As the spooky season approaches, brace yourself for a battle on which house gets crowned the top trick-or-treat spot. To beat the competition, plan early and get your garden looking fa-boo-lous with these simple DIY hacks that’ll transform your place into your very own Monster House. 

Give the neighbours pumpkin to talk about

Nothing screams Halloween quite like an array of pumpkins, so get yourself down to the local patch and pick out your favourites. They come in plenty of different shapes and sizes, which is perfect for creating a variety of ghoulish creatures. Allow friends and family to unleash their competitive spirit and host your very own pumpkin carving competition, crowning the winners with a coveted space on your eerie driveway display. As we all know, this process can get a little fiddly, so perhaps opt for a splash of paint instead. Decorate pumpkins with ghostly black and white swirls, or sketch out characters from your best-loved Halloween movies. 

Trick or treat?

Only once a year is it socially acceptable to approach random houses in search of goodies, so make it a night to remember with a truly terrifying trick or treat station. Parents/YouTubers Wicked Makers took this to the next level, by dusting off their DIY hats and creating a skeleton candy slide using an upcycled PVC pipe – who said you can’t make sustainability spooky?! Perhaps you’d rather have hungry visitors reach inside the jaws of a monster (a pretend, friendly one, of course), decorated with twisting spider webs, leading them to question what mouth-watering treats lie within. 

Ghostess with the mostess

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Not this time. Bring on the ghost and bat decor! Switch out autumnal bunting and fairy lights for something a little more spine-tingling, using trees to cascade your DIY creations down. You need not look further than your ‘bits and bobs’ drawer at home for this one, using balloons, white sheets, string and black cardboard to bring your fiendish friends to life. When the day transitions into night, place some LED lights behind eye holes to give your guests a fright. 

Enter if you dare…

We all remember Kat and Dr. James Harvey’s terrifying drive up to Whipstaff Manor before being greeted by Casper and his band of merry ghouls. The spookier you can make your driveway gate, the more you will have your guests questioning the frights that they have waiting for them. Pull apart some cotton balls and use the fibres to construct your own spider webs, completed by sticking realistic creepy crawlies to the edges. To spookify your front door, create a wreath using dead vines and leaves, pinecones, mini pumpkins and glow in the dark stickers.

Frightful flowers

Who knew flowers could be creepy? In fact, they could be just what you need to give your Halloween garden decoration that added edge. Garden Collage Magazine has compiled a list of the spookiest plants, and featuring species such as bat flowers, Japanese blood grass and ghost plants, you’d think they were straight out of a horror movie. There’s no harm in planning early and getting some scary seeds in. 

With a variety of gates to choose from, it’s easy to create your perfect home aesthetic – spooky or otherwise. Get in touch with our friendly team of professionals today to discuss your plans.