One Halloween Post Is Enough. Make It About the House.

It's early October. You're sitting in the truck after a job, scrolling your phone, and every business you follow has a pumpkin up already. You start to wonder whether you should be doing that too. Here's my answer. Make one post, and make it about the house. Put it where someone who's already looking for you will see it. Then spend Halloween night with your phone on and your hours right, and skip the campaign. Plan on one evening for this, not a week.

One post, not a campaign

Yes to one real photo, or a short note that's actually useful about the house. No to a week of pumpkin graphics, costume contests, or a discount dressed up as a Halloween special.

This year Halloween is Saturday, October 31, 2026. It's not a federal holiday, but it lands on a weekend, so most people will be home with the decorations up and the porch light on. That's a good reason to do the one post well and leave it there.

The money that week goes to candy and decorations, not to you

The holiday is big, but the spending goes somewhere other than your trade. The National Retail Federation, using a Prosper Insights & Analytics survey, expects Halloween spending to reach $13.5 billion in 2026, close to last year's record of $13.1 billion. About 74% of people plan to celebrate, and the average person expects to spend $115.14.

Here's what that money buys:

• Candy: 96% of shoppers, $4.1 billion
• Decorations: 78%, $4.3 billion
• Costumes: 71%, $4.4 billion

Discount stores are the top place they plan to shop (39%), then Halloween and costume stores (32%), then online (27%). Local and small businesses come in at 13%. Nobody's shopping trip that week includes a siding repair or a new outlet.

They're using AI for it too. Nearly half (47%) said they're using AI tools for Halloween shopping, mostly for brainstorming and product recommendations. Prosper's Phil Rist said people are using them to come up with costumes and decorating themes. In other words, they're asking ChatGPT for a witch costume, not for who fixes gutters.

So the post won't catch holiday money. Its job is smaller than that, and it'll last longer. It shows a neighbor, at a moment they're paying attention to their house, that a real local person does this work. Next time they need you, maybe right before Thanksgiving company shows up on November 26, that's who you want them to remember.

The post worth making is about the house

Most people don't buy new decorations every year. NRF says 73% of consumers reuse about half or more of their décor from year to year, and for families with kids it's 76%. So the bin comes down from the attic, and so do the ladder and the same light strings that have been knotted up in there since last fall.

That's your post. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says that over three years, an average of 3,200 Halloween-related injuries a year were treated in U.S. emergency rooms. A quarter of those were falls, including falls while putting up or taking down decorations, and adults were 54% of the people hurt.

The National Fire Protection Association puts home fires that started with decorations at about 835 a year (2020–2024 average). In 47% of those, the decorations were too close to a heat source like a candle or hot equipment, and about a third were started by candles.

You already know what to tell people, because it's the same thing you'd tell them standing in their driveway:

• Before you hang a light set, old or new, check it for cracked sockets, frayed or bare wire, and loose connections. Throw out the bad ones.
• Use lights that were tested by a recognized lab.
• Put a battery candle or a glow stick in the pumpkin, not a real candle.
• Set the ladder right, and have somebody hold it.
• Clear the steps and the porch before the kids come up them.

Pick the one that fits your trade. An electrician talks cords and outlets. A gutter guy talks ladders and what's hanging off the fascia. A handyman talks about the loose porch step. Take one real photo (a frayed cord, a solid ladder setup, a clear lit porch) and write two or three plain sentences. Your AI apprentice can help you tighten up the wording if you like, but the photo and the advice should be yours. Leave the costume out of it.

Put it where someone already looking for you will see it

The main place is your Google Business Profile. Make it a plain Update post with your photo. Google says those posts can show on Search and Maps, and that seeing recent updates helps customers decide to reach out. Google also says posts older than six months get archived unless you set a date range, so this one will stay up a good while.

The photo has to pass Google's rules. It needs to be a JPG or PNG between 10 KB and 5 MB, at least 250 pixels on each side, and 720 by 720 is the recommended size. It should be in focus, well lit, and without heavy filters, so it shows what's really there. A phone photo taken in daylight is fine.

If you already have a public Instagram professional account, put the same photo there. Instagram says public posts from professional accounts run by adults can be indexed by Google and Bing. A personal or private account won't be. A public post on a Facebook Page can also show up in search engines, according to Facebook's own help pages. Google even says posts about events, deals, or specials may be featured on your mobile profile, and those can come from Facebook or Instagram.

Don't open a new account just for Halloween. One post on the profile you already have does more than a fresh account with one post on it.

What gets the post thrown out, or makes you the joke

Google reviews every post after you publish it, and some get rejected.

• Don't type your phone number in the text. Google says a number it can't verify as yours can get the post rejected. Use the "Call now" button, which pulls your verified number.
• Don't use an auto-made graphic. Google's guidelines ask for professional posts with no auto-generated or distracting content.
• Keep it family-friendly. Google's rules say nothing sexually suggestive. Keep a few more of your own on top of that.

A guy on r/electricians once posted his "bad electrician" Halloween costume, with a sexual joke built in. One of the top-voted replies told him to keep it among coworkers unless he wanted to hear about it every time he made a mistake for the rest of his life. A joke you'd send the crew doesn't belong where a customer can read it, and that includes a staged fall off a ladder or a fake injury.

Also, not everyone celebrates. On an r/HVAC Halloween thread full of guys joking around, one commenter objected on religious grounds. Some of your customers feel that way too. A useful note about the house works for them just as well, so skip the sermon in either direction.

Saturday is for the hours and the phone

If you're closing early on October 31 or not running calls that night, set special hours for that date on your Business Profile. Google says special hours are for holidays and other short changes of up to six days in a row, and that it's a good idea to confirm hours on holidays even when they don't change. They only show if your profile is set to open with regular hours. It's worth doing the same for Thanksgiving while you're in there.

Then answer the phone. A decoration that trips a circuit, a gutter pulled loose by a light string, or a porch rail somebody leaned on too hard are all real calls. A second post won't catch any of them, but answering will.

That's what the busywork help is for: the phone gets picked up even when you're on a ladder. Make one good post, set your hours, and keep the phone close on Saturday.

Related: Angi, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack: What a Lead Really Costs You · Tracked Phone Numbers: Who's Really Answering

Photo: that time again by frankieleon, BY 2.0.