Thread: Store bought props and ToTers to your house

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I was wondering if you think that the ToTers that come to your house for the most part are clueless to the store bought props that are out there and so enjoy seeing them in your yard? What kind of responses do you typically get from kids to your props or atmospheric effects like lighting and fog?

As someone who looks forward to the halloween stores opening each fall so I can check out what's out there prop-wise, I pretty much know what been sold for the past few years now so it's hard for me to judge the kids' reactions sometime. I don't know if the vast majority of kids find there way into stores like Spirit with their parents or friends and so recognize the items ahead of time. I know that in my area very few homes overall decorate in any big way so I imagine the kids don't see the same prop very often unless you repeat it in your yard set up. Curious what you kind think.

We add more and more each year, and the kids, tots and teens are always impress and have bigs eyes, looking at everything, being amazed, or terrorised. (L). Being store bought or handmade makes no different to them. As long it looks cool!

Originally Posted by osenator

Being store bought or handmade makes no different to them. As long it looks cool!

Agreed, and lots of the parents are the same

Hey GOS! We get plenty TOTs feedback here but mostly are compliments of my decorations which are mostly retail bought. I have my larger items that are homemade like my walk-thru walls, partitions, pillars/fencing, gravestones with cement filled bases, fog chiller, electrical, pnuematics and scened areas that cannot be store bought..

The biggest thrill they have is going thru my walk-thru area. They always come out screaming and laughing!

I have thought about the same thing at times. When I did more at christmas time for instance, I always tried to avoid popular items. Icicle lights was a big one I always avoided because everyone, I mean everyone had them and STILL has them hanging from the gutters. They only really look good on victorian houses with angled roof lines- not straight runs across the gutters. Even though the same thing applies to halloween too for me, it's different. There aren't nearly as many halloween stores sticking the same stuff in your face. There's not nearly the same amount of houses decorating in a big way, so it makes it easier to not be a copy cat. And it really comes down to how you display it all. Yeah, there's a lot of recognizable props and decor from the stores, but it's all about how you make the scenes to display them. And many of the good props get discontinued along the way too, so they get more rare to see. And bottom line, even though it's easy to see all these props in Spirit or the like, not many actually buy them. It's not like you see the insane serial killer prop at every house. These days you're lucky to see one a neighborhood. And that's where I try and come in. The halloween mirage as you're walking down the street tot'ing. The disney haunted mansion of the neighborhood. They eat it up and can't get enough!

Dan

^^^^Oh my, love that post number for me! Muuuhhaaaaaa!

Dan

I feel that a great many overly concerned young parents are afraid to expose their kids to Halloween stuff because in that mix will be bloody, gory stuff which is totally against life, love and happiness ...right?
Torture, death, pain, agony, remorse..."HHMMM?" Explain those to a curious 5 or 8 year old.
Pull that shade down over their innocence.??
We work to assure these same ones thay there wil be no blood, gore , grabbing them, chasing them to get them into our house, we turn on more lights, speak quietly, kindly. Allow them to then possibly see their family's reaction after THEY (The Child) get to just push one little harmless appearing "button" and Scare their own Family with all the lights on!
THEN the child usually understands where the fun can be found.
This will not work this way for Every child. I have seen them laugh and really enjoy pushing that button and the reaction it gets, then a few seconds later..."Whimper, moan, I want to go outside, I'm scared." Outside they go. Maybe next time, next year?
Often my Wife is gentily persistant and follows a parent and scared child outside, talks to them about kittys and pets, asks if they would like to see other parts of the house? Parts away from the rest of the tour? Maybe even get to have more of that scaring fun?
Sometimes I will be very surprised at her successes in trying to accomplish this reversal of mood, and creation of trust and bravery but she does have alot of success doing it!
Then real measurable, hopefully long-term changes may happen, another child not afraid and actually enjoying our house!