Halloween is the most spooktacular holiday of the year and it’s right around the corner. It’s time to stock up on the candy, carve your jack-o-lanterns, and prepare your home for the trick-or-treating festivities. Follow these tips to ensure a good time this Halloween.

Clear the Path

Trick-or-treaters are full of energy and want to make their way to your front door as fast as they can, but wearing masks, capes, and other costumes can trip them up. It’s best to keep your walkways clear and free of debris, toys, hoses, or any other items that may be strewn about.  Keep in mind that eager kids may stray off the beaten path as well, so it may be best to keep the lawn clear. If your front lawn and walkway are not well lit, it may be a good time to install some motion lights or walkway lights to avoid any falls. Lastly, don’t forget to turn off your sprinklers for the day to ensure walkways are dry when the ghosts and goblins arrive.

Prep your Porch

Typically, trick-or-treaters don’t follow the orderly fashion rule of waiting their turn once they’re close to the candy you have waiting for them. It’s best to remove any breakable or valuable items from your porch, such as potted plants or furniture, to allow more room for the candy aficionados to gather. Check for any loose steps or wobbly railings to avoid potential accidents and verify your porch light is working properly as well.

Decorate!

As a child, trick-or-treating is the best part of Halloween, but as an adult, decorating is definitely the most fun. Jack-o-lanterns are a Halloween must, but if you don’t feel like carving your pumpkins, a display of gourds can be a great decoration for the occasion. If you do carve your pumpkins, consider using battery operated tea lights instead of traditional candles to avoid a fire hazard. Here are a few fun and easy Halloween decorating ideas:

1. Add bales of hay or corn stalks to your yard or porch
2. Create headstones with Styrofoam and paint them to adorn the lawn
3. Create Halloween luminarias for your walkway
4. Mummify your front door and windows with toilet paper or gauze
5. Add faux spider webs over hedges, railings, or columns
6. Add Halloween lights to your front porch – orange and purple give off a ghoulish glow
7. Set up your lawn chairs with scarecrows, skeletons, or mummies as their inhabitants
8. Create a spooky wreath for the front door
9. Cut bats and spiders out of black construction paper and hang them from the porch ceiling
10. Add some spooky branches to the porch by simply spraying them with black spray paint

Stock up on Candy

While this may seem obvious, there’s nothing worse than running out of candy half-way through the night. While having leftover candy in the pantry can be devilish to your diet, it’s better to have more than less. If you do happen to run out of candy, simply turn off your porch light to let trick-or-treaters know. Some people choose to leave a bowl on the porch so they don’t have to bother with answering the door. If you choose this option, be prepared to run out of candy much faster, so keep an eye on your stock.

Halloween is a time for neighborhoods to join in on some fall fun. Our last tip is to enjoy the holiday, have fun, dress up, decorate, and splurge on treats for yourself as well as the kids.  What are your Halloween plans?