# Who has dragged an entire subdivision into Halloween Decorating?



## ATLfun (Oct 12, 2012)

No one in my subdivision does any Halloween decorating beyond two or three items on the door step. As I progress in my first time full yard set-up, I am getting a lot of responses. Though my decor is modest by top shelf forum standards. :zombie:


So I am curious, who started out as the lone Great Pumpkin and inspired others to follow. Or are you still the lone pumpkin?

.


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## MommaMoose (May 15, 2010)

Have noticed more lights and pumpkins since we started decorating. Haven't really got the rest of them on board yet but the kids love it.


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## BugFreak (Oct 30, 2011)

Not yet but I'm sure trying! A couple years back someone went through the neighborhood and stole a bunch of the blow up style decorations so people have been slow to buy more.


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## Cal78 (Aug 20, 2012)

Not That they Are auctually doing thier own or in my Display, but a number of Neighbors, have seen me working on the display, have been bringing me things that would go in the display, and so far they have all been great, that and the Couple Already Bought thier candy and Now Wont be at their House, so they have Given it to me, Hence My problem of having now too Much Candy This Year


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## FredKrueger (Apr 12, 2012)

I have been the lone pumpkin for 10 years, mostly old people in my neighborhood.


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## Ramonadona (Nov 4, 2011)

Fred Krueger said:


> I have been the lone pumpkin for 10 years, mostly old people in my neighborhood.


Ummmm...we ARE the old people in the neighborhood...that doesn't stop us! There's one other house on the street that decorates...but the neighbors are hoping that by us (and them) decorating, maybe the whole street will get more Tots this year. This is the first year that we actually did a full yard display...so we'll see.


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## DreadKnightswife (Oct 16, 2011)

The first year or so there we're LOTS of people who did big displays but the HOA was giving out prizes for 1st 2nd and 3rd. The HOA has since stopped that practice and we and 1 other house is a subdivision of 300 are the only ones who really do anything. And we by far outdo the other house. I wish that more people did more but we have had lots of people seem really appreciative this year.


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## randomr8 (Oct 24, 2009)

I'm guessing most of us are " that Halloween guy/gal" 
DKW - why I can never live in a HOA - think there's a list around here about that

After I did much more some ppl started doing less. I tell 'em it's not a competition but sometimes ppl take it that way.


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## nixie (Sep 17, 2008)

Well, check out our site:
http://www.hauntedwestgate.com

It's definitely caught on in my neighborhood! My dad started setting up a nice haunt in the 80's, then a few other homeowners joined in and some of them have decorated ever since. I eventually bought a house down the street from my parents and started my own haunt. That year, there was a huge surge of new haunters in the neighborhood. The funny part is that none of us realized all these haunts were going up until people started asking if we were competing with each other. That was the best year, it was like Christmas morning driving around and seeing all these amazing displays that we didn't know were there. The following year, I started the website, and we got a lot of news exposure. It kept growing from there. It's a lot of fun to see the variety of what people come up with, and to have so many people touring through the neighborhood enjoying our work. Sadly, this year has been rough for many of the neighborhood haunters, so we're missing a few major haunts, and others went lean this year. Hopefully things will pick up next year.


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## ATLfun (Oct 12, 2012)

randomr8 said:


> After I did much more some ppl started doing less. I tell 'em it's not a competition but sometimes ppl take it that way.


I never thought about it that way. It sounds like you might have intimidated the neighbors. But if your one of those guys that sets up mazes and haunted walk throughs, I can see where it might be easier to attend yours than trying to compete.

But then again, is it really a competition? I mean every display brings something different to the table.

.


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## DreadKnightswife (Oct 16, 2011)

I totally agree about every haunt has their own things I enjoy checking out other peoples displays and if we have the time we even take our kids to go trick or trea t at them and the LOVE that we aren't the only crazy Halloween people.

