The best RV Halloween decorations are the ones that survive a windy campground weekend, run on a 30-amp site without tripping a breaker, pack down small enough to ride in the camper, and look good at dusk when the trick-or-treaters come through. Our campgrounds run Halloween site-decorating contests every fall, with up to nine winners over three weekends at Walnut Hills Family Campground in Durand, Michigan, so our team has seen hundreds of decorated campers. Here’s what wins, what works on an RV, and what to leave at home.
What wins a campsite Halloween decorating contest
At Walnut Hills, seasonal campers compete for first, second and third place on each of the three Haunted Trail Weekends, and weekend campers have their own contest, with the winner earning a free Halloween weekend the next year. Judging happens in the evening, and the sites that place tend to share a few things:
- One clear theme. A graveyard, a pirate ship crewed by skeletons, a witch’s kitchen, a pumpkin patch. The most-remembered sites at our parks have been a full graveyard with a fence, a skeleton ship, and a haunted house one camper built inside a large outdoor tent on their site. A dozen unrelated decorations read as clutter; ten that tell one story read as a display.
- Lighting that works after dark. Judging and trick-or-treating happen in the evening, so a site that looks great at noon and disappears at 7 PM loses. Orange and purple string lights, uplights on tombstones, a lit pumpkin at the fire ring and a projector on the side of the camper carry more weight than daytime details.
- Something for the kids walking by. Trick-or-treating runs site to site with the roads closed, so a site that hands out candy from a coffin, has a motion-activated jump scare at the edge of the awning, or lets kids pose in a photo cutout gets talked about all weekend.
- Upgrades between weekends. Walnut Hills seasonals have to take part in two of the three weekends to win, and many add to their displays from one weekend to the next. If you’re a weekender, pick one weekend and go all in.
Our team’s advice: “If someone participates at a high level, there is a pretty good chance they’ll win on one of the weekends.” Prizes are sizable, and the contests are what make the whole campground feel decorated rather than one pavilion.
Halloween camper decorations, zone by zone
The camper itself
- Window clings and static decals go on and come off without residue. Skip tape and adhesive hooks on fiberglass or decals; they can lift paint and graphics in the sun.
- Magnetic hooks hold lights and garland on steel-framed campers; test a spot first, since many RV skins are aluminum or fiberglass and won’t take a magnet.
- Awning-rail hooks clip into the awning channel and are the easiest way to hang string lights, bats or a “boo” banner along the roofline.
- A projector aimed at the camper’s blank side turns it into a movie screen for silhouettes, ghosts or a looping haunted-house scene. It’s one of the highest-impact decorations per cubic inch of storage.
- Spider webbing over the awning and ladder is cheap and dramatic, but stretch it thin and pull it all down Sunday; it’s hard to remove once it’s wet.
Under the awning
The patio is your stage. A lit pumpkin cluster on the steps, a skeleton in a camp chair with a mug, a witch’s cauldron (a black plastic bucket with a fog machine or dry ice) and a table of candy for the trick-or-treaters do most of the work. Outdoor rugs in orange or black tie it together. Keep a path open to your door and the picnic table.
The site perimeter
Foam tombstones with a cheap plastic fence make an instant graveyard along the front of the site. Tomato-cage ghosts (a tomato cage, a foam head, a white sheet and a solar light inside) are tall, light and pack flat. Skeletons climbing the camper ladder, posed around the fire ring or “fishing” in a kiddie pool get the most comments. A pool-noodle-and-ribbon spider web between two trees costs almost nothing.
The golf cart
If you have a golf cart, decorate it too. Our parks run decorated golf cart parades on other themed weekends, and a cart dressed as a hearse or a pumpkin coach becomes part of your site when it’s parked and part of the show when you drive it to the pavilion. Carts can’t be driven after dark at our parks, so plan to park it before the haunted trail starts.
Campsite Halloween decorating ideas that pack small
Storage is the real limit on RV decorating. These give the most look for the least space:
| Decoration | Why it works for a camper | Packed size |
|---|---|---|
| Inflatables | Big presence, self-lighting, deflate in a minute | A shoebox each |
| LED string and net lights | Low power draw, cover the awning and camper edge | A gallon bag |
| Projector and a few loop files | Turns the whole side of the RV into a scene | A lunchbox |
| Foam tombstones and plastic fence | Instant graveyard, stack flat | Under a bunk |
| Posable skeletons | Endless poses, reusable every year | A duffel bag |
| Tomato cages, sheets, solar lights | Six-foot ghosts from garden supplies | Nest together |
| Window clings and awning hooks | Decorate the camper without damage | An envelope |
Pumpkins are the one bulky item worth bringing. Paint them instead of carving them if you want them to last all three weekends; carved pumpkins go soft in a week of warm September weather. Walnut Hills also runs pumpkin painting and carving at the pavilion on its Halloween weekends, so the kids can make site decorations on the spot.
