Spooky Halloween Yard Decoration Ideas
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Get ready to spook the neighbors- go all-in with these amazing Halloween Yard Decorations! These Spooky Outdoor Halloween Decoration Ideas are sure to get your scary ideas flowing.
Easy Spooky Outdoor Halloween Decor Ideas
It’s no secret, I love decorating for Halloween!
I have all sorts of goodies in my Halloween stash and if it were up to me, I would put everything out right after Labor Day. (Luckily, my hubby is the voice of reason and always convinces me to wait a few more weeks on the Halloween yard decorations. It also helps he does most of the work setting everything up, lol.)
I have a few areas I decorate inside, (I’m still using my paper bats and luminaries) but for the last few years, most of our effort goes into our Halloween yard decorations.
And this year we added even more spooky decor in hopes of upping our game on our outdoor Halloween display.
Witches Gathering Around a Bubbling Cauldron
I still have my witches and bubbling cauldron we added last year and put them right out near the street for all the walkers and golf cart riders to see.
I just think they are so cute! (And the Bubbling Cauldron just gets so much attention from everyone that passes by.)
The witches came in sets of 3, from Grandin Road, and sell out early every year. They really add a fun aspect to our Halloween yard display.
Easy Spooky Graveyard Scene
Last year (at our old house,) we had a small area with tombstones set up near the witches. Our new front yard is much wider, so we created an entire graveyard full of tombstones and added our ghostly friend, “Eva” to keep watch over the area under the oak trees.
Eva came from Grandin Road as well. I picked her up during their last sale and unfortunately, she is now sold out for the year. (I’m certain she’ll be back in stock, along with her sisters, next year.) Eva’s quality is really nice, and if you get her on sale, the value is definitely there as she will last many years. (Grandin Road really has some of the best Halloween yard decorations.)
Just keep an eye out, as Grandin Road starts putting their Halloween stuff on sale around the beginning of September.
If you see something you want, grab it sooner rather than later as the best stuff sells out early. (I missed out on the 8-foot tall “reaper” I wanted this year. Next year I won’t wait!)
You can find a few similar Halloween props on Amazon and Oriental Trading. I haven’t tried Party City yet this year, so I’m not sure what they have. Spirit Halloween also has lots of good Halloween yard decorations as well, but they did not have anything life-size props similar to Eva this year. (And usually a 20% of coupon.)
DIY vs Store-Bought Tombstones for your Halloween Outdoor Yard Decor
I always thought it would be a fun craft to DIY my own tombstones, but they are just so inexpensive nowadays and you can find them everywhere, so we ended up purchasing ours online.
Whether you buy or DIY your tombstones – if you plan to do an outdoor graveyard display, I have a few great tips on setting up and securing the tombstones to share.
How to Secure Halloween Tombstones for your Outdoor Halloween Display
The stakes that come with store-bought tombstones are terribly flimsy, one stiff breeze and they fall right over!
After getting tired of having to prop up our tombstones every day. Hubby got busy on a plan to make the tombstones say up through every storm and cold front that blew our way.
He bought rebar stakes and bendable wire from the hardware store. (Rebar stakes come in various sizes from 1 foot to 2 foot long and he says they are located in the cement supply section.)
He used a heavy mallet to pound the stakes several inches into the ground.
Then, he poked the wire through the foam tombstones and wrapped the wire around the stake to keep the tombstones in place. We have not had to adjust these once since he did the fix!
Every Halloween Display Needs Scary Bats and Witches
We have a few scary, motion-sensitive bats hanging from the trees. (They swing and make noise when you walk by.)
Near the front door, we have a scary witch who pops up and startles every person that dares to come to the door. (We bought her last year from Spirit Halloween to be part of our trunk or treat display.)
Hubby put the pop-up-activating step pad right under the doormat leading up to the porch, so there is no missing out on stepping on it, lol.
Dear Amazon Prime delivery drivers – I’m so sorry about starling you every time you come to the door. (Ok, not really sorry, lol!)
See her in action here:
And last but not least, we added the most amazing digital window display to our Halloween yard decor.
Digital Cackling Witch Window Display
Have you seen these digital displays before? We have ours set up to shine through our garage window.
It’s almost like there’s a real live witch casting spells in our house!
The above photos aren’t that great, because the scene looks better in the dark. But once the sun has set and the area has darkened, our witch looks and sounds AMAZING from the street. It really puts our outdoor Halloween display over the top
We get a ton of foot traffic stopping by every night watching our witch and her cat casting their spells and singing songs.
If witches aren’t your thing, don’t worry, there are other themes available. Zombies, ghosts, creepy clowns, you name it!
These digital displays are the perfect backdrop to any spooky Outdoor Halloween display.
Here is a short clip of one of the witch movies in action:
So cool right? There are 7 different 2-minute long witch-themed “movies” that the projector scrolls through on a loop.
What You Need to Set Up a Spooky Digital Halloween Display:
With the right equipment, this digital display is easy to set up and you will have the most amazing and spookiest Halloween yard decorations on the street!
All you need is an inexpensive projector, a speaker, rear projection material and digital images. (Click the links to see the exact equipment we use.)
For our display, we put the projector on a tripod and marked the spot on the floor where it needs to be placed for the perfect sized image to show through the window. (It’s really close to my car, so I have to move it out of the way when I pull in and out.)
If your garage ceiling is low enough, you could attach the projector to the ceiling.
For sound, we used 30-foot speaker wire to connect the projector to our water-resistant portable speaker. (I leave the speaker outside unless I know it is going to storm.)
All I have to do, each evening, is put the tripod on the marked spot, turn on the projector and speaker on, select the movies and press play.
We have the projector plugged into a timer, so it turns off at 10:30 each evening. And I just move the projector out of the way when I run the kids to school in the morning.
This is what the rear projection material looks like:
It’s like an opaque vinyl window cling. I’ve heard you can also use a sheet, but your image won’t be as clear.
Some projectors have Bluetooth capability, but we didn’t want to spend the extra $$ on that feature since we already had a speaker and wire that worked. (If a projector is in your future, you can research and decide what works best for your set up.) We were more concerned about Lumens (brightness) than Bluetooth capabilities.
On a side note, my hubby has always been into TVs and electronics… And I just have to remark on the price of projectors.
We bought one of the first mid-range HD projectors available in the early 2000’s and paid around 5k for it. And this new projector, (which we plan to use for all sorts of fun outdoor movies and other activities) was $129!
Can you believe that? Crazy!
That’s it! We’ve had a blast with the digital display. Let me know if you have any questions about it.
Now it’s your turn! I would love to see/hear about your Halloween yard decoration ideas and displays. Leave a comment below!
Love to craft and cook for Halloween as well? Here are a few ideas you won’t want to miss:
- “Killer” Pumpkin Banana Cookies
- Easy Monster Cupcakes for Halloween
- Bats on the Wall! (free paper bat template)
- Easy Graveyard Pudding Cups
- Quilted Halloween Coasters
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