# What was your first decoration



## spookineer (Sep 25, 2005)

What was the first Halloween decoration you bought or made that started your present obsession?
Mine was a simple ghost made from a sheet that hung from a tree, in 1958.


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## wilbret (Oct 8, 2004)

The one that started my own personal obsession as an adult was a simple pumpkin with a flashing bulb inside. Someone saw it and invited me to a slew of HW parties one night in Seattle. That got my juices flowing again! 

I was a HW kid all my life until I went to college and had to grow up. Luckily, that was a short-lived stint.


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## hurricanegame (Oct 13, 2006)

We started as kids in the late 80's from what I can remember......and our decorations were the ones you put in your windows...the big orange pumpkin with the some what scary face...the big skelaton that can bend it's limbs (made from soft yet good card board type paper)....and the small brown ish freaky/scary looking skelaton we called it's mini me lol.

We would go on to fill our windows are the years progressed with more and more stuff...eventually moving to yard props...lighting....those small ghosts that the IT SORE used to carry with batteries in them - they would shake and make noises.

Yes fun times.


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

A four foot spider. We named her Webigail. 

It was the first year in our house, and while we'd always done jack o lanterns and even married on Halloween, it wasn't until we got our first house 4 years ago that I realized that I could really go crazy with Halloween decorations.

Up until then, it was pretty tame, but the last 4 years we've been adding stuff and this year I'm actually attempting our first home-built animatronic.


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## wilbret (Oct 8, 2004)

Do you guys remember paper pumpkins? Basically, they folded flat and you would expand them into a pumpkin? For the longest time the only HW decorations you could buy were classroom decorations like that. Witches, Frankenstein, skeleton, etc... Those were the days!

My best friend's grandmother had a life size Frankenstein that covered her front door, EVERY YEAR.


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## DeadTed (Aug 12, 2007)

I grew up a HK (halloween kid) as well. I lived in a regular suburban neighborhood, but the property I was on had a two story apartment AND a regular 2 story house. There were 6 cousins, 2 uncles, 2 aunts, a grandma, and my parents. Everyone did something for halloween. Always got everyone involved - jumping out of bushes, etc.

I think the actual prop that I go back to in memory was a Freddy Kruger dummy that my uncle put on the peak of his roof - two stories and 1 attic high. It was a menacing view from down the street.


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## hurricanegame (Oct 13, 2006)

wilbret said:


> Do you guys remember paper pumpkins? Basically, they folded flat and you would expand them into a pumpkin? For the longest time the only HW decorations you could buy were classroom decorations like that. Witches, Frankenstein, skeleton, etc... Those were the days!
> 
> My best friend's grandmother had a life size Frankenstein that covered her front door, EVERY YEAR.


I believe the Skelaton I mentioned was the same size but we used to put it on our big window because the area we lived in was filled with kids that would run a muck and putting it on the door would mean it would be ripped off or stolen.

Those were the days how do those years just wisk by wow!

And to the person who stated they had a life sized Freddy wow I wish you had some old pics to show us!


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## DeadTed (Aug 12, 2007)

Heh... I was only five or six years old at the time. Taking a picture wasn't even an afterthought. I've learned. Pictures, pictures, pictures.


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## hurricanegame (Oct 13, 2006)

Oh wow lol I can see your point...I was infatuated with anything Freddy as a kid..I remember I didn't get a chance to get a very nice replica version of Freddy's mask and glove from this one costume shop and I some what cried...but my parents made up for it by buying me a fairly decent knock off mask and clows and that year I had one of the best costumes.

Horror movies were at their peak in the 80s and some what the 90's and having the best Freddy outfit meant king of the block for the day.

I even found some Freddy decorations a few years after we started deocrating it was cool.


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## DeathDealer (Jun 18, 2004)

Probably some Styrofoam tombstones I made back in elementary school.


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## MorticiaAndGomez (May 7, 2007)

The first things we bought that got us started were just some of those cardboard skeletons that were previously mentioned and ghost and pumpkin flicker candles. Every year we add a few things, so our decorations just keep growing and growing.

