Halloween in NJ: Do you decorate your home?

As I make my way around the state, I'm seeing many more homes than ever before decorating for Halloween.

I get the Christmas decorations and the bright lights to be in the holiday season, but Halloween?

Everything from stuffed dummies staged to look like murder scenes to skeleton figures standing tall on lawns as high as 12 feet. It seems like an awful lot of effort for a holiday that isn't really even a holiday.

You're not off on Monday, October 31. It's just another Monday where kids will come home from school, suit up in a costume, and knock on doors to get candy from strangers. To be fair, it's a nice slice of American community spirit.

Defying the "don't talk to strangers" axiom and going right to talk to them AND accept candy is a remarkable event that should be celebrated.

But for me, we change the plants that sit in our entryways to the house. Flowers in spring and summer and mums in the fall. It's a great way to support local small businesses, we buy our plants locally from farms as they look better and last longer than typical big box store products, in our experience.

That's the extent of it.

OK, we do have the dried corn hanging on the front door this year. It was included in a gift box someone brought us so we repurposed it.

But I'm not putting up lights, no skeletons or witches.

Actually, I'm thinking that for Christmas, I'll forgo the lights this year. We'll have the debate over whether we will put up a tree and I'll lose the argument and end up having multiple trees around the house.

But the investment in time and money on the lights is a thing of the past. With grown kids, the holiday has evolved and we're just happy when the kids can get home for the holidays for a few days.

How about you? Are you decorating for Halloween? Christmas? Please take a pic of your Halloween display inside and out so we can put up a collage of New Jersey's best Halloween decorations.

Download the free New Jersey 101.5 app and send a chat to Producer Kristen through my show page. We'll get YOUR pics posted to the website in time for Halloween!

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own. Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015.

Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.