Streets lined with skeletons, cobwebs and pumpkins.<\/p>\n
What was once rare is now a familiar sight across Australia, as Halloween continues to gain popularity.<\/p>\n
For the last decade, Kerry Forsythe has gone above and beyond to make her love of the Northern Hemisphere tradition known, converting her Brisbane home into a haunted house.<\/p>\n
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Every tiny detail matters to Ms Forsythe as she works to bring her haunted house to life. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi)<\/p>\n
Ms Forsythe said planning begins around April, with about a month of solid building needed to bring the display to life.<\/p>\n
“We need to put up walls, we make a maze inside our garage \u2026 extend it out onto the driveway as well, we decorate the front of the house and even the street,” she said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ms Forsythe says at least 500 people pass through her haunted house each year. (Supplied: Kerry Forsythe)<\/p>\n
By the evening of October 31, hundreds of eager trick-or-treaters fill her street to share in the Halloween spirit \u2014 but Ms Forsythe said it had taken years to build that level of excitement.<\/p>\n
“It was non-existent when I started, I had to letterbox drop people and ask them if it was okay \u2026 it’s grown so much,” she said.<\/p>\n
Australian’s are embracing the growth of Halloween in recent decades. (ABC News: Emily Dobson)<\/p>\n
Animatronics, spooky clowns and jack-o’-lanterns<\/p>\n
Armed with dozens of animatronics, a van full of spooky clowns and buckets of jack-o\u2019-lanterns, Ms Forsythe has poured thousands of dollars and countless hours into her Halloween display.<\/p>\n
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Decorations spill out into the street, with Ms Forsythe even loaning out some of her hundreds of pieces to participating neighbours. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi)<\/p>\n
Little by little, she has achieved what she set out to do \u2014 connect with her local community.<\/p>\n
“Kids are so excited, and they love the fact that everyone is out of their houses, they’re in the streets \u2026 mainly, it’s for everyone to get together,” she said.<\/p>\n
“The purpose for me was to meet my neighbours and have a reason to.”<\/p>\n
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New research from the Australian Retailers Association and Roy Morgan estimate Australians will spend a record $500 million on Halloween this year.<\/p>\n
Chief Industry Affairs Officers Fleur Brown said the average spend was set to rise to $103 per person, an 11 per cent rise on 2024.<\/p>\n
“We are seeing the rise of themed costumes, that’s certainly not just for the kids. Lots of older Australians are getting into the fun in bigger numbers,” Ms Brown said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some props draw special attention from passing traffic. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi)<\/p>\n
Deakin University consumer behaviour expert Dr Paul Harrison said the figure came as no surprise with interest growing as the event \u201ctakes on a life of its own\u201d.<\/p>\n
“[Halloween] has seeped into the culture into something that is a very normal part of this time of year,” Dr Harrison said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dr Harrison says even those who don’t enjoy Halloween can use the event as an excuse to connect with others. (ABC News: Jonathon Kendall)<\/p>\n
He said that despite the cost-of-living crisis, many people were still choosing to take part in celebrations that bring them joy.<\/p>\n
“People love rituals, [they] bring people together,” Dr Harrison said.<\/p>\n
“We shouldn’t see it as a transactional process; we should actually see Halloween as a time of community not necessarily as a time of spending.”<\/p>\n
Amanda Flack has spent months planning and building her ‘Stranger Things’ TV series themed display. (Supplied: Amanda Flack)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Inflatables are a popular choice for Halloween decorations. (Supplied: Sambit St Christmas Lights)<\/p>\n
Celebration hotspots mapped out<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no different for Ipswich local Andy Andromeda, the creator of a map that pinpoints Halloween celebration hotspots.<\/p>\n
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After plenty of planning, Mr Andromeda puts the finishing touches on his display in the few days before Halloween. (ABC News: Tobi Loftus)<\/p>\n
“It started as a way to make it easier for people who want to give out treats to connect with people who want to trick or treat,” he said.<\/p>\n
In 2024, there were 1,200 entries across Australia with the majority around south-east Queensland.<\/p>\n
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Mr Andromeda says locations on the map have increased by about 64 per cent year-on-year.<\/p>\n
Mr Andromeda has built a five-metre-tall facade for this year\u2019s display and is hoping for a big turnout.<\/p>\n
“When I was a kid it wasn’t much of a thing, so it’s been a joy being an adult and seeing all the kids have fun with it,” he said.<\/p>\n
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Like many avid fans, Mr Andromeda says he has spent thousands of dollars over the years. (ABC News: Tobi Loftus)<\/p>\n
His neighbour Darren Grimes couldn’t agree more \u2014 he even thought about skipping this year’s event after a storm caused significant damage to their efforts.<\/p>\n
“Last year was really hard [after] the storm hit. We thought we wouldn’t go ahead with it, but a young girl came past and asked,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It just made me, it’s all worthwhile \u2026 it’s for the kids.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mr Grimes hopes to see plenty of happy trick or treaters enjoy the work he and his family have put in. (ABC News: Tobi Loftus)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Streets lined with skeletons, cobwebs and pumpkins. What was once rare is now a familiar sight across Australia,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[149230,149226,64,63,99,113571,149229,21375,58380,149223,9096,525,54162,149224,5023,149227,149225,78780,149232,149228,149231,2957],"class_list":["post-251736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-all-hallows-eve","tag-american-holiday","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-celtic","tag-cobweb","tag-consumer-spending","tag-costumes","tag-decorations","tag-display","tag-fun","tag-halloween","tag-haunted-house","tag-holiday","tag-interest-growth","tag-pagan","tag-scary","tag-silly","tag-skeleton","tag-spooky","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}