The Dinote family of San Antonio, Texas, inadvertently started a tradition in 2020 when they purchased two human skeletons and a skeleton dog to decorate their lawn for Halloween. Steven Dinote told KSAT they jokingly propped one up against a lawnmower, which gave his wife, Danielle, the idea of making the skeleton walk the dog the next day.
This led to a competition where the family members try to outdo one another with funny ideas.
“It started as a joke in October 2020 when everyone was home during the pandemic,” Steven told Today. The displays became must-sees for the people in the neighborhood who would stroll by their house to see what the skeletons were up to each day.
“We didn’t realize how popular it got … we had neighbors all of a sudden walk on up and say ‘We love your display, we purposely change our walks just to see what you got,’” Dinote said. Since 2020, the skeleton display has expanded to four adults, a kid, a dog, a cat and a piranha-like fish.
The family says it takes between 20 minutes to an hour to set up the scenes daily. They put everything together in the morning, but sometimes have to do a bit of preparation the night before.
The family has even set up a Facebook page, Skeleton House of San Antonio, where people around the world can keep up with the family’s antics. Last year’s scenes included couples’ yoga, a rock band and painter Bob Ross giving a painting lesson.
This year started with a scene of the skeleton family returning from vacation to celebrate the holiday. “Boo!! We’re back!!!” a sign on the lawn read. What a great way to kick off the season.
This scene of the skeletons golfing was so detailed that the Dinotes’ neighbor, Oscar Carrero, could only do it justice by taking a video. The golf balls in the scene go all the way to the neighbor’s lawn where another skeleton is holding the pin.
Here’s a scene from “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” They did a perfect job of recreating the ghost costumes worn by the “Peanuts” kids.
A Texas-style BBQ! “Bone appetit, y’all!”
A lucha libre match. This scene could also work to celebrate Dia de Los Muertos.
The boney break dancers. I wonder if they’re listening to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony? “See you at the crossroads, crossroads, crossroads …”
In the end, for the Dinotes, it’s all about spreading some cheer during times that have been challenging for a lot of people.
“We’re getting a lot of people coming up and thanking us and bringing a little joy. We had one person say there’s so much negative stuff going on in the news, everyone’s bitter with each other and it makes their day just to come over and see a little bit of humor,” he said. “If that helps, that makes us happy.”