for pictures (kids not so subtle way of subtly asking for proof) so, after a few minutes of thought I went to my attic locker and brought down photos of a past life, with images of myself, some friends I still stay in touch with, others that I speak to only in thoughts and the memories they all hold. A little more than I bargained for on a Sunday afternoon with a Halloween prop. I hadn't opened the locker since Dylan had asked about it when he was about 8 I believe and hadn't opened it prior to that since I had given my older son a republican guard beret a few years before.


Usually, when other adults throw out the term "grow up" it is just a defense mechanism. They have become old and boring and secretly wish they could do cool, imaginative things like you. They yell "grow up" in an attempt to boost their own self esteem, which is usually lacking. As long as an adult is responsible in the ways they need to be- financial, family, ect- any further accusations of immaturity should be worn as a badge of honor, in my opinion.


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## His and Hearse (May 19, 2011)

Childofthecorn87 said:


> We bought our house on Halloween last year. We had the final walk thru a few days before, of course, and I don't really remember seeing my neighbors decorate much, if it all. Its a large neighborhood and we are one of the first 10 houses so I didn't see everyone.
> 
> I am getting a feeling that this town is very, I don't know? The town doesn't have a liquor license and they don't sell beer on Sundays. I am hoping to find at least SOME Halloween here, haha. Either way, I am decorating


Hey someone has to set the example, right?


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## Guest (Jul 30, 2013)

right!!!!


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## Illy (Jul 11, 2011)

We use to be the only house - then we moved into a large community and our neighbors would decorate - not to the extent that we did - but more than a simple JOL in the front or some cutsey items. The 2nd year we were in our house - we noticed one of the neighbors had a "body" in his garage. We almost fell over ourselves to take the kids around the block for a walk and see what he was doing - and sure enough another Halloween addict!! So now there are 2 houses on the same street (we're about 10 houses apart) that decorate BIG for Halloween.


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## HallowweenKat (Sep 29, 2010)

Only one other person in my subdivision goes all out with decorating. The few others that decorate have a few inflatables, some lights, JOLs, & a few cutesy items. Couple of my neighbors that used to hand out candy didn't last year & the other newer neighbor takes her kid out ToTing but doesn't bother to hand out candy herself.


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## Guest (Jul 30, 2013)

I am hoping since this is such a big neighborhood that we do get some ToTers. There is enough kids in the neighborhood. I will be taking ours out..while my husband holds down the fort and passes out candy. 

I will be taking my daughters over to where my parents live earlier in the day though. Their town does a Halloween festival thing downtown and the merchants pass out candy..some really go out for the occasion. That way they won't be TOO disappointed if not many houses here participate.


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## mamadada (Aug 18, 2008)

Child,

Bring ur parents back with u and let them pass out candy while u and DH go toting. Meet the neighbors check out everyone's decorations, then everyone returns for a halloween feast. That's what we do and the grandparents love it!!! We so look forward to it.


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## Guest (Jul 31, 2013)

mamadada said:


> Child,
> 
> Bring ur parents back with u and let them pass out candy while u and DH go toting. Meet the neighbors check out everyone's decorations, then everyone returns for a halloween feast. That's what we do and the grandparents love it!!! We so look forward to it.



Pshh...my parents wouldn't come back with me, haha. I have to beg them to come out and see me as it is!!  I only live an hour away.

I think this was for me, lol.


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## mamadada (Aug 18, 2008)

Yes it was for u. Ask them. They might.


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## Guest (Jul 31, 2013)

mamadada said:


> Yes it was for u. Ask them. They might.


Yeah, they may!


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## wickedwillingwench (Sep 16, 2011)

nobody in our community decorates but us and we are way back off the street on a gravel road. I am thinking about putting out signs for a Halloween Open House to direct people to our place this year.


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## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

this is a good thread. i'm enjoying reading everyones stories. such diversity.


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## Danny-Girl (Aug 29, 2012)

My home is the only one with scary Halloween stuff so all my neighbors come over with their family and friends and take pictures. Ever year we are out of candy by 8:00pm I will buy more candy to keep up with my little monsters this year


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## SpookyOwl (Sep 4, 2012)

Last year was our first year to decorate. I don't remember anyone decorating the years prior to it around here. That was our 4th halloween here. However after I put up all my cool stuff a few others caught the spirit . A house down the street was playing music like we were even. Of course most decorate for Christmas tho. I am the only one with even a wreath on my door year round on this street and I don't understand it lol. We had nearly a hundred trick or treaters last year and it was our first year to do it. It was awesome! )))


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## mamadada (Aug 18, 2008)

[/QUOTE]

Yeah, they may![/QUOTE]

Child, tell them u r trying to start a tradition with ur kids. If they live away, ask them to spend the night and everyone take a vacation day on 11/1. If people like us don't make a big deal about our holidays, our traditions will die!


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## Helena Handbasket (Oct 21, 2012)

I definitely decorate more than most people in my neighborhood and I'm about the only one on my block who does. Someone down the street puts up a few things and serves hot chocolate on Halloween night (it was really cold here last year), so I'm glad I'm not the only soul on the street who likes Halloween. Last year, some kids told me my house was the spookiest they'd seen all night, which made me feel great. Now I have to up the ante a little bit this year.


