Halloween Discussion Forums, Costumes, Horror!

Okay, this weekend we are totally decorating but I am concerned about our decor in the front yard. We do have a chain link fence around it but I am worried about bratty people messing with it. Should I just wait to put everything up the day of Halloween or should I just put a few things this weekend and see what happens?

I use to worry about stuff being stolen. It happened to my Uncle.... someone stole this giant dummy he use to make, and it had this awesome mask on it, and it was at the end of his drive way, and someone swiped it. I tied down the big things that people could take easily, that are worth money, like my inflatable pumpkin & ghost carousel-It is tied to different items, and if they want to try stealing it, then good luck.
But, I worried for years that since I have a buisness with a big sign out front, that someone would spray paint it just to be mean, and it hasn't happened yet. Maybe seeing how much I like Halloween actually makes people wonder if I am a little on the scary side, and they don't mess with me. Which is totally not the way I am at all. It is sad that we live in such a distrusting society, that it makes it hard for people to want to put things outside, for fear of them getting stolen.


Has anyone else noticed that it doesn't seem like many people have decorated at all this year? I have seen very little decorating yet, and we are in to October already.

Weather is the bigger problem for me. Every time I decorate outside too early we end up with a snow storm or high winds that carry my decorations to the moon. I usually like to put out my lights and a few ghoulies early. Theft has so far not been a problem but I think my German Shepard has more to do with that than the character of my neighborhood!

I'm putting my stuff out this weekend. I thought about that problem, too, and while I'm more likely to be targeted by bratty spoiled teenagers (like the ones who EGGED my CAR last weekend) I still don't want my stuff messed with. I'm going to tie my lighted arch to the porch posts, and most of the other stuff is cheapie, like the spider webs and lights and stuff. The fog machine will only be out on the party nights and halloween itself, but I think it will be okay.

I always worry about this. But here are some good rules to follow.....

1. Keep a porch light on all night so that your yard is faily lit (making it harder for someone to sneak and steal)
2. Turn off any animation and lights off before midnight or before you go to bed so it does not draw attention to your house.
3. Try to tie down as much as possible to prevent someone from quickly sniping it.

These are usually kids/teenagers doing this kind of vandelism or stealing. They just do it for fun so if they cant just walk by and grab it they probably wont take it.

Go ahead and put it up!!!!!!!

I guess it depends on your neighborhood. We live on a cul-de-sac, so there is little or no traffic except for the people who live on the street. I've only ever had one pumpkin smashed and never had anything stolen all the years I've lived here, so so far, so good. I guess I'm lucky. I worry more about weather being hard on my decorations than vandalism or thievery.

I have only had one thing taken as well...a siren light. It was easy to run up and grab. So at night I bring in all the lights into the garage before we go to bed. The other thing I bring in is our projector-its the one with the mirror ball that projects different images onto your garage or where ever. I like the idea of tying things down!

It's like what Steve Martin once said: "If you're ever about to be robbed, throw up on your money." So try vomitting all over your Halloween decor! j/k.
I, too, have been putting off decorating due primarily to weather. I live in the Pacific Northwest where we have a saying "If you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes and it'll change." It's nice outside right now, but who knows what tomorrow will bring . . .
And about the lack of decorating going on, yes I have noticed this also, and it makes me sad. What the hell happened to people?

Actually I have the opposite problem. We live in the country and we border state forestry land no we have NO ONE to see my decorations except maybe the wildlife. I still decorate for ME though! It is kind of spooky bordering forests....lol

wal mart do these alarm things it is a peice of wire conected to an alarm that makes a very high pitch noise and they are around $5

I totally had forgotten about this....it just popped in my head...the first year I decorated the house I live in now, some kids stole this plastic skeleton...he was only ike a $5 item...but I had these eyeballs wired in to him, that were battery operated and flashed, and I forgot to go turn them off, and we actually heard kids outside, cause me and my friend were watching a scary movie....but I just figured they were from across the street at a party that was going on at the firehall, and I couldn't see out my windows cause of the window silhouettes ( this year I didn't cover my windows downstairs up, just the upstairs), I never thought someone would actually steal that...the next morning it was gone.

Almost everyone in my neighbourhood (St. Thomas Ontario) has at least something fall on their porch or in their yard. The actual halloween stuff will start showing up this weekend, based on previous years experience.

Winnie Sanderson wrote:Actually I have the opposite problem. We live in the country and we border state forestry land no we have NO ONE to see my decorations except maybe the wildlife. I still decorate for ME though! It is kind of spooky bordering forests....lol

LOL THIS MADE ME LAUGH OUT LOUD LITERALLY I can just see Bambi admiring your decor lolol

I certainly understand how you feel. I have several hundred dollars invested in my decorations and some I have made myself. But, in the end I just couldn't miss the chance to put the stuff out and scare and entertain the neighbors and kids. Mine went up last weekend and only the wind has been a problem