Thread: How do you stay focused on a theme?

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I've built a growing cemetary for my haunt for the last 5 years. I have been thinking about switching to a few themed areas & want to know how you stay focused on doing different themes at the same time? I have a hard enough time staying focused (& not very well at that) on a cemetary time theme. I always end up with a few things that don't work quite right.

I can get scatterbrained & head off in a totaly different direction. I then end up with something I have to try & make work. I don't plan things out well i guess.

I'm wanting to build a trash can trauma type prop but do not know pneumatics. I have some bimba cylinders & a hand switch to operate just don't know more.

See what I mean about scatterbrained. hope I didn't confuse ya'll. Thanks for letting me in...

I write everything down and make pictures. I look on the web and on here at galleries for inspiration. I got inspired by another members rum drinking pirate and made a version of my own last year.

I make pictures to help visualize spacing and flow. (like stick figures and number or title then so I know whats what). Sometimes flow cant be made so I test certain crowding of props and if they look alright Ill keep the design. If it looks off, I will decide to use the off putting props as an alternate scene another year to switch up the look.

When I get to a place where I am happy with my design, I write down anything else thats needed and keep the list handy if Im out and about. Right now I dont have any money but I have the list still in case a birthday or Christmas comes up, so I know what to ask for.

This year I want to use scents and music areas vs just my stereo playing Halloween music. So I need triple scented candle in glass containers for my themed areas, like cotton candy for the clowns/carnival area. I also need mp3 players and mini speakers to add theme music.

I usually have a bunch of themes picked out and plan for more than one at a time but only choose one for the current year. That way most of the planning work for the next year(s) is mostly done. I have props, effects, layouts for as many as 10 different themes so I try to do a different one each year. I have done Fortune Teller, simple Graveyard, Haunted Mine, Cave of Despair, etc. Currently I am planning a Pirate Haunt, Circus haunt and our current year's theme HAUNTED HOUSE (sounds simple but it's still my favorite!)

...Is this a joke?! For me the answer is to focus on several themes! Sorry I can't be more help but we're in the same boat.

Map it out leaving good separation between each scene.

Well, this year my theme will be a haunted mansion of sorts...one including a laboratory, boiler room, 3D dot room and other blacklight effects, a mansion hallway, entrance foyer, forest, cornfield, witches' brew, cemetery, and psycho strobe room. Whew! Got all of that out! What I'm saying is feel free to implement seperate areas for different themes! It doesn't have to always be one idea. My manor this year will have so many different rooms as well as outdoor classics like the cemetery...I could never survive trying to do only one theme. When I make a transition between rooms, I usually leave the pathway dark or line it with a string of lights.

But like Kittyvibe said, make sure you write things down and even draw pictures with labels to keep things straight. What I do is draw what the individual scenes will look like from a trick-or-treater's perspective if they were looking at it. I also do an aerial drawing of where I want things to go, where cords will run, where failing CD players will be hidden...etc.

Don't be afraid to expand your display! There are effects that are easy to accomplish and for not much money. Just have fun!

Another good method is, when you first get out your decorations for the season, take inventory! Ask yourself when you look at each of your props: "Where do I want this to go and WHY?" It's helpful! Before the big night, I categorize all my decorations into groups downstairs, ready to go outside.

Hope this helps!

I tend to agree with Tumblindice, for our haunt we try to create well defined areas for each scene so the theme is clear to the observer. Although I have seen many yard haunts on the web and this forum that are quite eclectic, blending lots of themes and they look great as well! I suppose it is heavily influenced by personal taste.

I think of my haunt/yard as having several "stage" areas - pirate ship, swamp, graveyard, jail - and build them in physically separate areas. I plan on one or two main features for each stage and fill in the other items over time. Usually one "stage" gets more attention than the others each year and the others are just set up with whatever they had the previous year. For example, the year I decided to add the swamp, the focal point was a rowboat that appeared to have sprung a leak. I knocked it together out of old fence boards and the fountain pump from my fishpond - the boat was over a hole I dug in my flowerbed, lined with plastic and filled with water. Over the next few years I made the water-filled area larger by using landscape timbers and a bigger piece of plastic, added fake cattails, made a tribe of tiny skeleton swamp demons and placed them in the plants around the pond and in the boat. Various skeletons have taken turns hanging out in the boat until the year I made a drunken pirate who sprawls in the rowboat drinking from his endless rum bottle. It's become a popular feature because of all the details, but it started with a boat that took an hour to screw together and a hole filled with water.

Originally Posted by nochevys

I've built a growing cemetary for my haunt for the last 5 years. I have been thinking about switching to a few themed areas & want to know how you stay focused on doing different themes at the same time? I have a hard enough time staying focused (& not very well at that) on a cemetary time theme. I always end up with a few things that don't work quite right.

I can get scatterbrained & head off in a totaly different direction. I then end up with something I have to try & make work. I don't plan things out well i guess.

I'm wanting to build a trash can trauma type prop but do not know pneumatics. I have some bimba cylinders & a hand switch to operate just don't know more.

See what I mean about scatterbrained. hope I didn't confuse ya'll. Thanks for letting me in...

Scatterbrained....hmmmmm, I resemble that remark.


Too heck with a theme..just have fun with it. Don't set Dracula's coffin next to the electric or have Michael Myers on the pirate ship.....wait, that would be a great idea, a pirate ship with Jason, Michael and Freddy...

hey...LOOK!!! a shiny penny