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This Is Kingsport 2022 > It’s time to start decorating for spooky season!

It’s time to start decorating for spooky season!

Contributed by: Guest Contributor
Date: September 15, 2022

Halloween is the second biggest commercial holiday of the year, behind Christmas. In 2021, Americans spent upwards of $3 billion on Halloween décor—and that doesn’t even include costumes or candy!

If you’re one of the many people who love to decorate your home for spooky season, you certainly have plenty of options. Do you want your overall theme to be scary? Cute? Funny? Or perhaps a monster mashup of them all? Whichever you choose, it’s time to get started!

Helpful tools and supplies

Before you drag out boxes and boxes of decorations from the attic, make sure you have a few important supplies on hand:

  • Zip ties: Inexpensive and easy to use, zip ties are ideal for hanging strings of lights. You can even get them in colors to blend into the area you’re hanging the lights on; for example, brown for tree branches or deck rails. Plus, you won’t damage surfaces with zip ties like you would with nails. After the holiday is over, just cut the zip ties off with scissors or a box cutter.
  • Double-sided tape: For adhering lightweight window/door/mirror decorations like spooky silhouettes, DIY paper spiders, and window clings that have lost their clinginess, double-sided tape is perfect. You can also use it to help keep faux spider webs and creepy tattered fabric in place.
  • Siding hooks: Small metal siding hooks can be used to hang lights or lightweight decorations on your vinyl siding with doing any damage. No tools needed!
  • Plastic light clips: Another damage-free and tool-free way to hang lights is with all-purpose light clips. They’re affordable and allow you to easily attach strings of lights to your gutters or shingles.
  • Duct tape or gaffer tape: If you’re decorating with lots of lights, you’re probably using extension cords. Do your best to keep cords away from areas where trick-or-treaters might be walking; but if necessary, stick them down with duct tape or gaffer tape to prevent tripping. 
  • Light-hanging pole: Lessen your ladder time by using an extendable pole for hanging lights in your trees. It’s a good investment since you can also use it to decorate your Christmas tree (and it’s cheaper than an ER visit)!
  • Fishing line: Practically invisible, fishing line is tried-and-true for hanging up bats, ghosts, skulls, witch hats, or any other lightweight decorations. It also lets them move a little in the breeze, adding to the eerie factor.

Outdoor decorating ideas

To make your lawn and exterior of your home as festive as can be for Halloween, think big! You want passersby to be able to see all your hard work as they drive or walk past. 

Last year’s trendy 12-foot skeleton from Home Depot might be difficult to find, but 5- to 7-foot poseable skeletons are more readily available at many stores this time of year. Because they’re life-size, these skeletons are fun to use in amusing or frightening front-yard scenes that will catch the eye of all your neighbors.

Inflatables can be a bit pricy, but their size and ease of use make them great holiday lawn décor. Check at Lowe’s, Home Depot, Michael’s, or Spirit Halloween for this year’s most popular characters like the Mandalorian as well as classics like Mickey Mouse. 

Animatronics are typically either touch-, sound-, or motion-activated, making them extra ghoulish and scream-inducing. Be sure to place these under a porch roof or other covering to protect them from wind and rain. Large animatronics can really pack a scary punch as a “welcoming” fright as trick-or-treaters approach your home.

A spooky cemetery is an easy way to decorate a big chunk of your yard. Stock up on premade headstones from a Halloween store or make your own. Simply cut tombstone shapes out of large sheets of Styrofoam, available at many hardware and craft stores. Spray paint gray with black accents to make them look aged, and paint or write epitaphs on the front. Plastic garden stakes will keep them in place.

Machines that project a scary light show onto your garage door or exterior of your home are easy to set up and provide that “big” Halloween look you want for your outdoor décor. A fog machine is also great for creating a gothic atmosphere, especially machines that make a “low-lying” fog that creeps along the ground—perfect for your DIY cemetery!

Spider webbing and tattered fabric can also add a creepy kick to your outdoor décor. Drape over hedges, stair railings, windows, or anywhere that needs that little something extra to complete the look.

And of course, pumpkins make great fall and Halloween décor, whether you carve them with terrifying faces or not! Stock up on pumpkins from Cleek Farms, which opens for pumpkin picking and other fun fall activities on Sept. 30.

Stay safe while you get spooky

A few safety tips will keep you from getting injured while hanging lights or other décor:

  • Avoid plugging more than three strings of lights into one outlet, and always use cords and plugs that are approved for the outdoors.
  • Only use a ladder on a flat, stable surface, and avoid using metal ladders around electrical wires.
  • Never staple or nail through electrical wires or extension cords.
  • Plug all outdoor lights and decorations into ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) to help reduce the risk of electric shock. 

Have fun, be safe, and have a happy Halloween!