EXETER TWP., Pa. – In the daytime, the O\u2019Donald House in Exeter Township shines in Halloween spirit, but at night its spooktacular display draws in visitors from all across the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get everybody from toddlers, kids in their car seats get out and parents carry them around, to we have neighbors who are in their 70s and 80s that love to come down multiple times,\u201d said Dave O\u2019Donald.<\/p>\n
Everybody has their favorite.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love that all our Halloween decorations light up at night,\u201d said David O\u2019Donald.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love Maleficent,\u201d added his sister, Marietta.<\/p>\n
But the number one this family shares is their dog, 13-year-old Willow.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s the reason behind \u2018Creepin\u2019 for Critters,\u2019 a collection of Berks County home Halloween displays and fundraising campaign for the American Rescue League.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used her as the inspiration to say, \u2018Let\u2019s give back to the organization that gave us Willow,\u201d explained Daron O\u2019Donald.<\/p>\n
Now in its second year, more than 16 houses are taking part.<\/p>\n
Those involved have a QR code sign and some with a bin outside for donations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey look for pet food, bedding, blankets, towels,\u201d said Daron.<\/p>\n
The O\u2019Riordan family says it was a no-brainer to get involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo things we love: Halloween decorating and also animals,\u201d said Kisha O\u2019Riordan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI adopted my own fur babies from Animal Rescue League,\u201d added Ahnya O\u2019Riordan.<\/p>\n
Set up for them starts early September and they hear the appreciation from neighbors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just love like the buses coming by with the kids and they just scream! You can hear them from the bus screaming and they\u2019re just so excited about it,\u201d said Ahnya.<\/p>\n
Two houses down, the Escandell\u2019s combine Halloween and homemade. Every year, they decorate their yard to a theme from scratch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dire wolf, he is made out of bottles and foam. So, I carved the Styrofoam blocks and shaped up the face,\u201d said Sam Escandell.<\/p>\n
Transforming even the inside of their home, they say it\u2019s a year-long project and the best season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get to meet new neighbors, the kids love it. It\u2019s kind of like building a community,\u201d said Yomi Escandell.<\/p>\n
You can find a list of homes participating on the Creepin\u2019 for Critters Facebook page<\/a> and also on www.frightmaps.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \nCopyright 2026 Maranatha Broadcasting Co., Inc.. All Rights Reserved.\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXETER TWP., Pa. – In the daytime, the O\u2019Donald House in Exeter Township shines in Halloween spirit, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[12979,349,127339,2350,127338,128,130,129],"class_list":["post-311246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-animal-rescue-league","tag-berks-county","tag-creepin","tag-fundraiser","tag-halloween-display","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}