Thread: Theme, or Mix n' Match?

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Just wondered what everyone does for their yard/porch displays. I have always been a fan of keeping sections in the same theme. For example, if the front yard is graves and zombies, I keep it at that...no witches or Freddy/Jason/Myers mixed in with the zombies. Then maybe around the corner I will stick one of the said movie characters, and have the porch be another theme, be it vampires, butcher shop, or whatever. This varies year to year.

I know I'm overthinking it a bit. I have just always liked to keep areas exclusive to one type of scare. You?

Since I'm kind of a newbie last year I mixed and matched(mixed witches, vampires, and spiders etc etc) but this year I'm going for a haunted harvest/whimsical theme. I like more themed haunts. Since I just bought props last year I just grabbed this and that and didn't really look at the big picture over all. Not this year hopefully!

I like that idea, kind of an olde tyme Hallowe'en theme.

I like to look at any and all Halloween displays, be they theme or mix n' match. I just like theme when I am actually setting up a haunt.

Oh yea for sure. Yea, you can check out some pics in my albums from last year. It's not much but I was just getting started. Hopefully with can fill out the yard a bunch more this year. Needs more figures I think. Or bodies.lol.

I guess mine could be considered a theme - but I don't change it every year. I do re-arrange it tho because my yard is pretty big. I have a cemetery & I just added some life-sized PVC figures last year for the first time.

I will have a random giant spider this year & his victim, but I'll probably just tie the vic to a tree. That would still work in the cemetery.

I admire those that change up their theme every year. I don't have the energy (nor the money) to do that. We have started as a bit of a mishmash and have been working towards separating things into themed areas. If all goes well, this years haunt will be the most thought out and design driven we have ever done.

Up until this year I've basically done whatever I felt like doing, where ever I felt like doing it. This year I want to expand and do more but I'm not sure what I want to do and if I want to do multiple areas. Personally I find it difficult to do much theme creation with a limited budget and limited stock of props and items to use. But I'd like to have at least one theme that flows through the yard, or two if possible. To me it seems that the best haunts have some level of coherence to them, and aren't a complete mix mash of stuff. This could still mean different or just one overall theme.

I started a thread to talk about different themes the other day.

Like Practicalstyle said, my hat's off to those that have the time, energy, drive, and money (or enough stock items) to completely change up their haunt every year. I don't have any of that.

Yeah, cost is an issue for sure. I definitely could not afford to do a theme overhaul every year. Usually I just add a piece or two every year and move them around. But I do like to keep them in designated areas like I said. Kind of like people who keep all their food on separate parts of their plate and don't like them mixing- which I also do.

For us, it is always Western themed, given there are existing structures...store facade, a mining shack, a railroad station etc and add to it with a Boot Hill cemetery, pumpkins, hay bales, etc...all standard ghosts and skeletons, some ghouls/zombies, a scarecrow, spiders, vultures, etc, with naturalistic sounds and subtle music. No movie characters or things...works for us anyway

I've been doing a pirate theme for about five years. I keep saying I'm going to change it up when I run out of new ideas, but I keep coming up with more stuff to do! Although, I do keep in mind some of the other themes I'd like to try when I'm designing props so that I'll be able to re-use almost everything when I finally make the switch. A Western theme is next on the top of my list.