Hundreds Of Christmas Inflatables Emerge At This Wayne House Every Year (PICS)

WAYNE, NJ — Including Halloween and Christmas, Gina and Rich Martorana own more than 1,000 decorative inflatables. Their elaborate setups require several weeks to assemble among only a few people. And yet, like clockwork, the Martoranas are always back to make their house a holiday landmark.

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The decorative obsessions go back to their childhoods. Gina's family put up displays all over their apartment, while Rich helped his dad decorate their home from top to bottom.

"Everybody joked and called my dad’s house the ‘Clark Griswold house,’ because we were the only house on the block that went that crazy," Rich Martorana said, referring to the elaborate Christmas displays from National Lampoon's "Vacation" series.

When the Martoranas lived in Passaic, they had 15 Christmas inflatables between them. But they never put them out, because "they would've gotten stolen in three seconds," Rich said.

Then they moved to 396 Fairfield Road in Wayne. During their first holiday stretch in the new house, they only had three Halloween inflatables and the 15 Christmas decorations.

But since then, the collection has grown to about 450 Halloween inflatables and roughly 700 for Christmas — including 60 new blow-ups. Gina is the "architect" — the brains of the operation — while Rich, his brother Dante and their friend Georgie assemble the setups.

The decorations have attracted plenty of media attention, more than 17,000 Facebook followers and thousands of visitors each holiday.

Just this Halloween alone, the kids kept on coming for candy.

"Oh my God, please," Rich said. "This past Halloween, we gave out 1,600 candy bags. We started giving them out at about a quarter to 12. By 3 o’clock, they were all gone."

At that point, they gave kids cups of candy. Then they used up all 1,500 cups before allowing children to take handfuls. They also gave dog treats to a couple of four-legged trick-or-treaters.

Rich Martorana anticipates completing the setup this week. The inflatables stand tall from 8 a.m. to midnight, while the lights shimmer from 4 p.m. to midnight.

The family hopes to keep them up until a little after New Year's. But a harsh storm could mean they go down earlier. The winter weather can be brutal, even in the face of hundreds of Christmas inflatables.

"Mother Nature dictates everything," Rich said.

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