Thread: Haunter from northern ireland needs help

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Hi all halloween in northern ireland isnt a big thing at the mo trick or treaters the usual stuff,But im trying over the past few years to change that ,last year we had the best around it was even on our news but anyways , getting animated prop[ stuff here is difficult ,i can buy in america but a lot of the companies charge an arm and a leg for postage so i was wondering if anyone can help me with stuff i might need clearly i will pay you throught paypal PLEASE PLEASE..

thanks for reading and if you can help all the better

stephen


www.halloweenfun.me.uk

The thing that a lot of haunters do with limited budgets is to try & recreate items themselves. I know many people that have done that & for much cheaper. Plus you have the satisfaction of doing it yourself & maybe even improve on the design. I've heard & read the horror stories of finally purchasing that one sought after animated item & it doesn't work, or stops working suddenly.

Build it yourself and they will come!!! It is best and a lot cheaper if you browse the how-to threads here at the halloween forum. These props look far greater and would definitely be more bang for the buck! Best of luck to you!

Slick automatic display pieces impress some, usually they impress another haunter who wants the same critter but to scare a customer little things can scare very effectively!
Some Very inexpensive things can also be used in ways to absolutely terrify people, I have done this for 25 yrs. now this year. The amount of money I have ever spent at a trade show? Not very much (I never had "money" anyway!)
Putting on a good show requires some time spent interacting with people, telling them a story which often can't happen if you are pressed to sell alot of tickets in a few weekends and roll in the big bucks. Give them a good show and they will be doing your advertising for you!
Building anticipation also requires "Time" but is the needed set-up for the maximum responses.
I have used numerous garage door openers to make my critters "move", some of them were used and cheap and worked well. They have the automatic "Return" feature to guarantee a resetting movement.
I have used hydralic cylinders from tractor's loader-buckets to make things "Move". I used inexpensive, new, lawn watering low-voltage valves for air valves, these are plastic but rated at 125 pounds of pressure, install them with small metal blast shields if you think they may explode from over-using, I have never had any explode. I also try to design things with gravity as a reset whenever possible. Gravity is real cheap and available almost anywhere on this planet, but I do own the distributorship so send me a check every so often , OK?
See my house here: hauntedravensgrin.com

thanks all ,, i can build props ok but its the things like screen door closers which i need, as we dont use screen doors here we cant get them,

bicycle pump, the plunger type ones they are a cylinder like a door screen if you get the correct fittings these could be used as a similar pop up prop hooked up to a compressor, ive seen Cyliders from hatchback cars or automobile parts converted into props , think out of the box when supplies may not be the same as you see online, We have similar issues in Canada we just dont get some of the props the Americans have without the cost of naming your first born after the company .

I concur with ter_ran. I started into the DIY biz a few years ago when I came across a video on YouTube on how to make tombstones. Since then I've added a prop a year. All DIY and done on a high school student budget. Again, one of the biggest pay offs is knowing you build it with your own hands, and looks better and sometimes bigger than what you would buy in stores for just as much or cheaper than the stores. Example, those door/tree hanger ghouls, reapers, etc, that hang maybe three feet long for up to $20 or $30 a piece around here.. I made a 6 foot ghoul/reaper with scrap wood from my Old Man's garage package. A few yards of cheesecloth, couldn't have been more than $10 and a bag of blow molded skull and hands, $10 AT MOST. Made a T with the wood, draped over the purple-greyish, misted black with a black spray paint can, dyed cheesecloth, stapled it to the back of the T, took some welding wire my Old Man had laying around, bent them into arm shapes and attached hands. Then took more welding wire bent them into a hook shape to hold the hood up and attached the skull to those as well. Made a twine hanging string (like on the back of a picture frame) and hung him in three, nailed the bottom of the T to the tree to give him a looming look, peering down on the sidewalk. Worked out great. I built a monster in a box last year out of pallet wood. Find lots of threads on here about those. Some tombstones out of styrofoam, again more threads on those. A coccoon victim, search quick coccoon victim (one or two C's). A ground breaking toe-pincher coffin top. That's where my props end for now, but this year, I will be adding.