Outdoor Halloween Decorating: Ghastly Graveyard

Front yards make ideal cemeteries for Halloween. Go as elaborate or as simple as you'd like with your graveyard -- it's guaranteed to make a big impact to passers-by. To save money, create your own graves:

• Buy a few large pieces of foam core presentation board from your local art store.
• Spray paint the foam core a medium gray hue.
• Draw the shape of the grave onto the board and write fake epitaph on each one.
• Using masking tape, glue a wooden or metal stake into the back so the grave will stay put in the front lawn.

Complete your graveyard with scary details:

• Pile pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns by the graves.

• Light candles in glass lanterns and hang them from trees or place them on the ground, illuminating the epitaph on a grave.

• Buy a large (12-inch diameter) foam ball. Place large swaths of cheesecloth over the ball to create a ghostly figure. Using fishing line as thread, sew through the top of the foam and cheesecloth and hang the ghost from trees in your yard so they can blow in the wind.