Randomr8- in SA TX it is a VERY rare thing to not live in an HOA. The Dreadknight has just a few more months in the ARMY till retirement and then we are seriously going to look into moving a little further out of the city and starting a professional haunt.


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## MapThePlanet (Nov 12, 2010)

We have maybe 10 out of our neighborhood that have put up "something", orange lights, a Jack-O-lantern, the trash bag ghost or pumpkins...But I, like the cheese, stand alone!


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## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

I've only been a homeowner for 2 years so my little graveyard is still in its infancy. I haven't even named it yet. However, it was enough to impress my neighbor's son and daughter who began begging for some tombstones of their own. Overnight six fresh graves sprang up on their lawn. The ripples are starting to spread....


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:I am the lone pumpkin on my street...well, my block at least. My only Halloweenie-across-the-street-neighbor is moving to the beach so her house is up for sale.  But my new neighbors beside me are Halloween lovers with teenage kids so that after they get the remodel behind them (they are gutting their house and remodeling everything) I hope they will join in. They are coming over to help me Halloween night, so I am hoping the fire will spread. My dream is to one day block off our entire block and have a Halloween "Safe Walk" block with every house glowing with jack o'lanterns and Halloween decorations to the extreme!


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## debbietrs (Oct 9, 2012)

I am the only house in my neighborhood. Some neighbors have told me they gave up when they saw my yard. I have even had neighbors give me there decorations.


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## zombastic (Aug 27, 2012)

I'm lucky that our HOA is not strict at all concerning decorating for holidays. 
Heck I can't think of any neighborhoods around me that are strict. You have to really be trashy for a while to get a rise out of them. 
And it's not just because my wife's the president of ours..LoL!

In the last week, more neighbors are decorating. A few are looking really good.
There are also a few haunted garages in my subdivison every Halloween night. 
Unfortunately I'm always working mine and can never visit them.


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## R. Lamb (Oct 11, 2011)

I have been doing My haunt for 5 years now and I always try to get the neighbors involved. To this date, I have a lot of folks that say that they "should" do more, a bunch of folks that want to know what is new this year and the whole lot of them complain that they have to buy more candy since I moved in.


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## ATLfun (Oct 12, 2012)

R. Lamb said:


> the whole lot of them complain that they have to buy more candy since I moved in.


.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

I am still the lone pumpkin after 3 years. There are always a few fake spider webs and jack o lanterns out at neighbor houses but that is the extent of it. And honestly, I am ok with the.


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

In my old neighborhood, we had two or three. In this one there are 5 other houses that usually decorate, but only two are doing anything this year (secretly angling for one of them's props if he decides he doesn't want to haunt anymore.)


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## Radford (Aug 7, 2012)

All my neighbor comment repeatedly on how cool & great it is that I do such a display although I have no kids myself. But, as of yet has any of them aken the plunge and done any type of display @ their own house. That's fine because I let them all decorate @ Christmas while I play SCROOGE......lol


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

Five years ago, I was the lone pumpkin, and I had about a half dozen TOTers. Now it seems as though the neighborhood kids (mostly little TOTs, 5 to 8 crowd) have shamed their parents into tossing up the decor.

Many houses now have a few pumpkins and cornstalks, and several have some fairly elaborate decor, webs, spiders, lighting, pumpkins all sorts of stuff. The patch is growing. Unfortunately, I have a lot of foreign born neighbors and while they enjoy my decor and are very complementary they do not seem to participate much in the decor department. I do not even think they let their kids TOT or give out candy.

My HOA are some of the most vocal visitors. They and their kids all love my haunt and happily ask me about the things from prior years that I haven't put up. The council calls me that Halloween guy.


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## Troll Wizard (May 3, 2012)

Pumpkin5 said:


> :jol:I am the lone pumpkin on my street...well, my block at least. My only Halloweenie-across-the-street-neighbor is moving to the beach so her house is up for sale.  But my new neighbors beside me are Halloween lovers with teenage kids so that after they get the remodel behind them (they are gutting their house and remodeling everything) I hope they will join in. They are coming over to help me Halloween night, so I am hoping the fire will spread. My dream is to one day block off our entire block and have a Halloween "Safe Walk" block with every house glowing with jack o'lanterns and Halloween decorations to the extreme!


