A 55-year-old mum from Shiremoor, North Tyneside, has turned her front garden into a spooky Halloween display that now takes up the entire space, with 700 goodie bags prepared for trick-or-treaters and a fundraising QR code for a local animal shelter.
Michelle Eggo has been creating her own gruesome decorations for the past four years, spending all year making them from scratch or adapting items bought from shops. The display has grown bigger each year, and she now dresses up annually — this year transforming into Pennywise the clown from IT.
Building a collection from junk
Michelle told ChronicleLive: "This is my fourth year. I'm really creative so I started making Halloween stuff. The first year my decorations were quite basic and each year I have kept adding to it. I'm slowly building up my collection. It's made out of junk really, a lot of it."
She added: "I make my decorations right through the year. I'm always adapting anything I've bought in the shops. I have spray painted my Christmas tree black and I have decorated that."
Her favourite piece is a Beetlejuice headstone that took about three months to make. She has also created other headstones and worked on her skeletons, including life-size ones she has altered so some look like they're from the 1920s.
Goodie bags and growing crowds
The coffee shop assistant has prepared 700 goodie bags to hand out to children visiting while trick-or-treating on October 31. She said: "As each year goes on I'm getting more and more kids visiting. I gave out 450 goodie bags last year and I ran out! This year I have got 700 bags and I've spent £300 to £400 on my goodie bags."
Michelle, who lives with her daughter Natalie, 31, and five cats, said she has always loved Halloween. She said: "It's just a family orientated holiday that everyone can celebrate together. It makes me so happy. It's the highlight of my year."
Fundraising for a local shelter
She added: "It's just something for our local kids and they absolutely love it. You hear the kids saying 'The scary house is done!' We get all ages saying 'Your garden is amazing, it's brilliant'. I have never had anybody give me any negative comments."
This year Michelle has decided to use her display to help raise money for Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter, displaying a QR code so people can donate to the charity.