Last year was our biggest year by far. The prop building bug bit me and now it has started getting out of control! Only simple props as of yet, but I'm learning fast


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## BLAKKHEART (Aug 23, 2004)

It was either my first tombstone (Abigail the first) made from plywood and house paint or the chair I sat in on my front porch (an old chair).


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## GobbyGruesome (Sep 14, 2005)

When I was just a wee kid waaay back in the 70s...
my mom had a ghost she made from an old sheet and one of those styrofoam wig heads (It was actually a wig head she pulled from one of her old wigs...go figure!). She hooked it up to the front door with a string and hung it through one of the christmas light hooks at the other end of the house so when she opened the door it went up and down. Back then it was just amazing.

More recently...
I tried making a Green Goblin mask from scratch and really botched it up, but I was determined to do something with it! With 15 minutes left before the TOTers arrived, I tossed it together with an old Grim Reaper cloak from an old costume and threw them over a wood frame and made my first yard prop. We've tried to add a new yard character every year since.


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## childofthenight (Aug 24, 2007)

the first one I made after were ghosts made out of white plastic kitchen garbage bags stuffed with newspaper and tied with a twist ties 1985


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## Guest (Sep 25, 2007)

Excellent thread, Spookineer, great question! I'm really enjoying reading everyone's replies.
I'm one of the early 70's kids on the board; I recall the classic cut-out skeletons, and witches/pumpkins/Frankenstein's Monsters with accordion crepe paper arms and legs.
I also recall, one of my earliest Halloween memories, drawing jack o'lantern faces on pumpkins my mom and dad had cut out of orange construction paper. I remember very vividly using LePage's Mucilage (it looked and ran like maple syrup, dried all crystalline and crumbly, do they still make this stuff?) to glue the green paper stems to the pumpkins, then drawing the faces, and finally taping them to the front and side windows of the house. 
Boy, that's going back... I couldn't have been much older than 3 or so. But it's a vivid memory, always stayed with me, and surely had to be the first and strongest Halloween 'event' in my life to turn me into the Halloween maniac I am, especially for the crafting of decorations and props. Even as a little kid, I always told my friends "Ya gotta MAKE Halloween, don't only buy stuff!".
Yes, I was a pushy little pain in the a-- even then.


Mike C.


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## Huffman Haunts (Jul 31, 2007)

Well, my parents didnt decorate for Halloween when I was a kid. When my wife and I bought our current house, I started off with a scarecrow in the front yard and a plywood Goblin that was painted green. I think we bought both at the same time at an arts/crafts show.
It wasnt until my wife bought a Bates Motel sign and a Freddy Krueger light up tombstone that the madness of collecting began!


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## Mistress of the Abyss (Sep 21, 2007)

My earliest decoartion I can think of is the ones I made myself : carved pumpkins!!


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## Addict (Sep 24, 2007)

Our earliest decoration was one of those screeching cats that have the fur missing in places (I love that thing) .


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## Jackielantern (Oct 31, 2005)

The first halloween decoration I purchased was the year we moved into our first house. It was 1995 & we were having a party just 3 weeks after we closed. Money was tight, so all we had was a plastic lighted pumpkin, a couple of those cardboard cutouts & a whole lot of spider webs.


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## theworstwitch (Aug 14, 2006)

In my early 20's I put a red light bulb in the porch light, put a black sheet on a hanger, and a grim reaper mask over the light-voila! my first prop! We had the only big decoration in the neighborhood-inner city, not many kids. 
But when I was a kid, I had to play Horror Sounds of the Night from a tape player in our garage every year!


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## hurricanegame (Oct 13, 2006)

Yes how can I forget the horror sounds, we had our ghetto blaster pumping the scary tunes all night as well when we were kids, wow those were the times!

I remember using anything and everything that represented Halloween when it came to displaying/deocrating the home. As kids we would carve pumpkins (the scariest faces we could carve) design our own window hang ups, post numerous card board skelatons, frankenstiens. The thing about Halloween is it brings back a lot of NOSTALGIA wow to be a kid was complete innocence and times like Halloween were so damn exciting, I'm glad I pretty much have got back into the spirit....oh and how can one leave out going to Halloween super stores as a kid or even as an adult picking out fog machines, spider webs and funky lights.


