My Kid-Friendly Halloween Decorations

Howdy! MayBelle Crabtree here. I have the most kid-friendly house on the block at Halloween time. Always have and I always will. My neighbors think I’m crazy and they may be right. Most of them have spooky ghouls, goblins, ghosts, and witches in their front yards. Scary noises emit from somewhere, skeletons pop out from behind trees and shrubs, and black lights flash on and off.

You won’t see any of that stuff at my house. I have cute and adorable decorations in my yard. On one side of the driveway is an inflatable Snoopy popping out of a jack-o-lantern and light up jack-o-lanterns sprawled across the grass. The porch is decorated with different colored pumpkins. On the other side of the driveway where there isn’t much grassy area is a lighted up little girl witch. Her face reminds me of a character from the Peanuts comic strip. I think she’s lonely over there by herself so next year I’ll look for a companion for her.

Two reasons are behind my kid-friendly house.

1) I am a Big Chicken

As far back as I can remember, scary stuff just hasn’t been my thing. As a kid, I wore some pretty benign costumes. One year I was a princess and another I was Tweety Bird. Once I even raided my dad’s closet and dressed as a hobo. One house on our block every year made their garage into a haunted house which I never went into. I always had an excuse when my friends wanted to see a horror or scary movie. Even Jurassic Park gave me nightmares of dinosaurs chasing after me wanting me for dinner. And the ending of Raiders of the Lost Ark almost made me pass out.

Time has helped a Little

Here’s an example. There is a theme park we used to visit when I was a kid. A haunted house was one of its rides. We, as a family, never went on that ride. The excuse was, “The line is too long.” Maybe Mom or my older sister or even my dad was a chicken too. Maybe they saw the terror in my eyes as we approached the ride. I don’t know the reason for us always walking by the ride, but I was more than happy to pass it.

Then things changed when I was 12. A group of friends and I spent the day at that theme park. The haunted house line was still long. But my friends wanted to ride it. What else could I do? I took a deep breath and feigned excitement and stood in line with them. We slowly wound our way to the front of the line. I grabbed a friend’s arm and squeezed it tightly as we entered the ride. “Ow!” she whispered, “you’re cutting my blood off!” “Sorry,” I said sheepishly as I released her arm.

My heart jumped as we descended into the ride. What had I gotten myself into? I wasn’t expecting the floor to move. I gave a sigh of relief as we boarded the ride. and closed my eyes through most of it. Occasionally, I peeked. Finally, the ride ended and part of me found it rather enjoyable. I have ridden that ride numerous times over the years since and I still close my eyes through some of it. It still scares me.

2) My Girls Inherited My Chicken Gene

Daylight was fine those days of October. Walking by those scary decorated houses on the way to school or the park was fine and dandy. But Halloween night? Well, that was a whole different story. The girls clung to my legs, hid their faces against my body. “Please, Mommy, please,” Laurel pleaded through the tears. “Can we go home? Please take us home.”

“For goodness sake,” I said, trying to peel her and Holly off my body. “You walked by this house this morning and you’re fine. You know the people who live here and been inside the house. Just go up and get the candy. No one’s going to hurt you. It’s all make-believe.”

“Mommy, please! It’s scary! And it’s dark outside. I just want to go home. Please, mommy, just take us home!”

No amount of reasoning was going to change their minds. With just a handful of candy in their bags, we turned around and went home.

I Had Enough!

The following year I did something different. I couldn’t change my neighbors’ yards but I could do something in mine. We didn’t have scary at our house. In fact, it was kind of plain. Our decorations were 3 homemade jack-o-lanterns the kids carved themselves and that witch on the front door that looks like she crashed. That was it. I decided I would decorate so that I could hear kids scream for joy and not in terror.

I scoured the dollar stores for different kinds of decorations. Unicorns, rainbows, super heroes, and princesses decorated our front yard. Matthew thought I lost my mind.

“Are you crazy, Mom? Where’s the Halloween stuff? What will my friends think?” There’s no pleasing a tween-age boy.

But Laurel and Holly loved it. They danced and squealed around the collection of hodgepodge decorations in the yard.

On Halloween night, I dressed up in bright-colored, mismatched clothes I found at the thrift store, greeted everyone with a loud “Howdy,” and handed out candy from an Easter basket. The next day my house, and me, were the talk of the Lane. Still trying to decide if that was a good or bad thing.

But the little ones enjoyed it. Their faces lit up as they skipped up the walkway to receive their treat from me. Their laughter and smiles made it all worthwhile for me.

Every year after that I tried to do something different. One year I put my Christmas decorations up early. Nowadays, it’s pretty much the same every year. I’m getting older, more tired, and my energy isn’t what it used to be. But it’s still kid-friendly. The little ones still laugh and smile and skip up the walkway. That is the reason for it all.