

Halloween is just around the corner, and no night of trick-or-treating would be complete without at least one haunted house in the neighborhood. Don’t you remember going door-to-door for candy as a kid, then passing other trick-or-treaters on the sidewalk and having them warn you to, “Watch out for THAT house!”
Whether you opt for a graveyard scene, a mad scientist’s laboratory, or a zombie apocalypse, the setup doesn’t have to be expensive or labor-intensive to be spooky, but it’s usually expected that there’s going to be a mess afterwards. Follow these simple steps to make your haunted house the creepiest on the block—and also make sure it stays the cleanest!
A few careful details can transform your front lawn, driveway, or patio from an everyday home to a place that sends shivers up the spines of trick-or-treaters. To immediately create an effective atmosphere, black lights and/or flickering lights are a must. Black lights will make everyday t-shirts and sneakers glow an eerie white, while flickering lights create atmosphere and make it difficult to see what’s coming next.
Find a soundtrack of scary noises to accompany your scene: wolves howling, witches cackling, chains dragging, or ghouls moaning should do the trick. Many spooky soundtracks are available to download for free, or you can just as easily stream them as YouTube videos. Play them on your laptop or through Bluetooth speakers throughout the evening.
Another creepy element that every haunted house needs to set a mood is dry ice. It has a short shelf life, so don’t bring it out until right before showtime. Just prior to the trick-or-treating hours, pour the dry ice into buckets, cauldrons, or beakers of warm water to make bubbling noises and produce a ghostly mist that will make the place appear truly haunted.
WARNING: Always handle dry ice with care, as contact with the skin can burn you. Place dry ice containers in areas where they can’t be accessed by the hands of children.
Above all, the most convenient aspect of frightening music, lighting, and dry ice is how none of them create additional messes like so many other atmospheric choices would.
Fake blood and monster makeup are great for producing scares, but they usually require COIT technicians afterward to blast away the stains and restore your carpet flooring and furniture upholstery. The good news is there are countless possibilities for how you can decorate your home while still leaving cleanup to a minimum. If you want to skip handing large sums of money to the local Halloween store this October, here are a few favorite DIY tricks that make for some fantastically creepy props:
After visitors have braved your haunted house, reward them with treats, and above all, have fun! If the festivities leave an unplanned mess, companies like COIT mean there isn’t a spill or prank that can’t be erased. For help removing stains, sticky candies, silly string, or other debris from your driveway or home interior, the team at COIT is always a phone call away.