Southern California has a unique style of decorating for Halloween, possibly stemming from the many creative people who’ve moved here from all over.
There’s even a monthly meeting of regular folks who like to build their own Halloween displays. But now, let’s get real. It’s already close to Halloween and most of us haven’t put up any decorations, right? You don’t want to spend your life savings or waste a lot of time, but it would be nice to do something …
Well, we’ve got you. Halloween expert and prop maker Derek Young of Sherman Oaks can tell you how to spookify your yard without breaking the bank. Here are some of his tips:
Make tombstones for your front yard
Buy insulation foam and rebar from a home improvement store. You can make around 10 tombstones by spending $50 on foam. Then, use a box cutter or saw to cut the foam into tombstone shapes.
Next, draw the design for your tombstone onto the foam. If this is your first time, don’t go crazy with details. “I told you I was sick” will do. If you’re concerned about the lettering, make your design on your computer, print it out and trace it onto the foam. Then, use a safety blade or sharp knife to carve your design (and be very careful, of course).
When you’ve done carving, paint the tombstone with gray paint. The cheapest way to accomplish this is to go to the store and look for discounted paint that never got picked up. Then have it mixed so it will turn out gray.
Then, push the rebar into the ground where you’d like the tombstone to be, and attach them together. The easiest way to do this is to attach some piping to the tombstone and then slide it down over the rebar.
Each year, Young teaches a class on how to do this, and he says that the average time for the project is 30-60 minutes.
Light things up
You can get away without a ton of decorations if the front of your place is colorful with spooky lights. You can find cheap versions of these at dollar and big-box stores. Obviously, orange and purple are now considered the spookiest choice.
A pair of toilet paper rolls can become spooky with glow sticks stuck in them, which will look like glowing eyes if you stick them in a bush.
Sounds
Put a Bluetooth speaker outside and play scary sound effects or music.
Spotify, Apple, and other streaming services make great Halloween playlists. You can also look for CDs at discount stores with sounds and sound effects, or search for them online.
Projections
If you have a home projector, you can find Halloween content to play.
In fact, you can even buy Halloween projectors for around $20-$30 already loaded to project creepy light images onto your house. Find these on Amazon or at department stores. As of this writing, Five Below discount stores were offering simple projectors for only $5.
The Spectral Illusions (SpectralIlusions.com) company makes videos specifically for projection effects, from creepy Victorian brides and ghosts to skeletons and scary clowns, and they’re not terribly expensive.
You can also find plenty of spooky videos on YouTube that you can cast to your projector and then play outside on your house, including projection loops. Search for terms such as “Halloween projection.”
People who enjoy playing with videos online can download free Halloween projector videos from websites like Videezy, Mixkit and Vecteezy. Or go to CapCut to find tutorials and content on how to create these.
Security
How do you keep your displays from being vandalized or stolen? There’s no foolproof answer, except perhaps to bring expensive items inside at night. Some people will only put out their big displays on Halloween night. Young said he’s planning to put his up three weeks in advance.
Want more from Derek Young? Note that he also runs the SoCal Haunt List, where people can post their own home decorations and haunted houses.
And enjoy the spooky season!