Create a Front Yard Graveyard for Halloween

Our costumes are finally ready, and soon the house will be prepared for plenty of visiting ghouls, goblins, princesses, cowboys, and other little characters.  Halloween will soon be here!  If you’re used to decorating your door for the trick or treaters, you may be interested in learning some easy ways to turn your front yard into a spooky graveyard this year.

You don’t have to break the budget to come up with the decorations for your yard, but you will want to give these decorations some thought and plenty of preparation. Here are some ideas you can use to create that spooky graveyard for added fun and entertainment.

It is fairly easy to find large cardboard boxes which are being thrown away. Ask any furniture or liquor store if you can have their boxes after taking items from them. These boxes will be a wonderful base for creating gravestones.

* Think about the size and shape of gravestones. They are often rectangles with rounded corners, cross-shaped or any number of other shapes. How large you make the gravestones will depend upon what size and how many boxes you get. Cut out the gravestones.

* Paint all of the boxes gray or other natural stone colors. You can also use chalk in varying colors to create the look of weathered stone.

* Dig down a little ways to place the bottom of the cardboard into the ground. If necessary, place a stick or something behind the cardboard to help it remain standing.

* With a large, thick black marker, write R.I.P. in large letters toward the top of the tombstone. You can write names on each of the cardboard tombstones with varying dates from different time periods.

* The more gravestones you add to your yard, the more “real” and spooky it becomes.

* Mound leaves or straw in front of the cardboard tombstone to make it look like a graveyard with recent additions.

Spider webs hung from trees and across the entry way would also give the impression of a graveyard. What do you make spider webs from? Gauze-like material and stretchable webbing are available where costumes and party favors are sold.

Find spooky Halloween music which can be played during the evening while children trick or treating visit. Strobe lights will give the impression of lightening, and dry ice can create fog which covers the ground.

Other things you may want to include in your yard to create the spooky graveyard you seek are “ghosts” made from sheets or garbage bags. Don’t forget to put eyes and mouths on them. Hang them from the trees.  You may wish to make these ghosts more friendly or goofy than spooky.

You may also want to try to get some large orange garbage bags which are normally sold before Halloween. If you enjoy the fine art of pumpkin carving, jack-o-lanterns with candles can also be placed around the yard and on the porch to add to the atmosphere.

These and the above ideas are some of the easy ways to turn your front yard into a spooky graveyard children will talk about until next year!