I saw this prop at Party City as well. I liked it so much that I decided to make my own version. I was going for a pirate theme and the video they sell didn't really fit...so I made my own! I used MS paint to edit a JPEG of the Jolly Roger I found on the web. I then animated it using a program called Showbiz (any gif editor will work). I also added a "Dead Men Tell No Tales" voice over to the video.(Think Pirates of the Caribbean ) You have to play with the video to get the voice to mesh, showbiz made this pretty ez.

Setup: I didn't really like the whole box thing, so instead I decided to buy the clear plexiglass and suspend it from the ceiling at a 45 deg angle using fishing line. This gives the effect of a free floating head or skull without the box. Both the plexiglass and fishing line should be fairly invisible in the darkness. Once the plexiglass is up all you need to do is set your monitor underneath. I made a frame that held my monitor in the upright position and then covered the sides with black construction paper. I put the monitor & its frame on a stand so that it sits closer to the glass (makes the image larger and more detailed). Last I covered the stand in black plastic hooked up the pc and played the video in full screen. The effect is great. When you look at the image, all you can see is the talking head/skull. Everything else just blends right into the black plastic background. Also I added some hanging moss which I made out of coffee stained cheesecloth to help blend things in. The other variation to this is you can create your own DVD and then use a TV just like they do at Party City. I didn't have an extra TV myself.

Slimer[^]