8 Spooky Ways To Give Trick-Or-Treaters A Fright

Trick-or-treaters are never really expecting anything other than a treat. Dressed up in their Halloween costumes, with buckets ready to be filled with candy, they go round the neighborhood knocking on doors, essentially just ask for candy. But given that they do declare "trick or treat" when you open the door, how about this year you choose "trick"?

When the kids dive their hands deep in the bowl, hunting for the best candy, you can give them the most unexpected shock: Simply cut a hole in the bottom of the bowl, tape a plastic bag over the space, and when their hands are in the bowl, put your hand under the bowl, into the bag, and grab them.

If you have a bush or some trees surrounding the front of your house, scatter some creepy flashing eye lights to give the trick-or-treaters a fright before they've even made it to your front door.

This only works if you live in a two-story home, and if you do, it'll give the trick-or-treaters a fantastic fright. Buy a fake skeleton and some rope. Tie the rope around the skeleton's neck, and carry it up to the second floor to a window that overlooks the front door. When the trick-or-treaters approach the door, drop the skeleton from the window (keeping hold of one end of the rope, of course) so that it hangs and sways in front of the door, giving them the biggest fright.

Set a bowl of candy outside your house with a sign that says: "Help Yourself." At the bottom of that big bowl of candy, cover a walkie-talkie. Then hide inside with the lights off so it looks like nobody is there, and when the kids approach, speak into your walkie-talkie so a voice coming from nowhere terrifies the trick-or-treaters away.

Yes, kids are expecting a scarecrow to be standing in your front garden, but they're not expecting that scarecrow to come to life. Dress up as a disheveled scarecrow and slump into a chair in the front garden, staying as still as possible. When the trick-or-treaters come near, and have dismissed you as a stuffed scarecrow, jump to life and watch them all scream and run away.

Bring people's  Halloween fears to life, and stop the trick-or-treaters from even getting too near to your door, by setting up some branches and covering them in a murder of fake crows that will look like they'll attack as soon as you get near.

For a gruesome scare, offer the trick-or-treaters a huge, generous-looking bowl of Halloween candy, but hide a real-looking toy rat in it so they get a horrible fright when they push their hand in and reach around for their treat.

Terrify the trick-or-treaters by setting one of those creepy-looking dolls in the window and tying some fishing wire to one of her wrists. When the trick-or-treaters catch sight of this scary doll staring at them through the window, pull on the wire so that it looks like she's waving at them.