Happy Friday and Happy Halloween! As usual, I'm linking up with Courtney at Eat Pray Run DC, Mar at Mar On The Run, and Cynthia at You Signed Up For What for this Halloween edition of the Friday Five.
My family's favorite holiday is Halloween. They have a lot of land, and each year they plan their decorations a year in advance and start decorating in August. They make about 95% of their decorations from scratch and build elaborate scenes, with my sister organizing everything and the entire family and also the neighbors helping. They re-use materials from old Halloween scenes to build new ones and keep their eye out on garbage night to see if people are throwing away anything they could use. They have a talent for turning garbage into decorations! They have been doing this for 12 years and decided this year would be the last year since it's so much work and my niece and nephew will be going to college and won't be there to enjoy it. (I'm not sure they'll ever stop doing it, but time will tell!)
NOTE: If you don't like scary stuff, be warned: Some of these photos are creepy!
Here are my five favorite scenes from their Halloween show this year.
1. Cemetery
The centerpiece every year is a cemetery that keeps growing. They make all the tombstones by painting and carving Styrofoam and have also built mausoleums and caskets. There is now so much stuff that there are three other small cemeteries and a pet cemetery in addition to the main cemetery.
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| The main cemetery |
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| Tombstone in the cemetery--hand carved out of Styrofoam |
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| Tombstone in the cemetery--hand carved out of Styrofoam |
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| The pet cemetery |
2. Demon Children and Babies
There were lots of evil babies and children this year. They also turned my niece's old playhouse into a haunted house.
3. Drum Line
My niece is in the drum line and my nephew used to be, so this year they built a drum line. They built the skeletons from handmade frames, made t-shirts for the skeletons that say "RIP Farewell Tour," made the drums out of paper mache, and built the casket where the dead conductor lies.
4. Horse and Carriage
They built a skeleton horse out of paper mache and plastic tubing. They made the carriage and casket that's on the carriage. They even made the skeleton conductor's hat--out of an old plastic container of pretzels!
5. General spooky scenery
In addition to the main scenes, there are spooky decorations everywhere. There are bats and body parts hanging from trees.
Signs, skeletons, and statues.
Even a demon dog!
At night they have lots of spooky lights, fog machines, and a sound system playing soundtracks from scary movies like Halloween, so it's even better at night!
Hope everyone has a happy Halloween! look forward to reading other's take on this theme!
Labels: Friday Five, Halloween