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## ChrisW (Sep 19, 2006)

The decoration I remember most vividly as a kid was a honeycomb large pumpkin made by Hallmark. It wrapped around a lampshade and had black cutouts for the eyes, nose and mouth. I loved coming home from school and seeing it decorating the living room window, and at night it gave off a nice warm orange glow. We lost ours in a flood back in 1972, but lo and behold! - my wife's family had the same decoration- and we have it now!
In our apartment our first decoration was a large cartoon character sheet we taped onto the door.


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## nyhaunter (Apr 15, 2004)

I remember being a kid in the early 80's and my mom taking me to this store called "The Book and Record." They sold all kinds of seasonal stuff there in addition to ...um..books and records. Anyway, they had these fantastic foam pumpkins with faces on them and I begged my mom for one. They were pretty pricey for the 80's even, I think maybe she paid 15 bucks for it. Maybe other people recall them, they were called "The Oh' Lantern Family" Scroll to bottom of page:

http://thegalleryofmonstertoys.com/80swing/80smainpage.html

I wanted the whole collection of course, but only got one. I see them going for big bucks on ebay now. Unfortunately, as cool as they were, they just didn't stand up too well to wear and tear (but I do still have mine!).


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## spookineer (Sep 25, 2005)

I remember those, wish I had some now!


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## LV Scott T (Aug 14, 2007)

spookineer said:


> I remember those, wish I had some now!


I wonder what would happen if you took a mold of a human face and a pumpkin mold & made a new master... Would it look similar to the Oh'Lanterns?


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## Muffy (Sep 25, 2006)

AAAhhh Yes!! I too enjoyed reading this thread! Its wonderful how far Halloween decorations have come since I was a kid. (born 1957) My family always had parties and lots of friends from Bunko clubs. Those people were the partying kind. Halloween was a blast no matter who's house we went too for the party. Many of the decorations way back then were homemade....and yes I remember that huge honeycomb pumpkin that fit over the lamp shade!

I still have some of them old what you would call "Vintage" halloween pieces from the old days, cherished memories of the celebrations we had in the past. Most of my family is all gone now but I still am crazy about decorating and am working diligently on having my Halloween boxes surpass my 60 boxes of xmas decorations. With all the new choices each year I'm sure that won't be to hard to pull off!

Anyways we all had decorations that got passed along down to me, I have always decorated for Halloween. We had a diner on a rural highway and just use to decorate it to the hilt, as customers ate dinner at night we had a werewolf running around peering in the windows. Each year I bought more stuff........ but then, last year I found this place!!!! "Lowe's" will forever be grateful to these fine folks here that turned me onto the monster list and all the creative projects I have found in here!

Its taking my decorating to a whole new level!!! I have a ways to go yet with projects as we just got started after Halloween last year with planning on building some things. But I'm excited as can be and can't wait to see what the future will bring!!

Happy Haunting My Honeys
Mistress Muffy


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## spookineer (Sep 25, 2005)

LV Scott T said:


> I wonder what would happen if you took a mold of a human face and a pumpkin mold & made a new master... Would it look similar to the Oh'Lanterns?


Here's a sculpt done by Lauriebeast along those very lines.. http://www.halloweenforum.com/showthread.php?t=61056

And of course she also did the face on Count Jackula for me... http://www.halloweenforum.com/showthread.php?t=62382&highlight=Jackula+sculpt

Talk about an amazing talent!


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## hurricanegame (Oct 13, 2006)

MUffy and nyhaunter you both bring back amazing memories I'm sure a lot of people share.....from those o lantern family pumpkins (even though as a kid my brothers and I thought they were just ugly and not scary enough for us lol) we seen at Toys R Us, supermarkets etc....to just good old fashioned time with family when one was innocent, young and full of Halloween fun.

I miss being a kid and just the whole scaryness and mystery of Halloween...but I guess as adults we can take it to a new level and go all out for the best decorated home, scariest home etc.

The post that has links to 80's toys really shows how much of an amazing decade the mid to late 80s was, from slasher films becoming the norm to toys gaining notority.

