The Traditional Halloween Flames Arrive

It's really not Halloween until we put up the plywood flames in front of our house. My husband grumbles about it every year, but thankfully as he pounds them into the yard at least one neighbor will walk by and tell us how they look forward to them every year. It's almost like the Great Pumpkin has arrived in the neighborhood.

The idea to build some giant flames was actually my husband's. Thirteen years ago we were sitting on the front porch one warm October afternoon having a beer when he said it would be funny to surround the house with flames for Halloween. The following October I made it a reality by sketching them out with a line down the middle of a piece of plywood so that when the line was cut two flaming pieces were created. I got out the paint and the flames were born.

Since then, the outside decor has grown: the orange and black striped banners, the gentleman crow, the metal bat, and the inflatable cat. It doesn't change much, but that is how traditions are made.

I'll keep adding to the look until the day of Halloween and then it all magically disappears the next weekend until the flames arrive next October.

If you'd like to see how we created the Gentleman Crow you can read about it right here.