By Danielle Kutchel
A Berwick Halloween house is bringing smiles to the community with its colourful display of zombie Barbies and ‘dabbing’ skeletons.
The house on Willslie Crescent has very much gotten into the spirit of the occasion – and has even inspired neighbours to get involved too.
The architect of the scene, Laura, admits that up until last year she wasn’t much into Halloween, seeing it as an American tradition.
But after her daughters started getting into it at kinder, she decided to make a go of it too and has gone “all out this year”.
A gift of old barbies has been turned into a zombie graveyard on her front lawn. Skeletons and spiderwebs adorn the trees, and the spiders look real enough to bite you.
Laura says it’s just something to cheer up her family and bring joy to the community.
“The best thing is hearing the kids, hearing their laughter or them pointing out which Barbie looks the creepiest,” she said.
To create the zombie look, she spent a night with “red nail polish, a sharpie and a pair of scissors”, giving the Barbies haircuts and scars and chopping off limbs.
She likes to put them in different poses to give passers-by something to look at.
In an effort to get neighbours involved too, Laura has encouraged a pumpkin hunt in the streets around her house.
She and her daughters printed out pictures of Halloween pumpkins and delivered them to nearby homes, suggesting they put them up in the window for walkers to spy on Halloween night in a Covid-safe variant of trick or treating.
“Everyone’s jumped on board, there are pumpkins popping up in windows,” she said.
She said activities like this and the rainbows-in-windows trend from earlier in the year have helped to ease the gloom of lockdown.
“It’s been really good interacting with out community,” she said.
Meanwhile, the state government has announced its advice for Halloween trick or treaters.
The DHHS website states that “under current restrictions traditional trick or treating where you knock on someone’s door is not permitted.”
The Department recommends households put individually wrapped lollies in bags at the front of the property, for example on the fence or at the front gate, for non-contact collection.
Celebrators are reminded that if they have any flu-like symptoms they must get tested and stay at home.
Costume masks are not a substitute for regular Covid masks and face masks should be worn while out.
The usual 1.5 metre gap should be maintained and food and drinks should not be shared.
