Making a Scarecrow Show

Okay, so you’ve decided that you want something original for your yard this Halloween. You’ve carved the pumpkins and built the graveyard in previous years. What else could there be? Try something new this year: make a scarecrow show.

What you’ll need:

Old shirts, pants
Straw, grass or newspapers
String and scissors
Paints and paint brushes
Pumpkins and/or old pillow cases
Thick branches (for standing scarecrows)

You’ll want a lot of scarecrows to make a really good scarecrow show. Invite some friends or family over to help out, each person bringing the fixings for their own scarecrows. Or have a scarecrow-making party with just a friend or just yourself!

To start your creations, choose some old, raggedy clothes that you won’t mind putting out in the wind and possible rain. You can also buy some old clothes from a local thrift shop or tag sale. Have all different kinds of hats, jeans, overalls, plaid shirts, or any other clothes that fit the image you see for your scarecrows.

Tie together thick, sturdy branches in a cross-shape for holding up the standing scarecrows. Put one branch through the shirt sleeves before tying it, this way you won’t have to cut the shirt for it to fit onto the pole.
For sitting scarecrows, or dummies, just the stuffing will be enough to keep them in a sitting position. Stuff the shirts and pants with hay, grass, or bunched up newspapers. Tie up the sleeves and pant legs so the stuffing doesn’t fall out. Use suspenders or safety-pin the shirt to the pants so they don’t come apart. For the scarecrow’s heads, use pumpkins or old, stuffed pillow cases. Paint their faces with varied expressions: scary, silly, surprised, frightened.

Put some scarecrows standing in the yard, others tied to light posts or sitting in a chair or on a bale of hay. Line them along the fence, the walkway, the front porch, around the trees. Have them sitting on a porch swing, the front stairs, or on a low, sturdy branch of a tree.

Put pumpkins and gourds next to some of the scarecrows. Tie corn stalks and Indian corn on the fence posts and porch to give the yard more of a “farm feeling.”

You can build your scarecrow show on the day of October 31, so the scarecrow party takes place on Halloween before trick-or-treating. Or build your show in the first week of October so that the show runs for the Halloween season.
This way, you can make the show grow throughout the month if you decide to add more scarecrows and decorations.

For a spooky look at night, put some standing lanterns and jack-o-lanterns throughout the yard to cast some shadows on the scarecrows. Just remember not to put them too close to hay or anything else that’s flammable.

With your new scarecrow show, your house has become a Halloween wonder come to life. Holding surprises around every corner, your yard is a land of eerie enchantment, spreading Halloween to your neighborhood and to all who venture its gates.