Halloween is the perfect time to have a little fun with your home’s curb appeal! Whether you’re welcoming trick-or-treaters or decorating for the family, you don’t need to spend a fortune to create a spooky seasonal display.

Here are a few easy, affordable ideas to get you started:

• Make milk jug ghosts: Draw spooky faces on clean milk jugs, add battery-powered lights, and line your walkway with glowing ghosts.
• Mummy-wrap your front door: Use white streamers or fabric strips and oversized paper eyes for an easy Halloween makeover.
• Decorate with pumpkins: Paint funny or spooky faces on pumpkins for a family-friendly porch display.
• Create window silhouettes: Cut bats, cats, and ghosts from black construction paper and display them in your windows.
• Make a spooky wreath: Add faux spiderwebs, plastic spiders, and a festive bow to an inexpensive wreath form.
• Turn tomato cages into ghosts: Add a foam head, battery-powered lights, and white fabric for a fun yard decoration.

A Little Halloween Fun Goes a Long Way

For Orlando homeowners, remember to secure lightweight decorations and choose weather-resistant materials to handle October’s occasional rain and wind.

When Halloween night arrives, turn on your porch light, set out the candy, and enjoy the festivities!

What’s your Halloween decorating style — cute and festive or spooky and scary? Share your favorite ideas and get inspired to make your home the neighborhood’s Halloween highlight!

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

It won’t be long before the streets of your neighborhood are filled with children, and some parents, will be costumed and carrying bags and buckets for Halloween treats!  Since many homeowners don’t regularly use the front entrance to their home, they may not think about all the little feet that will be tramping up the path to your door.  Make sure everyone has a safe trip for their candy by following these tips before October 31! 

• Do your own walk-up to your front door, and examine everything, including the driveway and front steps.  Make sure there are no loose pieces or large cracks that can cause anyone to take a tumble.  Porch railings should be secure. 
• Yard decor should be fixed securely so the wind can’t blow it over, or curious little hands cannot pull it down. 
• Battery-operated LED tea lights are inexpensive and much safer to use in place of lighted candles.  Many options are available for LED’s, including a flickering light that is perfect for your jack o’ lantern. 

• Speaking of lights, make sure that not only is your porch light switched on, but that the path you’ve created is well-lit. 
• Decor that hangs from the trees is scary and fun, so make certain they are hanging at least ten feet from the walkway, making certain they don’t obstruct anyone’s view. 
• Take an afternoon close to Halloween to be sure any shrubbery, trees or edging isn’t in the way of where trick-or-treaters must walk.  Inspect for loose branches in nearby trees and remove them. 
• If you have room in the garage, consider parking the car there.  The folks that are coming and going would likely appreciate the extra room to pass others. 
• A constantly-ringing doorbell or persistent knocking can cause your pets some distress and a lot of barking.  Confine them to a room, or even better, to their crate.  Check out these other great tips about your pets and Halloween from the ASPCA. 

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

– Shoppers will spend $86.27 on average celebrating Halloween
– 72% of parents admit to stealing candy from their kids
– 68% of people will celebrate Halloween
– 172 million people plan to celebrate Halloween
– U.S. confectionary and nut stores that sell candy, employ over 23,000 people
– Skittles are the top Halloween candy- followed by Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, MM’s, Snickers, and Starburst
– The most popular children’s costume is princess, with 7.9% of children going as a princes for Halloween
– Following princess in popularity is Superhero, with 6% of children choosing to go as their favorite superhero
– 8.9% of adults who dress up go as a witch
– 17% of people dress up their dog for Halloween
– What do those dogs dress as? Pumpkin (9.3%), Hot dog (7.2%), and Superhero (7.2%)
– 1927 is the year when the phrase “Trick or Treat” first appeared in the US
– The word “pumpkin” showed up for the first time in the fairy tale Cinderella
– 2x more children die as pedestrians on Halloween than the average day
– Halloween in 2020 will have the first full moon since 2001- watch out for werewolves!
– The most Jack O’Lanterns ever lit at once were 30,581
– Top planned Halloween purchases: Candy 95%, Decorations 72%, Costumes 67%, Greeting cards 35%
– The world’s largest Halloween parade is New York Village’s Halloween Parade which draws 2 million spectators and more than 60,000 people in costumes
– 2 Billion lbs of pumpkins are grown in the US every year
– Trick-or-treating has existed since medieval times.
– Back then, it was known as “guising” in Ireland. Young people dressed up in costumes and asked for food or money in exchange for songs, poems, or other “tricks.” Today, the tradition has morphed into children to getting dressed up and asking for candy.
– The potato famine, and the mass immigration of the Irish into the US helped spread Halloween in the US.
– Sugar rationing during World War II halted trick-or-treating.
– Consumers spent approximately $9 billion (!) on Halloween last year.
– Some shelters adopt out 0 black cats for the month of October.
– The first Jack O’Lanterns were actually made from turnips.
– More than twice as much candy is sold for Halloween as Valentine’s Day.
– The haunted attraction industry makes between 500 and $800 million a year in ticket sales.
– Owners of haunted attractions spend more than $100 million annually in props, such as fog machines, lighting equipment, costumes and more.
– Jack O’Lanterns used to be carved out of turnips, potatoes, and beets.

