Residents across Christchurch are getting ready to spread some Halloween cheer to neighbourhood kids, hanging spiderwebs and digging graves.
For the past three years, Linwood residents Sammy and Jordan Dickinson have been competing with their neighbour Duncan Martin to see who can attract the most trick-or-treaters.
Both houses ran out of sweets last year so they have stocked “tons of candies”, Jordan said.
“It’s like something for the community and not many people do Halloween. So I want to be that different dude that brings out Halloween.”
The Thomas St residents spent a week setting up the cemetery, while the backyard took them three days to put together.
A number of small ghost figurines were also 3D-printed to give out to the best dressed trick-or-treaters.
The decorations, including a new gazebo, a smoke machine, and additional props cost the pair about $1500.
“I love Halloween so if I have to do it on the cheap, I’ll do it on the cheap. If I can afford it, I’ll buy it,” Jordan said.
Like the Dickinsons, rising costs has not sucked the Halloween spirit out of Upper Riccarton resident Will Hunter.
This was also the third year he had decorated his house: Haunted on Middlepark Rd.
This year, Hunter noticed the plastic pumpkins from Kmart cost $8 while they cost $6 in 2021.
On his house, he spent $300-400 on decorations and $50-100 on candy, but Hunter did not seem phased by cost.
He saw Halloween as an opportunity to give back to his community and open his home to the trick-or-treaters, something that is not done as frequently nowadays.
“You can give the kids a 10 cent lollipop or dollar candy bar, it doesn’t cost much,” Hunter said.
The decorations normally took him about a month to put up.
This year, his house features a giant spiderweb, a ‘body’ in a bag and some creepy dolls, among other things. Lights and a smoke machine were sponsored.
His celebration of Halloween stemmed back to when he was five-years-old and a trick-or-treater himself in Auckland.
“I’ve been celebrating Halloween my whole life,” Hunter said.
His haunted attraction with sound and lights, a smoke machine and projector and free candy is open to trick-or-treaters on Sunday and Monday from 5-8pm.
From 8pm until late, the house would be lit and able to be viewed.
