Some spend thousands on Halloween decorations, others make them from scratch. See Toronto's top haunted homes - Toronto Star

Some have spent years collecting fancy props; others make homemade displays. They all do it to delight trick-or-treaters.

Every Halloween, Toronto’s residential streets are transformed into a spooky spectacle. Skeletons tower over street lights, custom-made props turn front yards into graveyards, and homemade monsters scour the neighbourhood. These efforts pay off in community spirit, welcoming hundreds or even thousands of costumed trick-or-treaters who come seeking candy and a scare on October 31.

For the most enthusiastic home decorators, Halloween is more than an opportunity to impress the neighbours — it’s a chance to bring people together, create memories for families and see kids’ faces light up (or run away screaming). Some have spent decades accumulating fancy prop collections; others make creative homemade decorations on a tight budget.

Here, five Torontonians who go all out for Halloween explain what it takes to create a memorable tableau that keeps people coming back year after year.

The ghostly home of Gale Moutrey in The Beaches.

When Gale Moutrey bought her home in The Beaches 36 years ago, she realized its Queen Anne style resembled a haunted house. She started decorating for her own kids who grew up loving Halloween, but now that they’re all moved out, she does it for the neighbourhood children. “I love to hear them go by and talk about how scary the house is,” she said. “It gives me pleasure to see people on the street have a moment of lightness, a moment of fun. Apparently, one of my neighbours said I have the most iconic house on the street.”

Rob Brownridge’s Etobicoke home tricked out as a graveyard for Halloween.

Rob Brownridge said his Etobicoke home was getting only about 20 trick-or-treaters when he moved in 13 years ago. Since he started building his collection of decorations, he’s gotten up to 400 to 500 trick-or-treaters every year. “It’s just about keeping the Halloween spirit alive,” he said, noting that teenagers in his neighbourhood said his house is the reason they still trick-or-treat.

Jamie Schacter loved opening the door to trick-or-treaters as a little boy. When he and his wife bought their first home 23 years ago, he said, there wasn’t much Halloween decor being sold in Toronto. So when a neighbour recommended seeking out supplies in Buffalo, the Schacters began a yearly expedition south of the border to Target and Spirit Halloween, which didn’t yet exist in Canada.

Now, their Forest Hill home is known for its decor around the city and even by out-of-towners. “Putting a smile on someone’s face is the reason we do it,” Schacter said. “The more people who do it, the better it is for everybody and the happier people are.”

Jamie Schacter’s home in Forest Hill decorated with a horde of spooky props.

Sharon Lui’s Halloween journey began at a Home Depot clearance sale after she moved to Leslie and Steeles seven years ago. She bought some unusual inflatables, and was touched by how much trick-or-treaters in her area appreciated the effort.

Neighbouring homes began to follow suit, and the trick-or-treating in the area started to grow. “Halloween gives me something to look forward to,” she said. “We do this because it’s so joyful.”

Erica Steenburg’s Corso Italia decorated with mostly homemade props for Halloween.

Erica Steenburg recalls the childhood excitement of finding the coolest house in her Oshawa neighbourhood each Halloween. Now, she makes sure that home is hers, in Corso Italia. For 11 years, she’s loved hearing the neighbourhood kids’ comments about her decorations; one child recently proclaimed that her house is better than Casa Loma.

Schacter works with his son, brother-in-law and a family friend to build stages, hang equipment and set up power and air compressor cords. He said the process takes at least 60 hours and begins the first weekend of October. He’s had custom props made, such as a fake electric chair that cost $5,000 USD (over $6,000 CAD) and a “demon dog” — a dog on an air compressor that leaps out at people as they go by. “We spend a couple thousand on candy alone,” said Schacter, who hands out both Canadian and American treats.

Moutrey calls her home the Ghost House, hanging 26 fabric ghosts from her windows, railings, bushes and veranda. She ties the ghosts’ hands together, so that when one floats, they all do. This year, she’s dressing up as a Ghostbuster. “I think if you’re going to go with a theme, you really go for it,” she said. Each ghost costs about three dollars from Dollarama. “You can do the whole place and it’s not an awful lot of money.”

Erica Steenburg’s homemade anglerfish Halloween decoration at her home in Corso Italia.

Steenburg’s decor is mostly homemade, including a gigantic angler fish she made last year out of pool noodles, yoga mats, pop bottles and craft foam from the dollar store. She uses a fog machine and swamp setup to create an under-the-sea theme on her balcony.

It takes her a month or so to get everything set up. What’s her budget? “I don’t know if my husband should find out,” Steenburg said, laughing. “It’s a few hundred each year.”

Sharon Lui’s home at Leslie and Steeles all ready for Halloween, including her 12-foot skeleton named Jamal.

Lui’s husband and two teenage sons take about three hours to set everything up, starting right after Thanksgiving. Every item on her lawn was bought at a discount, so she estimates the tableau cost under $700 in total.

Along with a 12-foot skeleton named Jamal, Lui loves props that nod to her favourite ’80s Halloween movies including “Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Psycho,” and “Friday the 13th” — recently, she’s added an inflatable Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from “Ghostbusters.”

At the Schacters’, you might be given a candy apple, some pizza and even a beer on Halloween night. You’ll also be asked if you want to donate to the Toronto Western Hospital and SickKids Hospital, where donations are matched by Schacter’s law firm.

The Schacters’ Halloween setup by day.

Schacter loves to watch the local trick-or-treaters grow up over the years — meeting them first as confused toddlers, then terrified children, and eventually excited young teens. “When they turn around running and screaming, I joke with the parents, ‘We cover candy and decor, but we don’t pay for the therapy bed, and we don’t cover nightmares.’”

Halloween night is a party at the Lui house, where Sharon and her husband serve pizza and drinks to friends, and blast music from their garage. As a breast cancer survivor, October is a significant month for Sharon, who was diagnosed a week before Halloween a few years ago. To mark her recovery and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Lui adorns her giant skeleton with a pink ribbon.

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Jamie Schacter’s neighbourhood as Cedarvale. His current home is in Forest Hill.