I know exactly what you mean Muffy , this is the first year that we are going to put on a yard haunt after years of just decorating inside the house and having a halloween themed birthday party for our daughter last year. Typically halloween has been all of us dressing up and taking the kids around the neighbourhood ToT'ing. But the neighbourhood has started to flip and alot of younger families like ours are moving in so I think this is the year to get things rolling.. Now if i can afford to and get the time to execute what i have planned out in my head for year 1 I will be extremely happy.. This is why i have started early so i can spend a lil at a time so as not to make the financial impact that great in one shot but also just from a time perspective to get things done. I was already planning my coffin build in the winter and seeing the contest just happened to fall when the weather changed to allow me to execute..

And then with the great feedback from the members here I got the idea on aging the handles which just added to the end effect soo much more. The haunters which hang out in these communities are just like a big extended family.