Power, weather and campground rules for Halloween decorations
- Power. Many RV sites give you 30 amps (the 80 full-hookup sites at Walnut Hills have 50), and your camper’s own fridge, converter and lights are already using some of it. Use LED lights, limit yourself to one or two inflatables, and run decorations off a single outdoor-rated extension cord from the pedestal or an exterior outlet so you can see the total load. Keep cords inside your site so the road stays clear for trick-or-treaters.
- Wind and rain. Late September and early October in Michigan can bring both. Stake inflatables and tombstones, weigh down anything light with sandbags, and plan for the sheet ghosts to come down overnight if a storm rolls in.
- Open flame. Real candles in pumpkins are fine at the fire ring, not under the awning or near the camper. Battery candles look the same and don’t tip.
- Noise and quiet hours. Sound effects, screaming door greeters and fog machines are great during trick-or-treating. Switching them off by quiet hours (11 PM at our parks) means your own kids, and the neighbors’, actually sleep after a late haunted trail.
- Keep the road clear. Trick-or-treating happens with the campground roads closed to vehicles and full of kids, so keep decorations inside your site line and anything with cords or stakes well back from the road.
- Don’t dig into utilities. Push stakes in by hand, not with a hammer, and stay away from the pedestal, water spigot and sewer connection.
- No fireworks. There are no fireworks at any GatherGrounds park, on Halloween or otherwise, and that includes sparklers. Glow sticks give the kids the same effect.
Full rules are on the Walnut Hills map and rules page and The Oaks map and rules page.
Campground Halloween ideas beyond your own site
Decorating is half of a campground Halloween. At Walnut Hills, each Haunted Trail Weekend includes pumpkin painting and carving, Halloween crafts and a candy search in the hay pile during the day, family costume judging at 5 PM, trick-or-treating from 6 to 7 PM, the Haunted Trail from 7:30 to 9:30 PM, and DJ Dave’s Halloween dance party at Pavilion 2. The Oaks Campground’s Halloween weekend, on the last weekend of September, adds a family scarecrow contest and a dog costume contest. If you’re a seasonal camper and want to host a Halloween potluck or a kids’ movie night, the pavilion is free as long as everyone in the campground is invited.
Ideas that regularly show up at our parks and are easy to copy:
- A family costume with a theme that matches the site (the pirate crew in front of the skeleton ship).
- A dog costume for the dog contest; dogs are welcome on a leash at both parks, with a fenced dog park at Walnut Hills and an off-leash dog run and back trails at The Oaks.
- A photo backdrop at the edge of the site so other families stop for pictures.
- A “boo basket” dropped on a neighbor’s picnic table with a note to pass it on.
- Glow sticks and a flashlight for every kid before trick-or-treating; roads are closed, but it’s dark by the time the haunted trail opens.
For dates and how each weekend runs, check the Walnut Hills events page.
RV Halloween decoration FAQ
Can you decorate your campsite for Halloween?
At most private campgrounds, yes, and at ours it’s encouraged. The rule of thumb everywhere: stay inside your site, don’t damage trees or utilities, keep decorations off the road and take everything with you when you leave.
How do you hang Halloween decorations on a camper without damaging it?
Use awning-rail hooks, window clings, suction cups on glass and magnets where the skin is steel. Avoid tape, nails and adhesive hooks on painted or decal surfaces.
How much power do Halloween decorations use?
LED string lights use very little. Inflatables and projectors use more because of their fans and bulbs, so on a 30-amp site keep it to one or two and watch the total with your camper’s other loads.
When should we decorate?
Set up Friday afternoon after you arrive and before dark. If you’re a seasonal camper entering the Walnut Hills contest, you need to take part in two of the three weekends, so plan a display you can leave up or rebuild quickly.
Do we have to take decorations down before we leave?
Weekend campers take everything home at checkout. Seasonal campers can leave displays up between the Halloween weekends; check with the store about anything that could blow away during the week.
When are the Halloween weekends at Walnut Hills?
There are three Haunted Trail Weekends each fall; in 2026 they were September 19, September 26 and October 3. They book far in advance, which is why Walnut Hills grew from one Halloween weekend to three.
Is the Walnut Hills Haunted Trail too scary for little kids?
It starts mild while it’s still light, so younger kids can walk it early. As the night goes on, costumed actors come out and the lights go down, and by the end it’s truly scary (the chainsaws have no chains).
