The smiles on adults' faces far outnumber those on the children visiting Susan and Martin Paisey’s Fergus Street, Kaiapoi, Halloween display.

“It’s surprising to see all the adults smiling as they look through the Halloween light display we have created here.

"Some children quickly enjoy it while others seem to take a while to process it and then they smile,” says Susan.

The couple created their first Halloween display during the COVID lockdown periods of 2020.

“We wanted to create something visual that the children and families in our community could walk past and enjoy when they couldn’t go anywhere other than walking up and down the streets of their neighbourhood.

“Over the years, the display has grown and grown, and now it takes over our front garden and house, and there is still more items waiting to be put up,” says Martin.

It takes the couple about five days to set up the display, which is open to the public free of charge, from 7 pm to 10 pm each day until the end of the month.

“Our neighbours are all very supportive, some even help us out with all the batteries needed to light up the skeletons, heads and spooky tombstones on display. Our own solar panels provide some power for the LED light displays, but many of the fun things on display now use batteries.”

While the couple don’t charge admission, over the past couple of years they have collected donations to help Kitty Kingdom, a cause Susan is passionate about supporting.

“Once Halloween is over, it will be time to start putting up the Christmas decorations, something many of our neighbours here in Sovereign Palms like doing each year,” says Susan.