12 Reasons Why You Need a 12 Foot Skeleton
I know what you are thinking. “What is she talking about?” “Why do I need it?” “I refuse to spend that much money!”
Hear me out…
There are a bunch of “large” skeletons from a variety of stores. The most popular one that you probably see is the Home Depot 12 Foot Skeleton. This is the one we purchased last year and the one that my reasons below are based on. I am also here to help you validate the purchase and convince your partner / spouse of its worth when they question the $299 purchase on your credit card.
1. Your kids will love it!
My son had been asking for the skeleton since he was 3 years old – in 2019 – when Home Depot released the skeleton in stores. He had begged and begged but I could not bring myself to bite the bullet. Finally last year, I got it and let me tell you my son jumped up and down and stated “my dreams are coming true.” Yes, rather theatric, but seeing him so happy made my husband and I so happy. After we took it down, my kids were asking when it is time to put it back up. It was not a flavor of the week.
2. Other kids will love it.
When you have family or friends over during Fall / Halloween time, the kids really get a kick out of “Skully.” Yes, we named him.
3. The neighborhood (and most adults) will love it.
Not going to lie, I love when I see families walking by and stop to look or take pictures with the skeleton. Drive bys are even better; we can see folks out front taking pictures and in absolute awe of Skully. It sounds silly, but it is really cool when you see it in person, up close.
4. The price is not that bad when you think of how much less you need to buy to decorate.
I will be honest, I had a hard time with the $299 price tag. I normally shop for Halloween décor at Home Goods, Big Lots, etc. and nothing costs over $50. But then I realized how much this piece makes a statement and that I would not need to purchase a bunch of smaller decorations. It is a money saver if you ask me – or at least that is what I tell my husband.
5. It is an excuse to have less inflatables in your yard.
I hated inflatables until I had kids. I gave birth to kids with a love of inflatables. Over the years, I have collected inflatables and probably have close to five for each holiday. Putting them all up was the highlight of my son’s holiday season. Now with Skully, I tell him that we do not have room to put up any inflatables, which is obviously not true, but he accepts the answer and is just happy to have Skully. It is a breath of fresh air not putting them up for Halloween. Skully makes enough of an impact that there is no need for plug in blow ups that fly in the wind and need to be taken down every time we need to cut the grass. WINNER!
6. Easy assembly and disassembly.
I am an instant gratification gal and when Skully came in the mail, I could not wait to put him up to surprise my son. I started putting it together and quickly realized it was not that difficult. Luckily, I have the best neighbors in the world, and they were excited to see it and offered to help. Why would I turn that down? But we did it in less than 30 minutes. When Halloween was over, I took it down. By myself. In less than 30 minutes. My husband asked me why I did not wait until he got home to do it, and my response was “I don’t need a man for this.” To which he replied “Oh, you got impatient.” Yes, that is more like it. The individual parts are not heavy at all. The heaviest part is the metal platform at the bottom.
7. Easy to store.
Skully stores easily. The box he comes in is huge so you can use that, or you can do like I did and purchase blue totes like the one in this article and store several limbs in one. The only body part that did not fit was the torso, which just sits in the garage on off seasons unharmed. Once disassembled, it really does not take up much room. Reading this sentence back, it sounds like an episode of Dexter, does it not?
8. Multiple holiday uses.
There are websites where you can purchase a variety of outfits for your 12 Foot Skeleton. There are also tons of dress up ideas on Pinterest. They include: Santa Claus costume, Thanksgiving Pilgrims or turkey costume, Mardi Gras beads, etc. Shockingly, I am not one to keep him up year round, and I highly doubt my husband would be on board; however, my neighbors have asked if I would. That just goes to show you how much everyone loves Skully.
9. Brings people together to rally over small things.
The amount of people that stop by or neighbors that come outside to chat around Skully is insane. Who knew a 12 foot piece of plastic would bring people together? This article tells a story of how a North Carolina man used attention around his 12 foot skeleton to raise donations for St. Jude Hospital. Now more than 300 homes across the country share the same QR code for donations to St. Jude. Pretty incredible.
10. You can join the elite Facebook group.
It is so elite, it will not let me share the URL. If you search “12 Foot Skeleton Owners Group” on Facebook, you will see a closed, private group. The group has over 218,400 members and I am one of the lucky ones. The intent of the group is to give other owners ideas on how to best display your skeleton, repair it if needed, and buy / sell / trade other Halloween animatronics.
11. Skully will never go out of style.
Skeletons have been a part of Halloween since before any of us were born. I cannot imagine that people will be “over them” or “not care” or dislike skeletons. They are timeless. Therefore, look at it this way … you spend $300 on something that will last a lifetime. Worth it. Mic drop!
12. Someone needs to be in charge of kicking off spooky season.
My Skully went up on September 6, 2023 – or Labor Day. Yes, it is rather early, but now I am starting to see more and more Halloween décor pop up around the neighborhood. It gives my kids extra time to celebrate their favorite time of the year.
Since I am sure that I was very convincing and you are running to the Home Depot website, I will forewarn you. They are a hot commodity. They sell out fast. You can get it on resale sites: eBay, Amazon, FB groups – but be warned, they sell them for anywhere between $500-$1500. My suggestion is to start planning now for next year if you cannot get one this year. I would check the site often because they do restock, or wait until December – Mayish to check for restock.
I am the proud parent of a 12 foot skeleton and it brings me and so many others joy. No bones about it!
(Please note, as of 9/8/2023 at 1:00 pm, Home Depot has the skeleton in stock. Also, it is limited to 1 per order due to the high demand).
