# Ideas for keeping kids off of the lawn



## dreamcatcher923 (Oct 24, 2011)

Hi, probably a dumb question, but i need help. Last year hurricane Sandy destroyed a lot of my haunt, including the fence we usually use to keep people off the lawn. This year we are flat broke & trying to figure out what to use. We have tried a chain in the past, but it didn't stop the kids. What do you guys use?


----------



## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

What kind of display do you have? Perhaps lighting a pathway will help make it obvious where people need to walk.

Anything a person can step over is pretty much ineffective when a ToT is sufficiently motivated to enter a yard. I'd say you need something at least four feet tall to reduce the chances of someone taking a shortcut. One thing you can try that would be relatively inexpensive is to drive some tall stakes into the ground and run three rows of caution tape or rope between them, kind of like a split rail fence but without the wood crossbars.

The other no-cost alternative is to have someone strategically placed in the yard to direct foot traffic. That person can be in costume and act as a greeter for your haunt.


----------



## Tokwik (Oct 12, 2011)

On a more serious note, Home Depot or Lowes will carry either snow fencing (orange) or the black construction stuff. I've used the black construction stuff before and while it certainly isn't pretty, you can usually find it with the stakes already embedded in the cloth. Just unroll it and hammer it in. About $50 if I remember correctly.


----------



## Zurgh (Dec 21, 2009)

Spikes, razor wire, flamethrowers, and zombies...

Seriously, I've used caution tape (like RoxyB mentioned) to cover some of the gaps in my fence and yard... and zombies...


----------



## bert1913 (Oct 27, 2011)

i use 1/2" black painted pvc pipe over rebar that i pound into the ground, then use yellow caution tape tied to each pipe


----------



## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

We used lights, and since the entry to the yard was gravestones, with a lighted path through it, no one really strayed.


----------



## BugFreak (Oct 30, 2011)

I followed the old pallet fence method. It looks great for a graveyard and creates a barrier not many can get around. I hold them in with rebar stuck in to the ground so they can't be moved.


----------



## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

I roam back and forth on both sides of the walkway acting like a lunatic. No one gets near the grass.


----------



## CreeepyCathy (Mar 28, 2009)

Faux Barb wire, Great tutorial here:
http://www.stolloween.com/?page_id=4108

I made some several years ago using this method, but used gray yarn instead; then sprayed rust colored spray paint on it. Tied it (in 3 rows) around agricultural posts from Lowe's.


----------



## Jay R (Sep 23, 2012)

We have this problem at Christmas time on our street, but it's worse because it's adults. I put up a string light fence but they just step over it. I'm thinking about getting my 9 year old a paintball gun and a tree stand...

Aside from that, I noticed that the people that go into the yard are normally people that want pictures next to a particular prop. so what some of my neighbors have done at x-mas is set up specific areas just for people to take pictures with a cool prop, signs, benches, chairs. etc. Last year, my Halloween theme was "zombie dinner party" and I had a table set with some zombie static props and a couple of empty chairs that the tots could sit at and pretend to munch on some bloody body parts with the zombies while mom and dad pulled out the i-phone.


----------



## Turbophanx (Jun 30, 2008)

At home depot, you can get cedar fence pickets for a buck each, I made a rickety old fence in 8ft sections using the pickets and 1x1 stock with landscaping stakes to stake in the ground.

I have 100 ft of fencing made for about $100.


----------



## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

When I lived around trees, I was able to collect enough dead branches laying around to build a temporary but creepy looking and effective fence. Fir strips (1x2) broken into halves or thirds for fence posts, and Tie wire from the mason section of your hardware box store to wire the branches together and to the fence posts. Cheap and easy.


----------



## The Pod (Sep 15, 2009)

Since you're flat broke, I suggest looking on craigslist for people giving away free skids. Tear them apart and use the wood to nail together a cheap wooden picket fence.


----------



## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

To save storage space I use pop in-the-ground wooden posts that I made with plastic rusty halloween chain hanging in between. I never have a problem with people walking through but I used to before I had some sort of barrier. My chain fence starts a few feet from the sidewalk which makes it further for people to walk into. So I think it deters people from walking in.

You could stand there with a hose and squirt the trespassers!


----------



## spideranne (Jul 17, 2006)

I use the wood stakes that come in 12 packs for about $6-8. I paint them black and run some twine across the top. I space mine fairly close together, but to save money you could space them out more.


----------



## Manon (Aug 2, 2011)

Lunatic - can you explain more about these "pop in the ground" wooden posts? I'm curious.


----------



## zombastic (Aug 27, 2012)

I got a bunch of dirty old pallets and used them. Still considering painting it black.


----------



## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

Lunatic said:


> You could stand there with a hose and squirt the trespassers!


HA! I was reading this thread to my wife, and she thought for a minute and said "paintball gun?"


----------



## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Guess I would lean towards the tree branches and/or free stuff scrounged off craigslist. There always seems to be someone on there (at least locally for me) offering 'free firewood' or 'free wood', which may be anything from deck boards, to furniture trimmings, actual old fence, branches, brush and limbs, etc.

Surely most any of that could be used for a fence. I would also tend toward the picket / upright stile. I'd worry a chain/rope/strand type fence is just inviting kids to climb through. The only type of 'strand' type fence I've seen keep people out would be an electric fence...which could be another idea...and a DIY project provided you can scrounge an old car ignition coil.


----------



## forbiddenforest (Sep 11, 2013)

We've used the caution tape with success - super cheap at a hardware store! Stakes are cheap too. I've also noticed that people are just trying to get a closer look at the props, so this year I am planning on making a longer, winding path through the yard with the props closer so they are easier to see, but still far enough away to hide imperfections. I'm also a huge dumpster diver for Halloween materials, so I have aquired some pallets and am always on the look out for more... they really do seem to work best for keeping people on the path!


----------



## mkozik1 (Sep 6, 2010)

Cattle Prod works well


----------