WOW the memories are truely to be cherished.....I remember having three big windows (in our living room) and decorating them until they were pretty much FULL, with the big pumpkin cardboard cut out in the middle, the big skelaton on one window and the frankenstien on the other surrounded by smaller ghost, witch, haunted house cut outs.


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## Wolfman (Apr 15, 2004)

First Prop, wow, that was a long time ago, 1986. 
Tombstobes. Real cheesey, plywood, half-assed painted. Remember, at the time NOBODY put ANYTHING out for Hallowe'en except Jack O'Lanterns.


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## spookineer (Sep 25, 2005)

Wow, you guys brought back fond memories of things I hadn't thought of in years. Good stuff...


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## RedSonja (Sep 18, 2004)

It was probably one of those jack-o-lantern trash bags that you stuff w/ leaves! Ha-ha


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## haverghast asylum (May 28, 2007)

my first decorations were a junky guillotine, some card board figures, and I think a dummy.Oh I almost forgot the jack-o-lantern.


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## theworstwitch (Aug 14, 2006)

nyhaunter said:


> I remember being a kid in the early 80's and my mom taking me to this store called "The Book and Record." They sold all kinds of seasonal stuff there in addition to ...um..books and records. Anyway, they had these fantastic foam pumpkins with faces on them and I begged my mom for one. They were pretty pricey for the 80's even, I think maybe she paid 15 bucks for it. Maybe other people recall them, they were called "The Oh' Lantern Family" Scroll to bottom of page:
> 
> http://thegalleryofmonstertoys.com/80swing/80smainpage.html
> 
> I wanted the whole collection of course, but only got one. I see them going for big bucks on ebay now. Unfortunately, as cool as they were, they just didn't stand up too well to wear and tear (but I do still have mine!).


Thanks for the link! We had a Fruit Brute toy, and until now I totally forgot about it!


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## childofthenight (Aug 24, 2007)

I have a couple of old paper decorations in my photo bucket If anyone wants to see.


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## hurricanegame (Oct 13, 2006)

childofthenight said:


> I have a couple of old paper decorations in my photo bucket If anyone wants to see.


Those look like mid to late 80's decorations but sadly I didn't see any of the ones I use to own and trust em we almost had em all lol. The skelaton some what resembles one we had one year.


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## wilbret (Oct 8, 2004)

ha, I remember those foam pumpkins. Never had one, but I remember them.


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## Jack Reaper (Nov 19, 2003)

Mine was a plaster skull with hair glued to it!


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## ferguc (Dec 15, 2011)

Carved Jack O Lanterns. Plastic blow mold lighted pumpkins. Cardboard Skeletons. black construction paper bats. various cardboard decor. pants and shirt stuffed with leaves


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## booswife02 (Apr 2, 2013)

In the early 80's I remember my mom hanging up paper witches in the windows of our house. Decorations like that were a splurge back then and about one of the only decorations you could find to buy. The site of them in the window just gave me chills, I just thought it was the best thing I had ever seen. It was a pic of a witch with a large yellow moon behind her, I immediately looked up to the real moon and thought wow, I want to see one fly over the moon! The next year and every year after my Mom let me hang them up.

My first decoration was a wax jack o lantern candle that I got from rite aid when I was maybe 10 years old, so like 25 years ago! I never lit it. It didn't really look like a candle, it was a bright orange jack o lantern shaped candle. One of my brothers chose glow in the dark makeup and the other chose fake blood but I had to have that candle!

When I got married around 15 years later my first decoration was white ghost string lites that say boo on their belly, (boo is my husbands childhood name and why my name is booswife) I think there is a picture of them in my kitchen window in my 2012 album. Yes I still have them and yes they still work! I got those from Joann Fabrics at the after Halloween clearance sale for $2. We were broke Airmen when we first got married so I didn't get to buy anything at all the whole season until the after Halloween clearance and I had $15 to get as much as possible. In those days the dollar tree didn't have as much stuff as they have now.

Great thread!
I believe it has opened my eyes as to why I am a Halloween hoarder! I always loved it and wanted it so badly but couldn't get it myself until around 2006. I guess my starving for spooky items caused brain damage and this is why I shop so much for Halloween things!!!!! holy cow! ureeka, haha....gotta go tell my hubby you guys are my therapists now


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## GhostTown (Jul 6, 2011)

These guys.


