For some people, Halloween is the number one decorating holiday. A chance to turn their front walkway into the entrance to your favorite haunted house.We love the holiday just as much as the next guy, don't get us wrong. But there are some decorations that we can absolutely do without. And in conversations without neighbors, seems we aren't the only one with a list of least favorite Halloween decorations. Because as great as Halloween is when the sun goes down, the mailman, dog-walker, and your neighborhood jogger still have your pass your home, screaming dancing skeleton and faux-cobweb covered bushes in daylight hours. Keep reading to find out what you might want to nix from your yearly decorations, and click this link to read the full list Halloween decorations to avoid.
1. Fake spiderwebs
Even in pristine condition, fake spiderwebs are the decor equivalent of finding a hair in your food. They look like someone tore the guts out of a beloved stuffed animal and strung them sadistically around the bushes. The white ones are bad enough, but they also come in neon green, purple, and orange. Those don't even look like spiderwebs, people!But the real nasty part comes as they age. Similar to real cobwebs, faux ones catch everything from falling leaves to Fritos bags, cigarette butts to, yes, all those candy wrappers. And, like all decorations, nobody is as excited about taking them down as they are about putting them up, so they slowly slough off onto the street as the weeks pass.To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here's how these cobwebs look during the first week of October: Oh, and apparently they can kill cats that eat them. So there. Another reason to banish the things.
2. Motion-activated Halloween decor
"I hate the motion-sensor ghost/Dracula/skeleton that's on a string and shoots down at you from the top of the roofline," says Melissa Atwater of Brooklyn, NY. "The first time I saw one I jumped. I don't like being made into a fool by decorations."Alas, there's a whole range of motion-activated Halloween decorations like this, and they are loathed by virtually everyone—except, presumably, the homeowners who install them.Reality check: Your yard is not a haunted house. People did not sign a waiver and pay $25 to get consensually terrified by things leaping out of the darkness at them. Pity the letter carriers in some of the more "festive" neighborhoods around Halloween.
3. Too much glitter
"I hate glittery crap," says Anna Sachar, a homeowner in Huntsville, AL. "The glitter gets all over everything, including the porch, the house, and kids' hands since they always want to grab or poke it."It's tough to contain glitter on your property; it spreads. Soon, the entire neighborhood is going to look like a unicorn vomited.
4. Things too scary or gory to be kid-appropriate
"I love Halloween so much, and I've definitely enjoyed dressing up as an adult, but I like the idea of keeping it a kids' holiday," explains Antonia Smith, of Brooklyn, NY. And she's not alone.Every Halloween, there's debate about what goes too far when it comes to creepy stuff. Tons of blood, severed body parts, photo-realistic gore? These might be a bit much for younger kids. While Halloween is the time to indulge your dark side, consider what might traumatize preschool-aged trick-or-treaters. There's a big difference between delightful Tim Burton–style spooks and what looks exactly like an eviscerated corpse on your doorstep.
