Okotoks family's over-the-top Halloween display built on nostalgia and thrifting

Every year, Charlene Keough builds a spooky display at her home on Cimarron Meadows Close in Okotoks. This year's version is the most over-the-top she has done, she said.

"That's where this over-the-top kind of decorating came from," Keough said. "I wanted that nostalgia and recapturing those amazing feelings of my childhood." She said her mom used to make special Halloween decorations when she was young.

The front yard is dominated by a giant spider web tunnel that trick-or-treaters can walk through. A mummy caught in a giant web and a witch over a bubbling cauldron are other homemade features. On the porch, a witch's apothecary holds potions, bottles, lanterns, candles and an owl in a birdcage. The display also includes animal bones the family picked up on walks along the Sheep River.

Keough is an avid thrifter who looks for Halloween decor all year and makes decorations from things she already owns. "It can be Christmas time and if I see something (for Halloween), I'll pick it up," she said. Planning usually starts in September; this year's idea was giant spiders.

Walking the neighbourhood to see other decorations is another of the family's Halloween traditions.