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## PoCoHauntGal (Sep 2, 2010)

I used to be the only house that decorated on my street. Even at Xmas, I had the only yard display. As the years went by, a few more started and now we have a few who go out of their way to decorate. Funny thing is, it's all us older folks who don't have any little kids of our own! I usually have minimum 100 kids drop by. For years, a couple of my neighbors would complain to me that swarms of kids would hit my house then turn around and walk away, total bypassing theirs - which of course were not lit up or decorated. They complained about all the candy they had bought and were left with. One year I decided to put a sign out on a nearby telephone pole that faced towards the main road. I figured the local kids walking to school would see it. All it said was "Haunted House October 31st" and had an arrow pointing down the street. No address, time , anything else - that was all. 

Halloween night I had 200+, some even arriving in vehicles from across town but most from my neighborhood. After the first hour or so, my neighbor came over and said, "I had to send my husband back to the store for more candy. I don't why there's so many kids?" I just smiled and said hmm, must be the good weather. That night my husband went back out and removed the sign. We still have a good laugh over it. I don't think they ever figured it out!


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## mamadada (Aug 18, 2008)

That's a good one!


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## mamadada (Aug 18, 2008)

Does anyone ever have any dreams before Halloween of running out of candy?


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## SpookyOwl (Sep 4, 2012)

I never had a dream but we had to go buy more last year. I didn't expect that many kids!!! I'll be more prepared this time lol.


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## PoCoHauntGal (Sep 2, 2010)

mamadada said:


> Does anyone ever have any dreams before Halloween of running out of candy?


Remember my neighbor, the one that had to send her husband to the store for more candy? 
While he was gone, she handed out loonies ($1.00 coins) until he got back from the store. 
Even though this was a good 5 years ago, the occasional kid will still ask "are you the house giving out money?".
And I always make sure to direct them across the street when they ask me!


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## CaliforniaMelanie (Sep 8, 2008)

Aww, how sad. On the other hand...you're going to be known as THE house! And I'll bet this year you'll see a few homes decorated simply because the other families' kids will be begging to have a "Halloween house" too. That's often the way it works. Other people see it and say, "You know, I wonder why we never do anything like that..."

And so it begins! Mwuah-ha-ha.

Keep decorating, keep passing out the candy, keep on creepin'!


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## halloweenscreamqueen (Jul 23, 2007)

I agree with the comments... When I first started decorating, we only had some of those cheesy plastic ghost bags hanging in the trees and some cobwebs in the bushes. By the 13th (and final) year, we had a ton of stuff out and about 500-600 TOTers!

Now I live otu in the 'burbs and we're starting all over. Most of the neighbors don't decorate. A few put out a scarecorw and some sights, but more and more leave their porch lights on for the TOTers. And now, the parents bring their kids around from all over town!


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## wickedwillingwench (Sep 16, 2011)

halloweenscreamqueen said:


> I agree with the comments... When I first started decorating, we only had some of those cheesy plastic ghost bags hanging in the trees and some cobwebs in the bushes. By the 13th (and final) year, we had a ton of stuff out and about 500-600 TOTers!
> 
> Now I live otu in the 'burbs and we're starting all over. Most of the neighbors don't decorate. A few put out a scarecorw and some sights, but more and more leave their porch lights on for the TOTers. And now, the parents bring their kids around from all over town!


I want to be that ONE house that people will venture into our neighborhood for! I really do think I will put out signs and balloons w/glow sticks in them to point the way. I put too much work into decorating not to have it admired.


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## mamadada (Aug 18, 2008)

thats exactly how i feel!


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## Goblin (Aug 5, 2013)

In our area we still get alot of tot, but the schools don't use the term Halloween parties anymore, but rather Fall harvest, the same thing they do for Christmas by saying Winter parties. Too much PC


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## His and Hearse (May 19, 2011)

One other thing to remember is that even if you don't influence your neighbors, you may influence at least a few TOT's to get into Halloween and continue the haunting for the next generation. That is what happened to me. When I was little kid, a house a couple blocks away went all out decorating their porch and yard. And this was fairly rare at the time- we are talking early 1980s. I was FASCINATED by this house. I would walk by it all October, and on Halloween I would stand across the street and watch the TOT's get the pants scared off them. And it scared the pants off ME too! By 1984, when I was 8, I started haunting my parents porch, and have been haunting ever since. And it was all because of that ONE house. 

So even if you are the only one, think of it as doing your part recruiting future haunters.


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## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

poco, I love that story.
okay, I got one to tell. I had for a few years my haunt in a trailer. so one day I am talking to this lady who asks if i'm the one who owns this trailer. I said yes. she told me she drove bus and picked up the kindergarten kids, and when they got to this alley, they would always put their fingers to their mouths and sshhhh. then they would say in whispers, don't wake the ghosts. she found out after awhile someone had a haunt there. she laughed. 
his and hearse, very good advise.


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## SpookyOwl (Sep 4, 2012)

Both of those are such good stories. I love this thread!


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## Nixer (Sep 7, 2011)

Starting getting my neighbors back into Halloween last year. It was the first year we setup a cemetery, the neighbor came over the day of and told us how they used to get on the roof and scare tots as they walked up but it had been years. Next thing we know they are back up there and dragging chains around yelling at the tots as they walk up. Also, had another neighbor setup a few things that he hadn't before. Thinking we are pretty lucky with our neighbors as I have read lots of negative reactions on here. Hope they try and step it up more this year as we will be!


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## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

nixer, that is cool. I hope they put out a few décor this year, and scare the kids.


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