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## booswife02 (Apr 2, 2013)

theworstwitch said:


> In my early 20's I put a red light bulb in the porch light, put a black sheet on a hanger, and a grim reaper mask over the light-voila! my first prop! We had the only big decoration in the neighborhood-inner city, not many kids.
> But when I was a kid, I had to play Horror Sounds of the Night from a tape player in our garage every year!



haha... that reminds me, my brother (grimpumpkin13) had a cassette player, he would record the Munsters tv shows, we would all hide in a refrigerator box , pretend it was our coffin and playback the Munsters episodes. He only had one tape so he'd record over it every few days. No dvr then!!! or even a vcr!!!


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## Jack Skellington (Oct 25, 2005)

First Halloween party and made a ghoul playing the organ. Clothes stuffed with newspaper, pipe cleaner spiders, my son's rubber snake and lots of webs. He was a staple at the party for many years and I used to get the comments about how it would be really cool if he actually moved. So one year I finally made him move.


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## mejess68 (Mar 24, 2012)

Back in the mid 70s my dad told us (4 kids) that if we stayed home and helped scare we could have all the candy that was leftover, we all dressed up as various ghouls (vamps ghosts and zombies, costumes my mom put together) my dad cut a fake insert for the dining room table with a hole in the center my mom sat on a stool under the table with her head through the hole. Looked as if my dad had chopped her head off (my dad being know as a physco in the neighborhood). We actually got a visit from the local PD. after that I was hooked. Once I was on my own my first prop was a set of baby kicking legs placed inside a pet carrier (based on scary Terry's wiper motor kicking legs).


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## matrixmom (Oct 29, 2010)

Never really "decorated" at my house when younger for halloween, even though the halloween party/food/and TOT was in my neighborhood. This was the first prop I bought for the first halloween party when my kids were small. They use to be terrified of witchy-poo.


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## RCIAG (Jul 19, 2010)

I'd guess it was some Beistle cardboard cut-outs in the late 70s early 80s. Then I acquired a Dracula motionette, then a GID hooded skeleton mask in a styrofoam coffin I stapled together & painted black. That was in the 90s at some point. I still have everything but the styrofoam coffin, that fell apart finally.


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## 22606 (Aug 11, 2008)

Probably one of those nearly flat, glow-in-the-dark skeletons meant to hang on a door


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## Trex (Nov 6, 2010)

Here is our little prop that started our obsession!! Her Crocs are crackin me up...I forgot we used those!!


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## ChrisW (Sep 19, 2006)

I saw the title of the thread, sat back and thought about it, and came up with a honeycomb pumpkin we had when I was growing up and a large cartoon monster we taped to the door of our apartment as newlyweds.
Then I started looking at the responses and saw that I had responded the exact same way...back in 2007! Well, at least I'm consistent!


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

Being more "advanced" than the rest of you ( In AGE! b. 1949 ) My first decoration was a Shrunken head , I think I had to mail order it, with my Mother's assistance.
I also saved my pennies and mail ordered a life-sized poster of" Zacherly" which fit on the basement door as I pulled threads strung across the numerous pipes near the basement ceiling to activate my "Ghosts" from across the room . The ghosts were two pieces of Kleenex (usually "New" not used), a ball of Kleenex wrapped by another, tied around the "neck"


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## 22606 (Aug 11, 2008)

Gym Whourlfeld said:


> The ghosts were two pieces of Kleenex (usually "New" not used), a ball of Kleenex wrapped by another, tied around the "neck"


_Used_ could make for one of the most frightening props of all time...

This is one entertaining thread.


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

Especially if you wanted to "Boogie"!


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## ferguc (Dec 15, 2011)

what's old is new again!!!!


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## NOWHINING (Jul 25, 2009)

back then..... You didn't buy decorations, so Silver Lady (Mom) had Dad cut out shapes using wood and Mom would paint them up. That was our outdoor decorations. Plus Mom would use orange yarn to make a spider webbing on our porch. Those were good times. I couldn't tell you what was my very first Halloween decoration were. I was ALWAYS Halloween child.


