My favourite sort of Halloween decoration is the one that has wandered slightly away from being scary. A skeleton in a tiny hat. A ghost with the expression of someone who has forgotten why they entered the room. A bat whose enormous eyes suggest it has only just discovered that it is a bat. Excellent seasonal nonsense.
A spooky display can be impressive, but one ridiculous detail gives it personality. Put a very serious skeleton somewhere ordinary and let it appear to have a job. It could be supervising the biscuits or patiently waiting beside a stack of unread post. The joke gets better when everyone carries on as though this is a perfectly normal member of the household.
I like the possibilities of a tiny recurring scene as well. The skeleton moves, acquires a mug, perhaps ends up with a note saying it is on a break. Nothing elaborate is required. A few small changes can give one cheap decoration a surprisingly eventful October, especially if someone else joins in and adds their own chapter.
Halloween is a very good excuse to make a room a bit dafter for a while. Give the little ghost a name. Let the skeleton manage the snacks. If the decoration makes you smile every time you walk past it, I would call that a successful haunting.
