Thread: Child friendly haunt - opinions needed.

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*if* you have the space...
I do both - a 'PG-13' side & a 'friendly' side.
PG-13 is contained in two 10'x20' 'portable' garages, and includes a vortex tunnel, wall of skulls, pneumatics & humans. The friendly side is outside, simple graveyard, but has some items (plasma globe, wowee monkey the 'reads' a crystal ball, etc.)
I give out small candies for the friendly side. (actually, the monkey does via a helper) I give full size bars for the scary side...
*IF* you make it through the scary side... I consider it a success if I have a basket of candy left at the end of the night -> FROM the ones who entered the scary side & dropped their stash.

BTW - I am a startle-scare / disturbing type of person, not a gory type. Different strokes for different folks & all...

Most of the neighborhood kids that grew up with my haunt all now want to help (14-17+). Keeps them out of trouble (sort of), and we get to mutate the new ones...

If your trying to make money for charity, go scary, if you advertise it as kiddy friendly the teenagers wont come as well. it's not my think so, we went to a seminar on the subject.

My tuppence.
What is "scary"? I have lost a lot of interest in the pro haunts, because they have become overly predictable. I'm afraid I am not the least bit frightened by a chainsaw anymore. Not to sound like the old man that I am, but in my day the houses had an overall creepiness that got your imagination going more than anything and only one real "scare". What happened to that? I've set up our own home haunt with this in mind. We are very simple, all static props (though I plan to add a witch stirring a cauldron this year) and yet we regularly have people freak out about going in. I guess what I'm saying is gore does not equal scary and that, I think, is where it gets too much for the younger ToTs. Use your best judgement, and have a great time. We wish you the best!

I have a similar idea in mind... we're doing a home haunt this year and hope to take canned food donations (for shelters to use for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday) as well as pet food and monitary donations to be given to the humane society. I have thus far focused on a goal of being child-friendly, but adult-friendly also. No gore, no guts, no chasing, no chainsaws etc. Here's a thought that came to mind that may interest you...

This is the first year that I'm trying to go really big with the home haunt, but I hope to build on it each year in the future. For that reason, I decided to focus this year on "atmosphere". Many here would agree that a good haunt starts with setting the right atmosphere... lighting, sound, decor, etc. My goal is to transform our house into an eerie haunted space with neat things to see (spooky lighting and sounds, lightning outside, haunted graveyard scene in the yard, a haunted bookcase, maybe some crank ghosts and things floating around, etc). At the end (the back yard) we have a garden railroad that will have a whimsical halloween theme... train pulling cars full of skulls, a miniature graveyard scene, some zombies run-amuck around the layout. The kids will get their candy in the back yard. We are also planning on offering hot cider, rice crispy treats, halloween cookies and some other light snacks to our guests. This is fairly tame for the youngsters, but enough entertainment that I think the older children and adults will want to come back the following year. And hopefully, enough that they will also want to make a donation to our charities. I also plan on having a "register" where people can sign in and leave feedback and ideas.

Next year, based on feedback and the response of our guests, I will add more things to the haunt. The level of "fear" I add will consider our feedback. I'm not really a big fan of gore or terror (chainsaws, chasing) so I doubt I'll ever go that route. I'll leave that to the pro haunts. Plus, being a home haunt, I want to keep risk and liability as low as possible. However, the scenes I incorporate in the future will be adjusted for my guests based on the prior year. So my vote... other... start tame and focus on atmosphere, and add to your production in the future as you determine who your guests are and as you see fit!

I love going Non-Gore but thats just my feeling of Halloween. I use alot of retro stuff mixed with skeletons, JOLs, graves and all the classic Halloween icons. Kids of all ages seem to really soak it in and enjoy it as well as the parents when the see a decoration from childhood in our display. I love good lighting and I use alot of lighted items and fog. Kids have a great time so thats what counts.

Our yard haunt is strictly PG. No gore, no scary people in masks, just witches, skeletons, ghosts, tombstones, some spiders, but they're all doing fun or silly things.

We are really geared towards the trick-or-treat age, and that's what we get!

http://millcreekhauntedhollow.com

If you are worried about not getting enough donations by being just kid-friendly. then my suggestion would be to have a 2 part haunt. One section for the kids to walk thru, no gore, just fun, and a second, scary section with all of your gory, creepy, jump out and scare ideas.