From the monster mash to fundraising for a good cause, throwing down the decorating gauntlet this Halloween, many homes demonstrate a love for a viral decorating hit from the US: giant skeletons.
As the old Celtic year drew to a close on October 31st and the veils between the worlds thinned, in a bid to ward off evil spirits, our ancestors carved pumpkins that glowed with candles to scare off any spooks.
An extra place was set at the table for any family members who had passed and might have considered returning to break bread. Rings were baked into barmbracks; games were played and fortunes told. Samhain, part of the Celtic calendar for over 2,000 years, has always been a big event in Irish households.
Irish emigrants took the spooky celebration to the States with them, where the lack of turnips meant they substituted pumpkins instead.
And fright night took on a whole new souped-up personality that is now worth €13.5 billion this year, according to a report by Mike Winters for CNBC.
As a nation, we’ve now imported many of the American aspects of the festival. Kantar showed that shoppers stocked up on Halloween treats, €2.4 million on savoury snacks and €1.6 million on sweets, spending €8.9 million more than in 2023 on confectionery.
We’ve also imported the giant skeletons that have been such a spooktacular hit Stateside.
Here are four finely decorated homes that caught Home and Style’s attention when out and about.
Scares for a good cause and you’re invited
In Dublin 3, everyone in the neighbourhood comes to see what this household will deliver. And it’s quite the show.
There’s a Rolls Royce hearse parked out the front of this creeper-clad semi to rival the Adams family’s vehicle. There’s a cocktail bar serving up the poison of your choice. Seasonal beverages include Til Death Do Us Part, A Match Made in Hell, and Grave Mistake.
No mention of a New Orleans favourite, the Obituary, but there’s a lot to take in. While shadows play on the entrance gates, a wedding party gathering includes a spectral bride and groom.
Passers-by are cordially invited to the wedding of Grotesque Gertrude and Bartholomew Bones, but in lieu of presents, the homeowners ask you to please consider a donation to Breast Cancer Ireland.
A fright of ghosts in Coastal North Dublin
The circular entrance of this residence creates a theatre in the round with its cast of creatures from beyond the grave.
There’s a fright of ghosts, giant and regular-sized skeletons, a trio of tiny spectres, demon pumpkins and ghostly gravestones, all delivered with a Tim Burtonesque attire, that is a monster mash of gothic horror, whimsical surrealism and fairy tale darkness.
Further back is a clatter of skeletons taking it all in whilst reclining in deck chairs, for the weather is unseasonably warm.
New Orleans style in Dublin 4
A gated residence in Dublin 4 sees skeletons hanging out on the granite windowsills of the red-brick residence as if chorusing the blues.
The owners have used their period ironmongery to anchor a scheme that also includes murderous pirates from Captain Jack Sparrow look-alikes to Long John Silver hanging from the stone steps handrail, as if excavated from the bowels of Davy Jones Locker. Cobwebs gather dust on the gates where another privateer sports convict stripes and is imprisoned in a cage.
Stylish pumpkin patch
In the A94 postcode, the gated and gravelled front red brick has giant spiders skulking across its façade, climbing the walls. Its windowsills are decorated with floral displays that have been pimped up with pumpkins.
Pumpkins, tall, round, and tiny, line the granite front steps and the base of the house, arranged amongst the hydrangeas and the topiary.
Some of the specimens are dusted with a touch of frost; others are carved while a monster skeleton guards all the gourds.
And on the giant's shoulder is a miniature version, as if whispering mischief in its ear. Willow witches' brooms guard the gates and look like they might take off, Fantasia style.
