Late September through October 31
Halloween
The one holiday where people get out of the car and walk right up to your door, so detail at eye level matters more than anything you can see from the road.
- start planning early September
- 7 themes
- 70 plans
what makes this one different
Before you buy anything
Halloween is judged from four feet away by a seven year old, which flips the usual rules. Texture and detail beat size. It is also the only holiday with a traffic problem: leave a clear, well-lit path to the door, because a hundred people are going to walk it in the dark in costumes they cannot see out of.
pick a look
7 themes for Halloween
Each one works with every yard shape on the site, so pick the look first and the plan bends around your geometry afterwards.
Showing these on your Long Driveway, Rural Frontage not yours? pick one
- Wide Shallow, No Porch
- Narrow Shallow with Porch
- L-Shaped with Projecting Garage
- Deep Narrow
- Corner Lot
- Split-Level or Raised Ranch
- Sloped or Terraced
- Small Urban Postage Stamp
- Circular Driveway
- Long Driveway, Rural Frontage
We will remember it for next time.
Alien Invasion
Something landed on the lawn and it is still here. A saucer low over the grass, a beam of green light, and small gray visitors standing very still in places they should not be.
3 free build plans in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural FrontageCryptid Crossing
Roadside warning signs, glowing eyes in the shrubs and something large standing at the edge of the light. Less gore than most Halloween themes and quite a lot more unsettling, which makes it the one that works on a quiet street.
4 free build plans in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural FrontageThe Old Cemetery
Leaning stones, an iron fence with a gap in it, and candles along a path that nobody has swept in years. The one Halloween theme with nothing alive in it, which is what makes people slow down instead of laugh.
5 free build plans in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural FrontageSpiders, Spiders, Spiders
One enormous spider and then a great many smaller ones, with webbing strung between everything that will hold it. The cheapest Halloween theme to scale up, because webbing costs almost nothing and covers an entire yard.
2 free build plans in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural FrontageToxic Waste
Something leaked. Drums on their side with green light coming out of the split, tape across the walk, and whatever came out of them still moving. The one theme that scares people without a single ghost in it.
4 free build plans in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural FrontageWitch's Brew
A cauldron going hard, hats hanging in the air and green light coming up out of the ground. It is a scene rather than a scatter of props, so it wants a yard with one spot you can build everything around.
3 free build plans in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural FrontageZombies
The lawn is coming apart and things are getting out of it. Headstones, hands, and half-figures pushing up through the grass, arranged so the whole yard looks like one bad night rather than a store display.
2 free build plans in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural Frontageor start from your yard
Which shape do you have?
If you already know your lot shape, go in that way instead. Every theme above works with every one of these.
- Wide Shallow, No Porch Lining everything up in one flat row parallel to the house. It turns your yard into a store display. Stagger the depths even a few feet.
- Narrow Shallow with Porch Buying one giant inflatable that fills the entire yard and blocks the porch. The porch is your best feature. Do not park something in front of it.
- L-Shaped with Projecting Garage Treating the entry as the center of the house and spacing everything around it. The entry is off to one side. Symmetry built around it looks lopsided from the street.
- Deep Narrow Putting everything up by the house where you can see it from the front door. From the street it collapses into one small cluster with 40 ft of empty lawn in front of it.
- Corner Lot Decorating the front door and leaving the whole side street bare. Half the neighborhood sees that side first.
- Split-Level or Raised Ranch Crowding the top landing. It is about four feet deep, it is the only way in and out, and everything up there is invisible from the road anyway.
- Sloped or Terraced Putting the tallest thing on the bottom tier because it is the easiest to carry to. It hides everything above it. Height goes up the hill, not down.
- Small Urban Postage Stamp Buying at the same scale as a suburban yard. A 9 ft inflatable in a 12 ft setback is not festive, it is a wall.
- Circular Driveway Decorating the island and leaving the house behind it dark. The island reads as a floating blob with no context unless the roofline is lit too.
- Long Driveway, Rural Frontage Putting everything at the house, where the road cannot see any of it, and leaving the mailbox end completely dark. Most of your audience never gets past the mailbox.