Warm October weather offers an added bonus to pool owners: the ability to create a haunted backyard! A spectacular Halloween pool party makes for a unique twist on fall activities. Here are some creative ways to transform your pool into the best haunted yard on the block.

Floating Pumpkins

Those heavy pumpkins are surprisingly buoyant. You can purchase a handful of small ones, turn on the pump and let them drift around your pool. To create a floating Jack-o-lantern effect, pick up a few plastic Halloween buckets and a bunch of glow sticks. Just before your guests arrive, crack the glow sticks, place one inside each bucket, and set those buckets adrift. This trick works well with light foam pumpkins, too. The result is mesmerizing.

Bone Bathers

Show your guests what happens when they stay a little too long at your Halloween pool party. Attach plastic skeletons to your floats and light them up by placing glow sticks inside the skulls and rib cages. You can dress your skeletons up in funny costumes, affix drinks to their hands or leave them au natural.

Blood Bath

With a little swimming pool water dye, you can transform your crystal blue paradise into a vampire’s dream: a pool full of blood! Dress up as Dracula and give your guests a tour of the perfect oasis for the blood-sucking set. Or use green dye to create the ultimate witch’s cauldron. Swimming pool dyes are non-toxic and non-staining, and typically filter out within 3-5 days, offering lots of fun with no harm done.

Davy Jones Locker

Use your pool as the centerpiece of a Pirate’s of the Caribbean party. Place a few pirate hats and kerchiefs on plastic skeletons. Create a “ship” from an old rowboat or canoe, or build one using plywood and a floatie. You can add mist with a smoke machine. And don’t forget to play a little pirate music in the background. Dead men tell no tales, but happy guests do.

Happy Halloween to all from Pacific Sun Pool & Spa!