My Worst Halloween Decorating Disaster.

I've got that Question on the "Fall is in the air" Giveaway Hop.

My absolutely worst halloween decorating disaster happened in 1998. Living on my own for the first time, I decided I was going to go all out and make my yard be the most frightful on the block.

Blow up decorations were a new thing, they were also really expensive. So I didn't go that route, instead I bought 20 packs of fake spider webs, dug some dirt up in the back yard and put the dirt in the front yard to look like a fresh grave. I used a fake hand that I splashed some red paint on, half burying it in the fresh dirt/grave. Cut a headstone from a piece of cardboard box, painted it and then put some corny epithet on it like "here lies stu, he choked to death eating stew, now he's dead with nothing to do."


I put the fake spider webbing everywhere! It was in the trees, bushes, the corners of every window. I hung little ghosts made from Styrofoam balls and white fabric bought by the yards. Used a black sharpie to draw faces on them. Ghosts hanging from every tree. I even made my own trash bag spiders, used red solo cups for eyes. Carved pumpkins that looked more silly than scary. That was the outside of the house, inside I had hung red lights around every window, to help with the visuals with the spider webs.

I was quite proud of my spooky yard.

Two nights before Halloween, I woke up to the sounds of shouting and smashing. A couple of teenage boys decided to vandalize my yard because "they thought someone else lived there." I was devastated. I held a shotgun on them both until the law arrived and then I pressed charges. If it had just been the decorations, I wouldn't have pressed charges but the hoodlums busted my car win shield when they threw a small uncarved pumpkin at it. They also cracked the living room huge plate glass window, which I had to pay my landlord for (in addition to never getting my $800 security deposit back).

I didn't even hand out candy that year. I had bought huge bags that eventually found their way to a food pantry.

I've had other decorating disasters, every year it seems something goes horribly wrong. I have no doubt this year will be any different. Most of the time I just laugh it off. Crap happens. No point in crying or getting too upset. Just stresses me out. I can think of other things to stress about.