Since we have a six-year-old (who just turned six; it feels weird to type that!), we can’t get very gory in our Halloween décor. She gets scared of Scooby Doo, so you know the blood and gore are out! And I’m not really into the gore so much as I am as, say, the giant monsters and such anyway; but those, too, will have to wait until she’s older.

In the meantime, I am enjoying living my Halloween decorating fantasies out vicariously through my younger sister, who is mentally on the same page as me almost all the time and reflects many of my own tastes and perspectives in what she does. She agreed to share these amazing photos of what she’s been doing to prepare her home for Halloween, and I am psyched to share them here.

She splattered her shower curtain with blood, of course, but she didn’t stop there; she also made a dead man to occupy the guest bathroom! She has all kinds of other spooky decorations out, from tombstones to glowing skulls and all kinds of other nightmarish stuff.

If you want to gorify your house this October, here are a few ways you might want to go about it:

• Get a bunch of body parts from your local Halloween store (we have Spirit stores all over the place here) and strategically place them all around the house, both inside and out. Douse them with fake blood or, if you’re really feeling ambitious, bits of skin and flesh from spaghetti noodles or something similar just before your event. (I wouldn’t do this in advance just to prevent insects and animals from approaching!)
• For a mess-free scary effect, just put red sheets over the windows if you have them. Red and orange light bulbs can also provide a creepy effect—as can a strobe light.
• Freeze fake eyeballs, bugs, and other creepies in ice cubes for a classic, quick scare.
• Never underestimate the power of a good fog machine.
• Hang bodies from your tree(s)
• Splatter blood on anything that’s safe to splatter on. To cut down on mess, do it on plastic wrap, then place the wrap over things (walls, tables, etc.).
• Create a dim, dank effect with lowered lighting, a humidifier or boiling water, and plenty of spiderwebs draped over everything. Use cardboard to imitate falling boards in a haunted mansion; don’t forget the blood on these, too!