By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief
As neighbors across Pacific Palisades have packed up the skeletons, ghosts, inflatable characters, handmade witches and so, so much more, the three winners of the Palisadian-Post’s ninth annual Creep Your Crypt Halloween home decorating contest have been revealed.
This year’s prize for Creepiest Crypt was awarded to Sebastian Rood, 11, in the Alphabet Streets, a first-time winner who has entered the contest since he was 7. He shared with the Post that he came up with most of the ideas for the decorations himself.
“The idea was all mine, and my parents helped make my thoughts come to life with my help,” he explained. “I started decorating October 1 and put the final touches on October 31.”
Sebastian said that he was watching “Pirates of the Caribbean” before he started to decorate, which helped him to arrive at the idea of a pirate-themed scene this year.
“My favorite decoration is the cannon,” he added. “I love the cannon so much, we spent so much time working on it, and the fact that it actually fires smoke is very cool. We made it from scratch, which was fun to do.”
Sebastian said that his whole family pitched in to help, and his dad, Jonathan, helped out with the electronics and equipment.
“It feels exciting and awesome to be recognized for what I worked so hard for,” Sebastian said of the win. He shared that he plans to participate in 2023, and he is already thinking about ideas.
The prize for Best Theme this year went to the Perlstein family, Denise, Dan, Dylan, 7, and Samantha, 6, who live in The Highlands.
“It’s become a family thing for us,” Denise said of decorating each year. She shared that “the kids were thrilled” with the win, and that “they are the ones now excited to decorate and enter the contest.”
The family said they enjoy driving around to look at all the other candidates as well, to check out the competition.
“As our kids are getting older, our son, Dylan, wants more scary,” Denise said of this year’s decorations. “So we added a few new skeletons and a large, scary blow-up ghost.”
She shared that some of her favorite items are the skeleton dinosaur, as well as the big, light-up spiders that they placed on their gate.
This is the first time the Perlstein home has been awarded the prize for Best Theme, though in previous years, they have won Creepiest Crypt and DIY/Originality. For someone considering entering the contest, Denise suggested to “have fun and get your whole household involved.”
The prize for DIY/Originality was awarded to the Tooley family in El Medio Bluffs.
“Decorating was a family effort with Tucker (age 9) at the helm,” Tessa Tooley explained. “We all got involved and had to get our handyman to help rig some wires for the flying zombies.”
She shared that they are “absolutely thrilled” to have won. In 2021, Tessa explained, Halloween was canceled for their son due to a COVID scare in his class.
“So this year,” she said, “we really wanted to go all out. Tucker is an artist, so he had big plans for the Halloween decorations, and we went all in.”
The family’s favorite decoration was the 15-foot Slenderman they crafted from PVC pipe from Anawalt’s Palisades Hardware.
“We had to buy a suit for a seven-foot man and sew extra fabric on the ends,” Tessa revealed. “Also, the guillotine we made from wood was pretty cool too.”
Though this was the Tooley’s first time in the contest, Tessa shared that the family already has “big plans for 2023.”
“It’s so fun to have people walk by and admire the horrible, scary things we made,” she added.
This year’s winners received prizes from local businesses who sponsored the contest, including The Draycott, Dental Spa, The Smoke Label, Gerry Blanck’s Martial Arts Center, White Lotus by Elizabeth Jackson, A Forest for the Trees, Haunt O’ Ween 2022, and local author and yogi Teresa Power.
Next up will be the Post’s annual holiday home decorating contest, Deck Your Halls, with two prizes being awarded for Best Decked Out Hall and Best Theme. Look for details this December.
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