Halloween is here, and Canadians everywhere are flexing their landscaping skills to create the spookiest displays for trick-or-treaters this weekend.
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Canadians → flex → trick
After the incredible displays we received last year, we asked Globe readers to share how they decorated their lawns this Halloween.
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they → receive → lawns
From homemade animatronics to a return to low-tech pumpkin carving, here’s what you shared with us.
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you → ’ → us
My wife and I have always loved Halloween and decided to start our haunt when we bought our home 20 years ago.
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we → love → home
The majority of our props and animatronics are handmade by myself, my wife, and son – we prefer to build our own rather than buying from retailers.
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we → prefer → retailers
This year we are also including an AI-powered animated skeleton that will have interactive discussions with our visitors.
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that → include → visitors
As I am in Quebec, I have bilingual audio for spoken words, and the controller plays each randomly.
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controller → have → each
We receive over 400 children on Halloween night and hand out over 2,000 pieces of candy.
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We → receive → candy
For us, Halloween is a passion, and we work year-round to make and repair props and then spend several weeks prepping the small space we have.
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we → work → space
It’s one of the best feelings to watch the kids try and figure out how something works and hear the older kids and adults comment on how much they enjoy the experience each year.
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they → ’ → experience
The joy of pumpkin carving
My Halloween decorations are deliberately old-fashioned and low tech – I love seeing real pumpkins carved and lit on Halloween.
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pumpkins → love → Halloween
We usually have two or three pumpkins and we carve them with faces in a style the shape of the pumpkin suggests.
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shape → have → pumpkin
I’ve been doing this for about 10 years.
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I → do → years
In our little mountain town, more and more people are decorating their lawns for Halloween.
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people → decorate → Halloween
We have been busy adding to our yard to get it perfect for Halloween night.
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it → add → night
The house and yard have been taken over by skeletons.
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house → take → skeletons
This year, we added a spider maze to the yard and the clowns have taken over my little baking shed.
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clowns → add → shed
We grew a bigger corn patch and pumpkin field and decorated it with a scary burlap family – there are scarecrows that jump when you’re not expecting it.
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you → grow → it
My husband and I continue to do this every year when we see how happy the kids are when they show up on Halloween night.
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they → continue → night
I’m keeping a childhood love going as long as I can – thank God I have a husband who will indulge all my crazy ideas.
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who → keep → ideas
My parents graciously let me decorate their lawn year after year in a cemetery-style yard display.
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me → let → display
Unfortunately, living in a condo doesn’t afford me the space to sprawl out.
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living → live → space
I’ve always been inspired by creating something that appears realistic, like theatrical stagecraft (which I was in school for before I became a registered nurse), and the magical imagineering behind many Disneyland attractions.
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I → inspire → attractions
For me, it’s all about the dramatic lighting!
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it → ’ → lighting
It’s a labour of love and it brings me so much joy.
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it → ’ → joy
My family (wife and two girls) were inspired by the WNBA expansion team Toronto Tempo, so we put together a basketball display this season.
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we → inspire → display
The Scream selling popcorn was a new addition, since we had popcorn when we attended a Tempo game.
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we → sell → game
Since we only have two skeletons, we had to take a scene from the sport into more of a 1:1 format.
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we → have → format
We imagined dribbling or shooting at a net, which we repurposed from another family that had it on the curbside.
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that → imagine → curbside
We enjoy when others can smile, point and take pics.
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others → enjoy → pics
Trent Melton, Toronto
Enter the spirit world
We are doing a haunted garage walkthrough, offering an immersive experience with animatronics, lighting, fog, actors and more.
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We → enter → animatronics
I change up the theme every year - while keeping some things consistent.
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I → change → things
For example, we always have clowns.
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we → have → clowns
This year is a chance to visit the spirit world.
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year → visit → world
We’ve been doing the garage for seven years, and reception has been great.
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reception → do → years
The Aporia