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## Penumbra (Jul 28, 2011)

My first prop was a simple bedsheet ghost I made when I was a teenager.


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## RCIAG (Jul 19, 2010)

Gym Whourlfeld said:


> I also saved my pennies and mail ordered a life-sized poster of" Zacherly" which fit on the basement door as I pulled threads strung across the numerous pipes near the basement ceiling to activate my "Ghosts" from across the room .


Was it this poster?













If you'd like to replace it you can find it here on Ebay:
On Ebay here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Fam...067?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c3ace12e3

I was more into the life-sized David Cassidy poster I had, sadly I cannot find an auction or image of it.


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## Palladino (Aug 29, 2013)

I'm going to say my first life sized prop which was a mummy I made for a Classic Monsters theme.


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## lisa48317 (Jul 23, 2010)

I remember having these as a kid and they obviously left an impression on me, since I was so happy to find them as an adult. 








The JOL blowmold, not the Crystal Skull vodka bottle! 
The blowmold was always on the side table in the living room. 








and I found this paper skeleton at Spirit in 2013! We always had a similar one on our front door. 

Sorry the pics are so huge!!


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## Mack (Jan 29, 2013)

Would the heads of my Mom & Dad on spikes in the front yard count? If yes....then perhaps I should not speak anymore. If no then you are all sick! I like that.


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## theworstwitch (Aug 14, 2006)

booswife02 said:


> haha... that reminds me, my brother (grimpumpkin13) had a cassette player, he would record the Munsters tv shows, we would all hide in a refrigerator box , pretend it was our coffin and playback the Munsters episodes. He only had one tape so he'd record over it every few days. No dvr then!!! or even a vcr!!!


That reminds me that when I was a teenager and my nephews were very young, they loved it when I played that horror sounds tape, or as they called it :"THE RADIO MONSTER"


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## mariem (Oct 7, 2012)

I still have the plastic pumpkin that we had when we were kids. We also had a cardboard cutout witch. Several years ago I bought some pumpkin lights and a witch hand puppet (I still don't know why on earth I bought it since I wasn't into puppets) and I bought inflatable stacked pumpkins. This year I used the witch head from the puppet to make a witch book. I posted a pic in the craft topic area. 

I was more into Christmas than Halloween until a few years ago. I really started getting into it Halloween more when people needed help putting costumes together and I started sewing them to help out. It got me more interested in decorating too. I am not into blowmolds but I still display the old plastic pumpkin each year, or inflatables, I only displayed the stacked pumpkins one or two years and now it stays in the basement. I started making simple tombstones to recycle some styrofoam from an old shed we tore down and have added to my decorations each year since. I have been adding to my cemetery and witch den that I do on my covered deck. It started slow but now I love decorating for Halloween.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

The FIRST....

Hmmm. Well, at age 8, I asked for, and got, a plasma ball for Christmas. Sure, it was in my room beating to the sound of whatever music I had on at the time all the way up to my wedding, but it was used for that really crappy mad scientist lab I attempted at age 9. 

BUT, the first thing I BOUGHT with my own money was liquid latex. The bottle come in a kit with a very detailed instruction book on how to accomplish different looks. I used theatrical makeup every opportunity from there through my teens before it became a little 'old hat' for me.


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## JustWhisper (Nov 16, 2008)

This was about 20 years ago. My husband had a gentleman's butler. For you young'ns it is a stand about 4-5 feet tall with a wooden or metal hanging area, designed for men to hang their clothes when they undress. That is for those of you that do not have floor to throw them on. I had a dracula window sticker and put it on cardboard. STuck it on the top of the vertical post of the coat hanger then added a cape. I thought I was pretty cool. LMAO. When I look back at my early attempts I actually get embarrassed.


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## Hilda (Jul 31, 2011)

The year was probably 1970. It was a wire coat hanger with a sheet over it. LOLOLOLOL 

...and you know what?! Hang it in the dark at the top of the stairs and it really did scare the bleep out of a bunch of silly seven year old girls having a sleepover!!

Thank you dad.


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