Halloween has grown to become a favorite holiday giving Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess homeowners an opportunity to show their creativity and have fun with family and friends.

There are many Internet destinations that you can visit to help make your home the scariest Halloween house in town. Here are a few that I found:

• Decorate with pumpkins…. Call ahead to be sure of what’s available!
For all of Southeast New York’s Pumpkin Patches and seasonal events visit pumpkinpatchesandmore.org. This is a fabulous directory provided by PickYourOwn.org-–a great resource for finding “pick-your-own” farms near you.

• Find inspiration for Indoor-halloween-decorations at Westchester resident Martha Stewart’s website for her latest Halloween crafts and creative baking ideas.

• If you’re handy and know how to use power tools, check out DIY’s webpage to see their 92 Top Halloween Projects for all kinds of creepy and spooky ideas and how-to videos

•  “Trick” out your front yard by making handmade tombstones. Directions can be found at found at HGTV’s Halloween Ideas

• Many area stores carry everything you need to decorate your home. If you have a Target near you, they have a dedicated Halloween department where you’ll find a lot of outdoor as well as indoor Halloween decorations for your home. Use their locator to find a store near you.

• YouTube has some great videos that can inspire any of your Halloween decorating fantasies. Go to their Halloween Outdoor Decorating Tips  web page for a wide variety of Halloween decorating videos that range from gory to cutesy.

• No outdoor Halloween display  is complete without some scary music. Visit your local Halloween headquarters for scary music CDs or order online. Social Media website, Mashable.comhas a list of five Halloween music playlists you can sign-up for. You can also go to iTunes. All kinds of Scary Halloween Music is available there to sample and purchase.

• On Facebook you can get fiendish recipes, decorations and craft ideas from friends at Facebook’s Happy Halloween Mag or go directly to the source by visiting Happy Halloween at Squidoo.com, where you’ll find information and videos of amazing inflatables and decorating ideas for your Halloween yard.

This is a very short, incomplete list. There are many places to go for ideas and inspiration to create the perfect “front yard” Halloween atmosphere. If you have any other great tips and resources you like to offer or any other good examples you know of in your town or online, please share them with us by leaving a reply below.  Have a happy and safe Halloween!