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

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Now, Pumpkin Carving 101 presents the fun stuff–carving your pumpkin!  Using your tools, you will find creating your pumpkin art is easier than you may think!  A few days before you will be displaying your pumpkin, gather everything you need, and follow these tips:

Cleaning out the pumpkin is messy, and best done on a paper-covered table or done outside.  Before you get started, wipe the outer shell with some kind of disinfectant cleaner to help stop the growth of natural germs that break down the pumpkin.  Instead of cutting out the top for a lid, remove a circle in the bottom or a square in the back.  This will make placing your light much easier.  Use your carving tool kit’s scraper to remove the fibers and seed from the inside of the pumpkin.  Once the inside is clean of seeds and pulp, use a solution of ten parts water to one part bleach to spray the inside of the pumpkin to help stop it from molding quickly.

Traditional jack o’ lantern faces are great and always a hit, but if you are looking for a little more for your carving, use a template!  Choose from these printable templates available from SheKnows, or create one of your own!  Your stencil should be complementary to your skills, or if the kids are helping, find an easy one, and print.  Tape it to your cleaned-out pumpkin, and use a push pin to create a dot-to-dot line.  This creates a dot-to-dot pattern. Saw along these lines using your kit’s small saw or any pointed serrated knife. You may find more scraping necessary to remove the thick inside of the pumpkin once all of your cuts have been made.

Once the carving is complete and the mess is cleaned up, it will be time to preserve your giant squash as well as choose a light source. Battery-operated tea lights are perfect for lighting your jack o’ lantern, and last for several hours, as well as being safer than a traditional candle.  Once you purchase an inexpensive pack, replace the batteries when the old ones die, as the LED bulbs inside last much longer than any wax tealight candle.  Find more tips for keeping your jack-o’-lantern fresh and lighting ideas in this article from HGTV.

Keep the pumpkin-carving safe:  supervise younger children, and even help them when they want to use tools to cut the pumpkin’s new face.  Most children love cleaning out the “guts” of the pumpkin, so for a healthy treat, have them pick out some seeds for washing and roasting.  Most of all, have fun, and make memories!

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

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Gone are the days of using Mom’s best kitchen knife to carve a simple jack o’ lantern with triangle-shaped eyes and a toothy grin.  Pumpkin carving is an art for many, but even those who are not so talented in that department can fake it with all of the tools and tricks available!

Pumpkin carving kits are available at many retailers, and you do not have to invest more than $20.00. Basic kits usually contain a utility saw, hand “drill,” and scraper.  Pumpkin Masters is the leading producer of carving tool kits, and you can be certain your kit will be perfect for the beginner or the experienced carving artist!  Their basic toolset, along with other decorating kits, can be purchased for less than $15 at Lowes home stores.

If you are in the market for a beginner kit, such as a child-safe set, Best Products has a list of beginner sets, as well as other gadgets and tools that would be more fitting for adults.  All of these items are $25 or less.

If you are ready to step up your carving mastery, there are plenty of tools that are not necessarily made for carving large orange squashes but work well for creating a professional-looking piece of pumpkin art. Check out these picks from Bustler,  which includes a set of pottery tools, a cookie-cutter kit, and a power drill set, all perfect for creating the perfect jack o’ lantern.

Different tools create different results:  children can use metal cookie cutters to punch out shapes; for a lantern look, use a power drill and different-sized bits; and if you want to make your pumpkin look like a work of art, use a set of linoleum tools.

Gathering your pumpkin and tools are just the beginning! Stay tuned for more Pumpkin Carving 101, when we discuss choosing a template, carving your artwork, as well as keeping your jack o’ lantern fresh!

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

Get Orlando Daily News delivered to your inbox! Subscribe here!

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

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The Parks & Recreation Department of the City of Winter Park will present the 7th Annual Pumpkins & Munchkins in Shady Park on Tuesday, October 31, 2017, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.,  adjacent to the Winter Park Community Center at 721 W. New England Ave.

Munchkins of all ages are invited to attend this FREE family-friendly event. Fun-filled activities will include games, bounce houses, a costume contest, Trick-or-Treat Trail and safe Halloween fun for everyone. If inclement weather tries to dampen the evening, the event will be cancelled.

For more information regarding Pumpkins & Munchkins in Shady Park, please call 407-599-3275.

For more information regarding the City of Winter Park, please visit the city’s official website at cityofwinterpark.org. Like, follow and watch us on Facebook®, Twitter®, Instagram®, Vimeo®, and YouTube®.

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

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• October 27, 2017 – October 29, 2017
• Location: Hyatt Regency Orlando
• Address: 9801 International Drive, Orlando, FL 32819
• Time: Times vary.
• Admission: Prices vary.
• Phone:954-258-7852
• Event Website 
• Buy Tickets 

Description: 

The annual weekend, dark side of comic con event will feature an array of activities including a tattoo festival, film festival, celebrity autographs, zombie walk, kids zone, costume and cosplay contest, huge exhibitor room, live music, performances, Q & A’s with artists, authors and filmmakers, a game room, seminars, creepy cars, among many other fun and exhilarating activities. Enter the dark side of comic con with expected celebrity guests including icons from your favorite horror movies.

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website. 

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.  

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction. 

Get Orlando Daily News delivered to your inbox! Subscribe here! 

October 5, 2017

Orlando Museum of Art
2416 North Mills Avenue
Orlando, FL 32803

Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Admission: $15

Phone: (407) 896-4231

During this 1^st Thursday event, artists extend beyond earthly boundaries for inspiration to create works depicting dark/horror/goth and other Halloween themes: Hollywood inspired movie or TV icons, eerie or creepy landscapes and architecture, ghostly or ghoulish images, spooky or spoofy – anything associated with the paranormal, the uncanny and the unexplained.

Event Website

Purchase Tickets Here

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

Get Orlando Daily News delivered to your inbox! Subscribe here!