Thread: So what is everyone's plans for next Halloween 2011?

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On Halloween, I took a good look at this year's displays, the biggest and most we have ever done before which included almost all home made props in the graveyard, nightmare nursery, butcher shop(with butcher actor) and jail cell( with a chainsaw guy actor...yeah yeah I know but I like it :P), I gave a big sigh of contentment and relief that everything turned out as well as it did. But the question kept "haunting" me... How am I going to top this next year? I know for sure I am going to be corpsing 6 blucky's ( thanks to Eyegor) adding a scene from Army of Darkness, and I would LOVE to do a well scene from The Ring with a Samara actor. But thats about all I have for the moment... what is everyone's hopes and plans for next year's haunt? would love to get some more ideas

Hey guys I did a carnival theme this year, but next year I am putting a bunch of corn stalks outside with a bunch of scarecrows, to give it a jeepers creepers theme, with fog machine and all, maybe hide as one of the scarecrows.

We are going in a completely different direction next year, and I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how to incorporate what we already have into it.

I can't say I have a theme every year, considering that all takes money which I don't have. I do try my hardest to make the best props I can, with the time allowed... some are just thrown together though.

A theme would be cool though if I had the time or money to change it up every year.

As of right now... we're planning to start making our own headstones.... and I know mom wants to make some columns for a cemetery gate. Oh! And we both agreed we want to board up some of the windows.

Other than that... I have no clue. But I know we have a year-ish to figure it out. Mom & I are going to go to an old cemetery today to get ideas for headstones.

I didn't get the startles I was hoping for with an air blast this year so I want to make a stand holding a bunch of candles for the skulltronix seance scene that has a blucky come up through the top at the scream...Maybe that will be a bigger startle?....Have a 4 foot cylinder I want to mount in the ceiling in the cemetery scene for a bat to swoop overhead that didn't get done this year....Electric chair with a blucky getting fried with pnuematic to shake it back and forth and of course a fog machine and strobe to go along with it....Witches shack,tunnel with attack vampire....As you can see I can't figure out what to do next....To much to do ....ZR

This year's display was the biggest and best ever, possibly TOO big. I overloaded my outdoor power supply; after the circuits flipped three times in the first hour, I had to make the tough decision to turn off the fog machine and the thunder and lightning display. I was sorry about losing the fog, but at least everything stayed up and running for the rest of the night.

More importantly, I decided that I need to cut back in order to enjoy the evening. I worked for weeks to get everything arranged. I worked almost non-stop from Wednesday the 27th until right up to Halloween night. When the tots arrived, I was worn out! And now I've spent nearly a full week getting it down again. It is just too much physically for one person to continue.

Next year I know I'll still be eager to decorate, but I'm going to do less. I have plenty of props and lights to choose from! I'm going to make a nice but smaller display along my sidewalk up to my porch, where I can greet the tots and have fun.

A couple of the easiest projects I put out this year were the biggest hits with the tots and parents: the Michael Jackson singing skeleton and the skull inflatable. I placed them at the end of my driveway, and everyone posed there for pictures. That's the kind of project I plan to continue in the future - props that are both fun and simple to put up and take down! I really want to avoid Halloween burnout - at the moment I'm pretty tired!!!

Change the haunt completely for next year. We just installed on both side of the house gates that opens, and we will make the people walk around the house, into our back yard too. Also, this way, give us more time to decorate the back of the house, without anyone seeing it until Halloween, hoping it will us out for not doing everything on Halloween day!

I'm just adding to what I did this year. This year was Pumpkins, Witch Jars, The Soul Cage (which ended up being a draft) and hard-backed books. I'm thinking of taking that simple theme further next year. We'll see though.

My pumpkins were a huge hit so I'm definitely adding more pumpkins next year (already bought about 6 or 8 on sale at Michaels last weekend), doing Hallowindow again & I plan to fortify the tombstones because we have had such high winds at Halloween the last 6 years or so.

I had the same thing happen Decorinator, the simple stuff impressed the most. Hallowindow & the pumpkins. I reeally scaled back because of high winds & an injury but I had more people taking pictures than ever.