Halloween in the Landscape

Halloween has risen in the holiday industry from a lonely holiday 50 years ago to the top of the celebration ladder in 2020. Retail spending for Halloween, as estimated by the National Retail Federation, is more than $8.8 billion, more than $86.27 per person. While key shopping for Halloween focuses on candy and costumes, custom lighting, landscaping, and decorations for the front garden are strong contenders for homeowners. These remarkable statistics show that Halloween is here to stay as a major player in the holiday curb appeal for landscapes all across the United States.

Outdoor holiday decorating can be simple or complicated. Easy Halloween outdoor garden decorations for homeowners include pumpkins, pumpkin carving, scary fake spiders, giant spider webs, ghosts in the trees, door decorations, and pretend graveyards.

Halloween Landscaping Tips

There are lots of ways landscapers can assist a homeowner to build exciting Halloween decorations. Landscape teams can pick up large orders of pumpkins and truck them to homes in order to line walkways and build quaint pumpkin houses. Crews can place giant eyeballs (beach balls painted as eyeballs) high up in trees or help homeowners wire their property for outdoor speakers that play spooky music during the season.

Lighting is truly one of the most effective and important parts of an exterior decoration and LED lighting offers money and environmental savings. Creating colored LED uplighting around the trees and shrubs can give the landscape a spooky look. Much like the winter holiday, placing orange, purple, white, and green LED mini lights around doors, shrubs, trees, and along driveways can build atmosphere. Some people go over-the-top like the YouTube sensations “Party Rock Anthem” or “Edwards Landing Lights”. Having help putting a large display together that features music and lighting can make the experience a lot easier.

Halloween Lighting Safety

Most importantly, consider the safety of trick-or-treaters and other visitors to the home. Avoid using candles; while homeowners usually like to carve pumpkins themselves, having the landscaping team fill the pumpkins with LED lighting is a lot safer from fire hazard than the old-fashioned burning candle. Path lights can illuminate dark areas and prevent accidents in the evening conditions. While uplighting features the landscape and Halloween decorations, downlighting can be used to lighten driveways, walkways, and steps for safety.


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