Houses in my area have been decorating for Halloween for the last few weeks. I'd say in my subdivision about 45% of houses have decorations, and half of them include strings of lights as part of it.

The lights thing is weird to me. I've spent the last six years in the UK and maybe things have changed, or maybe it's just another weird thing Oregonians do, but I don't remember EVER seeing strings of lights up for Halloween before. Halloween deco is supposed to be dark and spooky, not bright and festive. A few of these houses look like they're done up for Christmas but got all orange bulbs by mistake. Others have fake 3-D jack-o-lanterns made up of tiny lights on their front porches.

Is this new? Normal? Happening in your area?

Not new in Illinois, happenes in my street as well. Not my house. I only let my wife put the stupid fake gravestones up in the garden because I couldn't be arsed getting into a debate about it. I can't understand for the life of me why anyone would want to decorate at all for anything that doesn't give you a day off work (except for personal celebrations like birthdays and weddings and that) . . .

Normal? Well, the jury is out on that one

I don't like halloween much, me

ava, I think I'm a bit older than you but I vote for 'it's all new'.. it's gone totally OTT & commercial.. not like making your own decos when I was a kid.

The lines were out of the door when we went to look at costumes the other day...it really seems to have stepped up a notch this year.

Halloween has def. turned into the new Xmas. Decorating is wide spread in the Mid-Atlantic and more and more people are doing it.

Some people may do "Harvest" decor if they are opposed to the Halloween thing.

sounds like the front of the houses in my street

I understand what you mean about the lights. We came back to live in Washington (I'm originally from California) after living in the UK for 5+ years and the lights were new to me. I'm not surprised. Stores would sell just about anything to decorate.....

One house has blacklights up which make their fake spiderwebs and hanging ghosts glow. THAT'S cool. These multicolour and all-orange lights, though...it's just not right.

Its all part of the de-devilization process being waged by the christian right.
It will be known as pre-christmasween soon.

I on the other hand am leading an alternative campaign to make it pre-burn-a-catholicween.

We have loads in our neighbourhood too....

Off topic. We're off to a party, I'm going as Snow White and the hubster (at a towering 6' 7"), is going as all 7 dwarfs.
I thought it funny....

Post a picture!

I want to see pictures.
We went one year as Snow white (me) and Prince Charming (Dh) everyone just kept calling us Snow White and the gay guy Poor Dh!
This year I'm a Hawaiian witch. Ds is a guy from the Secret Service and Dd is Jesse from toy story, Dh has to work. We'll be partying on Saturday night
I don't to the lights outside just some pumpkins, but there are lots of black lights and elaborate decorations on the fancy homes by the golf course.

Wow, I want to see pictures as well....

Our local Asda-Walmart (in the UK) has an entire aisle, or one side of it at least, devoted to Halloween costumes, decorations, toys, and other useless rubbish. What's more, a lot of it is already on sale.