No Bones About It: How to Save on Yard Skeletons

Ah, it’s that time of year again. The weather is starting to cool, the leaves are beginning to change color and your neighbor just took out their 12-foot tall yard skeleton. Wait — does one thing on that list seem out of place?

If you’re anything like many Americans, chances are you’re either coveting your neighbor’s skeleton or fruitlessly combing the internet to find your own. The infamous 12-foot Giant-Sized Skelly, as its product name goes at Home Depot, only came onto the market in 2020. But it immediately became an unlikely hit, buoyed partly by the pandemic and the increased demand in recent years for Halloween decor. Four years later, consumers are still in hot pursuit of Skelly.

While a 12-foot skeleton may be an outlier even for the Halloween market, Americans’ spending on Halloween has been steadily on the rise since 2020, according to the National Retail Federation. Americans set a new record last year by spending more than $12.2 billion on Halloween.

Whether you’re a four-year Skelly devotee or have never heard of a 12-foot skeleton, this article has something for you.

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What’s a Yard Skeleton?

Before we dive into how to get yourself a Skelly, let’s hear the skeleton’s origin story. It all started when Lance Allen, a decorative holiday merchant at Home Depot, spotted a “massive skeleton torso” on his regular perusal of trade shows and haunted houses. He and his team were inspired to put a little Home Depot twist on the Halloween classic, which meant creating a “full-sized, free-standing and completely poseable skeleton.” The original thought was to cap his height at 10 feet, but the team shot “for the stars,” Allen said, and didn’t stop until they reached 12 feet.

The initial design was so successful that Allen expanded the collection in 2021 with the 12-Foot Inferno Pumpkin Skeleton. Part of what makes the skeletons so unique is their LifeEyes, which use LCD screens to give the eyes a lifelike quality.

“What’s great about the screens is that we can fully program whatever image or scene we want on them,” Allen said in a Home Depot post. “That’s what gives Skelly his realistic blue eyes.”

But these skeletons are not just in demand — they’re also quite expensive. Skelly and his Pumpkin counterpart are priced at $299 and $379, respectively. It’s not exactly chump change.

Where Do You Get Yard Skeletons? 

The easiest answer to this question is, of course, at Home Depot. 

You can find the original 12-foot Skelly with LCD blue eyes or the Inferno Pumpkin edition of the 12-foot skeleton. And if you like your Halloween decor with a side of Disney, then consider this new addition, the 13-foot animated Jack Skellington from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” ($399).

It’s important to keep in mind that all three of these skeletons come ready-made. Home Depot employees estimate installation will take about 45 minutes with three people working together. Be prepared for a somewhat arduous task. 

If the high price tags and sheer impossibility of actually acquiring one of these beauties is making you think twice, you can find dupes. However, they are still expensive and won’t meet the 12-foot height standards. Wayfair sells a Pose-N-Stay Skeleton at almost 5.5 feet that is made from all-weather plastic and goes for $81.99. JOANN has an 8-foot towering skeleton with poseable arms, a moving jaw, and the LED eyes you’ve come to know and love. On sale, it goes for $249.99.99 (regular price is $499.99). Spirit Halloween offers a $299.99 animatronic corpse bride. You’ll be spooked by its script of terrifying statements. 

How To Save Money on Skelly (and Other Yard Skeletons)

So you’re looking for a Skelly (or just a yard skeleton) and you don’t want to pay top dollar. We have some tips for you, although we warn you: it’s a hard market out there. Consumers are having a hard time getting their hands on Skelly at regular price, so if you really want the Home Depot 12-foot model, you may have to pay full price. 

That said, if you’re willing to be flexible, there are some ways around shelling out the absolute maximum. Here are our tips.

Are you an active service member or veteran? Use Home Depot’s military discount.

Home Depot offers a 10% discount on eligible purchases, up to $400 per year, for active military, veterans and their spouses. To qualify, you’ll need to register yourself or your family through SheerID or through your Home Depot account. Dependents of registered service members, dishonorably discharged veterans and non-military members are not eligible, per the store. Once you’ve been verified, you’ll have a barcode accessible through your account. You can then show this to the cashier the next time you make a purchase at Home Depot. If you can find a Skelly available, flash your barcode and try it out.

Be size-flexible. 

If you’re willing to spring for a smaller skeleton, you’ll likely be able to find something cheaper — and more widely available — at Home Depot. For example, you can get a 6-foot Rotten Patch LED poseable Pumpkin Skeleton for $79.98. Willing to go even smaller? Buy this 5-foot posable skeleton hanging decor with LED eyes for only $29.98. And if you want something between the two, try this 5-foot pitted skeleton with LED eyes for $34.98.

Branch out from a skeleton to other Halloween creatures.

Sensing all the Halloween demand, Home Depot released a collection of Halloween creatures that are not traditional skeletons. You may have an easier time purchasing these figures. Choose from a 12-foot animated hovering witch for $299  or a 12-foot levitating reaper for $299. Looking for something a little less pricey? Try the $54 6-foot animated spellcasting witch. But there’s plenty more where these three came from. Try a quick search of Home Depot’s Halloween animatronics to see all your best options.

Try yard skeleton Facebook groups or Facebook Marketplace.

When in doubt, we always say turn to Facebook Marketplace or Nextdoor. By searching frequently for skeletons or the Home Depot 12-foot skeleton, you may finally get your lucky day and find someone ready to sell their skeleton after a few years of use.

You can also consider joining the myriad Facebook groups that exist for 12-foot skeleton owners. You never know if one day one of these members will decide to sell one of their Skellys.

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So Now You’ve Got a 12-foot Skeleton. How Do You Store It?

For the precious few who have actually gotten ahold of a Skelly in their collection, this is perhaps the most salient question. The good news is that you’re far from the only person to have asked it, and there are answers. 

First, Home Depot has a step-by-step maintenance guide on how to put your skeleton together and how to take it apart. Once you’ve done assembly and Halloween has come and gone, it’s time to take your Skelly apart. 

A word of advice: While Skelly is theoretically weather-resistant, Home Depot advises taking him down during windy weather. He can be cleaned with soap and water, so don’t worry about a little dirt on his bones. But he’s a sensitive skeleton — don’t bleach him or pressure wash him. Skelly would be aghast at that! And one more point: Skelly doesn’t like extreme cold or heat. Please don’t put him near a fire pit. (Yes, he can melt.)

Skelly needs to be laid down and disassembled to be stored. Home Depot recommends having three people work on this task. You will need to take everything apart in the opposite order of assembly, which takes about 45 minutes. You should remove the batteries that power the LED eyes when storing Skelly. Each of the parts should be placed in the original box for storage wherever you see fit, from your garage to your attic. A climate-controlled space is best. If you didn’t hold on to the original box, Reddit users recommend buying Christmas tree storage bags to hold the larger bones.

And if all of this just seems like too much work, there’s another option: keep Skelly up year-round. Consumers are repurposing these 12-foot skeletons for other seasons, from Christmas with Santa hats to a skeleton beach scene. Sometimes laziness (after all, who wants to disassemble a 12-foot skeleton?) can turn into creativity.

Writer Elizabeth Djinis is a contributor to The Penny Hoarder, often writing about selling goods online through social platforms. Kelly Gurnett is a former contributor to The Penny Hoarder.