Swansea is one of the keenest places in the UK for kitting out the front garden for Halloween. That’s if Google searches are anything to go by.
The city came third in a ranking of outdoor Halloween decor searches per head of population, behind only Northampton and Warrington, according to the firm Artificial Grass Direct.
It says Swansea racked up an estimated 11,500 searches across September and October last year, or around 6,762 for every 100,000 people.
Swansea third behind Northampton and Warrington
Bolton and Plymouth complete the top five, with Swindon, Hull, Dundee, Liverpool and Telford making up the rest of the top ten.
Only places with at least 150,000 people were counted, to compare bigger and smaller places more fairly, the firm says.
The North West came out on top of the regions, with three places in the top ten. Wales and the South West were next.
London scored lowest of any region. In the East Midlands, Northampton came first while Nottingham and Leicester were near the bottom, in 41st and 42nd.
Giant inflatables, lights and spiders: the outdoor Halloween decorations people want
Outdoor lighting and inflatables are the most searched-for Halloween garden decorations in the UK, according to the firm.
Searches for “Halloween outdoor decor” alone peaked at more than 27,000 a month last October, it says.
This September, searches for outdoor Halloween decor were up 49% on the same month last year, and searches for large decorations and inflatables rose by around half.
Spiders and webs are the fastest-growing theme, up around a quarter, while pumpkins are broadly flat.
Searches for DIY, “cheap” and ideas-style terms have fallen by up to a third, which the firm reads as people moving from browsing to buying big.
“People are going bigger than last year”
Colin Potts, from Artificial Grass Direct, said Halloween had become “a real opportunity for people to get creative with their outdoor spaces, turning front gardens and doorways into part of the experience for trick-or-treaters”.
He said lighting, inflatables and “larger-than-life decorations” were catching people’s attention, with spiders and webs popular “especially for last minute touches”.
He added: “It’s clear from our research that outdoor Halloween displays are becoming an increasingly exciting part of the celebrations and people are going bigger than last year.”
What the Google searches can’t tell you
The firm says search figures cannot show how many homes will actually decorate. They measure interest online, not trick-or-treaters on the doorstep.
If you would rather leave the decorating to someone else, Swansea’s free Spooks in the City takes over St David’s Place from 1pm to 6pm on Saturday.
And if something goes bump in the night afterwards, the city was also named Wales’ “haunted house” capital earlier this month.
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