The Halloween house with over 45,000 lights

The Hodgson family of Orchard Road, Crossgates have been putting up light decorations for the last six years and have raised just under £60,000.

Source: Georgia Lee

Dom Hodgson and his wife Heather, who decorate for Halloween and Christmas, are raising money for Martin House Children’s Hospice. The cause is close to the family’s hearts as Dom worked at a children’s hospital and saw first-hand the effects of serious illnesses on patients and their families.

Source: Georgia Lee

Dom’s love of theatre and lighting is where the idea of using light decorations began, starting in 2018 with 600 lights and growing each year with more lights being added, and more money being raised.

The family have worked hard to ensure the decorations go up each year, during the pandemic in 2020 they even removed fence posts in their garden and worked alongside West Yorkshire Police to create a socially distanced event.

Source: Georgia Lee

For this year they have expanded to 32,000 lights for Halloween and 45,000 at Christmas. The family originally only decorated for Christmas but started doing the Halloween lights only three years ago. They now get as many visitors at Halloween as they do at Christmas despite the decorations being up for less time.

Source: Georgia Lee

They family even offer sensory sessions, where they turn down the volume and remove any sudden movements or flashing lights. But still keep the same layout, same interactive elements and the same opportunity to be given sweets.

Source: Georgia Lee

The Hodgson’s say their best year for fundraising was 2023, where they reached £4,000 just from Halloween. They are accepting donations through Just Giving, an online social platform, and hope to continue their impressive light display in order to reach their £60,000 fundraising goal.