I really like the idea of a "Safe Walk" on a block. I think it says something to the neighborhood and to parents who bring their kids TOT'ing. I think also without having to many requirements at first most of the neighbors would join in.

Until my neighbor across the street from me, I was the only one on my block to set any kind of haunt. When the neighbor moved in he saw my yard haunt and wanted to do something too. I loaned him some extra props that I wasn't using and some lights to set up a small grave site and he was hooked. The next year he started to expand and even though he doesn't go as big as I have he still offers something for the TOT'rs.

We also have had other neighbors move in on some of the other streets in my area and we are starting to work together to get more people involved not only in the community but in the city as well. We are working on becoming the place to come for Halloween and for TOT'rs. I think it will happen sometime down the road. :jol:


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## Offwhiteknight (Sep 17, 2008)

Yeah, I'm that lone pumpkin too. There are three houses down the street and around the corner that seem to be feeding off of each other, with a lot of store bought crap and inflatables, but no one around me has done anything, not diddly squat. Hell, most of them don't do much, if anything, for Christmas either and I'm the guy going bonkers over that one too.

Though I do know there are a few people that go a bit out of their way to drive or walk up to the house to see what I do, day or night. So that's cool.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

There are a few neighbors that put up some decorations, But like most have said here, noone who goes as all out as I do. In fact, about 80% around here had their lights out/no candy that night. But a few streets away there are more people involved with Halloween. Last year one even had a haunted walk thorugh. But we were so busy that night I never got a chance to see it. I tried to sneek away a couple of times, but my husband caught me. He said, "You're the one who puts up all this crap to attract all these kids here. You're not leaving." lol You can tell how he loves it. And with 700 tots last year, we did need all the help we could get. 
But I'm still trying. Maybe a prize is a good idea. I'll have to think about that one.


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## Dark Angel 27 (Sep 11, 2008)

I'm the lone pumpkin as well...at least on my block. I've seen a guy a couple streets from me has a nice sized display, and the people down the road have a ghost and webs lit with a strobe, but that's about it. My neighbors give out candy and stuff but that's about it.


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## ATLfun (Oct 12, 2012)

scareme said:


> And with 700 tots last year, we did need all the help we could get.


 WOW!!!!! :googly: I barely get 20 which is why I have decided to give TOTs full size candy bars this year.

I am hoping that between the upgrade in candy and the full yard decor with lighting and fog machines that I can revitalize the tradition in my subdivision.

.


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## smileyface4u23 (Apr 1, 2008)

We used to be the only ones in our neighborhood that put up any type of display. But a few years ago our next door neighbors moved in and started decorating as well. Our displays are getting so big we may just have to combine them into one big display that covers 2 yards.  

Other than our 2 houses there are a few that put out lights and a few small decorations, but that's it. The neighbors all come through our yards and tell us how great they are, but I don't think anyone else is going to start this insanity up in their own yard. They'd rather come look at mine, go home and put their feet up.


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## SeaHoCaptain (Sep 20, 2009)

We have been trying. 5 years ago we were the ONLY house with anything to offer beyond a pumpkin or an orange light. Neighbor warned we only get 10 kids. But we persisted and a few of the neighbors have now joined in. The kids are out there, they are on the next street over. Getting them to travel over to a dark lifeless deadend street has been difficult. The ones that make it love it. 

David


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## Hsnopi (Oct 26, 2012)

we have very few people who decorate. It's a shame. We are the only ones in our cul du sac.(sp?) It's unfortunate. I really hope to meet others and get a local group going. Especially for pumpkin carving.


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## doctarii (Oct 25, 2012)

I hope I get this same response from my neighbors as I build out more... it would be great to see more participation and celebrating of a holiday I remeber fondly from my childhood


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