Last Minute Halloween Decorations for the Front Porch

Yeah, I blew it. Since we don't have a lot of kids in the neighborhood, I wasn't planning on decorating the front porch for Halloween this year. Unfortunately, I've just now learned from my teen daughter that we are hosting a Halloween party for a bunch of her friends and the porch Simply Must Be Decorated or she'll die of embarrassment.

Sound familiar?

For families caught in a last minute frenzy of front porch decorating for Halloween, the bad news is that as of this weekend, most of the spooky Halloween stuff has been replaced with Santa Claus stuff. The pickings for Halloween decor is down to a single clearance bin in a corner which means that decorating for trick or treaters has to be somewhat creative this year.

Here's what we're planning on doing this year; jump on board and join the fun as our family scrounges around for some last minute front porch Halloween decorations. Maybe some of our ideas will work for you as well.

Gather up bundles of leaves. One year, we tossed about five Hefty bags worth of dried leaves on the front porch which resulted in a creepy, crunchy pathway for the kids passed through on the way to the front door. Leaves are free, and add a lot to creating a mood of abandonment in a home. If you can lay your hands on some cornstalks, these also are great to throw in the corner of the porch.

Lots & lots of Jack o'lanterns. The stores still have plenty of pumpkins which can be carved up and lit to decorate the walk ways. In past years, I've set out as many as a dozen which look super creepy when all the lights in the house are out.

Stretch cobwebs from your front door all the way to the front gate. Dollar stores and some discount department stores still have packages of Halloween cobwebs which are also a fun way to decorate a porch. What we do is arrange the cobweb in such as way that it grazes the face of people as they walk up to the front door.

Twinkle lights. We also found lots of orange twinkle lights which are another fun way of decorating a front porch for Halloween. However, instead of hanging the lights from the ceiling, we'll arrange them on the floor of the porch tucked in among the leaves.

Set out rickety furniture, old boards, and other old stuff. My barn is filled with "Project Furniture" that will get refinished one of these years (ha). In the meantime, I can use those broken down chairs, weathered boards, or other broken down stuff on the front porch to create a mood of neglect.

Bales of straw. To me, straw bales and Halloween seem to go hand-in-hand. Bales provide seating and make great platforms for displaying Jack o'Lanterns. Farm stores sell bales of straw between $4-7 each, which can be recycled after Halloween as mulch for the vegetable garden.

Spooky music CDs. For $5, a Haunted sounds CD really adds to the mystery of Halloween. We typically set up our speakers on the second floor where they face out to the street to great guests as they arrive. This simple special effect combined with a dark house should be enough to send out spooky vibes for Halloween guests and trick or treaters.