Wicked Halloween Outdoor Decor Ideas

I wanted the entrance to feel like guests were stepping into Oz before they even got to the rest of the yard.

So I lit up a garden arbor* (that’s usually in my backyard) with green lights*.

And added an Emerald City parking sign* on one of the columns that immediately tells you where you are.

At night, the lights make the columns glow and turn an ordinary garden arbor into a much more dramatic entrance.

How To Create the Lighted Entrance

To create the lighted columns, I wrapped the two columns of my arbor with sheer curtain fabric.

And stapled the edges together at the top and sides to keep the fabric in place.

Then wrapped green curtain lights* around the top so they fell down inside the fabric. I also wrapped a few of the strands across the top of the arbor so you can see it at night.

If you don’t have an arbor like me, you can make the columns from my cemetery pillars tutorial (just use the sheers instead of the stone scene setter on the outside).

For Glinda, I wanted something that would immediately suggest her floating pink bubble without having to build an actual sphere.

A large circular garden arch* gave me the shape, and I wrapped it with pink solar string lights* so the outline shows up after dark.

I dressed a skeleton in a pink Glinda costume* and placed her inside the circle.

Then pointed a pink LED spotlight* at her so she would glow against all the green.

How To Create Glinda’s Bubble

For Glinda’s bubble, I ordered an inexpensive wedding arch.

Then wrapped pink solar string lights all the way around the outside so the whole thing glowed pink. (If you are putting this up in a shady area, plug-in lights would work just as well.)

Finally, I put a thin piece of rebar into the ground under it and zip tied the skeleton (dressed in a Glinda costume) to the stake.

In front of Glinda, I created a little Munchkinland scene with 3-foot skeletons dressed in green outfits (kids clothes) as Munchkins and surrounded them with red metal poppies*.

The poppies were inspired by the flowers in the Munchkinland scenes from the movie, so they help make the connection to Wicked even if it isn’t recreating the setting exactly.

Grouping the Munchkins among the flowers also gives this part of the yard its own identity while tying it visually to Glinda’s pink bubble behind them.

And green lighting makes sure everyone knows they’re in Oz.

The other side of the walkway was dedicated to Elphaba and witches.

I used this flying witch* decoration as Elphaba. She actually looks like she is flying, is about 12 feet tall, has eyes that glow and move, and she talks. So she definitely makes a statement!

To make it look like she is flying above the forest, I surrounded her with spooky trees of different sizes (shorter ones* in front, taller ones* in the back).

And gathered several witches around a “steaming” cauldron.

The purple lights from the trees help separate this area from the green Emerald City backdrop while still tying it into the overall Wicked color scheme.

How To Make The Witches Cauldron

The flying witch, spooky trees and small witches around the cauldron are purchased props so I just had to put them together.

The steaming cauldron effect is created using a mister* and some orange string lights*.

Fiyero was one of the easiest characters to make recognizable because the horse does most of the storytelling.

I dressed a skeleton* in a prince costume* (just don’t use the lion head).

And seated him on a skeleton horse* near the edge of the yard so it looks like he is riding into Oz.

Since this corner of my yard is already illuminated by a streetlight, I didn’t need to add any extra lighting to make the scene visible at night. (And the overhead light washes out any flood lights in the area so it’s not worth installing them there).

But If I were setting him up in a darker spot, I would add a blue spotlight* to make him and his costume stand out against all the green.

How To Secure a Skeleton on a Horse

To make sure the Fiyero skeleton stayed on the horse, I hammered a 4-foot long piece of rebar a few inches into the ground about where I want Fiyero to be.

Then positioned and horse and rider so that the rebar ran part way up the back the skeleton spine. And secured the skeleton to the rebar using a long zip tie.

The horse is fairly stable because of the stand.

But I wanted to make sure it wasn’t going to tip over, and each hoof has a hole in it. So I put a landscape stake through each of the holes which makes sure it’s not going anywhere.

Of course, you can’t have a Wicked theme without some flying monkeys!

To make this happen, I dressed some pose-able skeletons* in monkey costumes*, added wings (that strap on), a gorilla mask (the one I used is no longer available but this one* is similar), and gave the standing ones these spears*. (If you want to save a little money, you could skip the money and just use the hood that comes with the costume).

Then positioned them on either side of the arbor.

Another monkey sprawled across the top of the arch looks like he is ready to pounce.

How To Pose and Secure the Flying Monkeys

For the flying monkeys, I dressed pose-able skeletons in a gorilla costume, added wings and put a gorilla mask over their heads. Then gave the standing skeletons plastic spears. Since they are pose-able, the fingers wrap around the spear handle, keeping it in place.

The standing monkeys were held up with zip ties attached to rebar that was hammered a few inches into the ground.

For the overhead monkey, I bent the arms and legs.

Then attached them to the arbor by wrapping picture wire around the arbor.

To add some more green, I hung these green sequin curtains* on either side of my arbor.

And then put up some green metallic fringe curtain* across the arbor so it blocked the view of what was behind, but you could still walk through it easily.

This plays on the idea of that what is happening in front of the curtain isn’t necessarily the same as what is hidden behind it.

From the front, it creates an Emerald City backdrop for the characters in the yard.

Behind it, I added some decorations inspired by the Emerald City scenes in the movie.

How To Hang a Curtain in the Yard

To hang the curtains, I put up light poles* that are intended for hanging outdoor string lights.

They have stakes on the bottom that are easy to push into the ground where you need it.

And a curved hook on the top. Which I used to hold a plumbing pipe as a curtain rod. (You can use any kind of rod that is long enough and is small enough for curtain rings to fit).

Finally, I added clip-on curtain rings* to the top of the curtains and hung them from the pipe.

Then clipped more rings on to both sides of the curtains which I attached to the poles to keep them from blowing around.

Behind the green curtain, I added full-sized skeletons* dressed as people of Oz in green and white costumes, a 3-tiered fountain, oversized flowers, and lots of green lighting.

Using large skeletons makes this area feel noticeably different from the smaller Munchkins outside the curtain.

Green string lights* and flood lights* set the Emerald City colors.

While green meteor lights* add movement that makes the whole area look magical.

And the large pink flowers* give the whole space a whimsical vibe.

These oversized flowers* were an easy way to make the existing landscaping feel like part of Oz instead of just the background for the decorations.

I placed the giant blooms among real trees and plants, where their exaggerated scale makes the garden look a little more fantastical.

Using LED flood lights* as pink uplights under them makes sure the flowers stand out against all of the green at night.

The colored lighting is what pulls all of the separate scenes together after dark.

I used plenty of green string lights and spot lights around the whole yard.

Wrapping trees and shrubs with green lights also brings the existing landscaping into the display and fills in the darker spaces between the larger characters and props.

Then purple and pink lights around Elphaba and Glinda give each area its own look without feeling disconnected.

For all of my Halloween outdoor decorations, I use these flood lights* and these string lights*. They are both LED lights that can change colors, so you can re-use them easily every year.