Thread: Halloween Prop Supplies from FREE to Almost Free

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My wife and I have been collecting supplies for our 1st real year at haunting our home and we just wanted to share a few ideas that you should all take advantage of.

www.freecycle.org

This website is a Great place to get FREE stuff! If you have an item or items your looking for just place a post in your area and if anyone has it they give it to you for free. So far we've received over 300 wire hangers (we'll use for corpse arms and ground breakers) we've also received over 4 yards of black fabric (we'll use for our Grim Reaper). I also just posted for scrap wood and pvc. Do not hesitate to ask for anything. Someone just received a sailboat in my area. You can get working TV's and even cars. www.freecycle.org is nation wide so check it out. You can also list stuff you want to get rid of. We just got someone to pick up an old grocery cart we had in our garage.

Garage Sales
This is the season so take advantage of it. You can find all kinds of Halloween leftovers, scrap wood, fabric and more. My wife just picked up 8 pool noodles for me for only $1.00. So get out there and see what you can find.

Thrift Stores
Visit your local Thrift Stores and introduce yourself to the staff and manager if they are available. You'll find kindness goes along way. These folks will actually keep an eye out for things your looking for just ask. (Torn wedding dresses or suits can be picked up for next to nothing.)

Have anything to add?

I would add to the list ...

Scrap Yards. I am able to find various size pieces of metal. Picture frames. Etc. for relative nothing.

Antique stores...

Go during the middle of the week, the sellers are always marking prices down.

Drive around..

People are throwing away a good table, only one leg broken... grab it, go to home depot and replace the leg, for 5 dollars..

For those who use rigid foam, I got a car stuffed full from our local Sears store... they were happy to have it "recycled." Some pieces were quite large, and the different shapes are coming in handy. Although they come out of many different cartons, there are some nice big pieces from refrigerators and washers/dryers.

Originally Posted by sevena777

www.freecycle.org

Sounds like a good deal. I'm signing up now. Thanks, sevena.

I know I've mentioned this on other threads before, but a great way to get free materials is to find a company in your area that may have large scrap. I'm always needed thick foam for tombstones, rock faces, etc, so I have contacted a couple of businesses that make foam products from large foam billets. I am able to get the scrap ends of billets for free; in fact, I've never spent a dime on foam. This would work for any other material as well. In fact, my wife just picked up some hardwood scrap for a project she is working on from a cabinet shop down the road.

Originally Posted by deadlypeanutboy

I know I've mentioned this on other threads before, but a great way to get free materials is to find a company in your area that may have large scrap. I'm always needed thick foam for tombstones, rock faces, etc, so I have contacted a couple of businesses that make foam products from large foam billets. I am able to get the scrap ends of billets for free; in fact, I've never spent a dime on foam. This would work for any other material as well. In fact, my wife just picked up some hardwood scrap for a project she is working on from a cabinet shop down the road.

How do you approach these places? What kind of pitch do you give them?

Another good place for foam insulation is construction sites. Their scraps are our tombstones. Be sure to ask the site foreman before any dumpster dive. And don't forget Craigslist, lots of free stuff there too.

Let's not forget the "Curb Side Ship" for a wide vriety of supplies. One man's trash is anothers treasure.

Originally Posted by Rikki

How do you approach these places? What kind of pitch do you give them?

I usually just call them up and ask outright. The first time I tried it, I called a place that I knew had given foam to someone else. After that worked, I just called anyplace that worked with styrofoam and asked if their facility had pieces of scrap foam and what they did with them. They are usually puzzled by the question, and you'll probably get forwarded to at least one other person, but eventually they'll either tell you no or ask what it is for. When they find out that your not using it for commercial purposes (most people think that its funny you want it for a hobby) they will sometimes work with you. The worst that could happen is that they say no. So go ahead and make some calls; you'd be surprised what you can get if you just ask.

When I was in college I was part of a rocket design team that built 20 ft sounding rockets...with no funding. With a lot of phone calls (most of which ended with "I can't help you, but these guys might") we scored all kinds of materials: carbon fiber pre-preg, hoses, fittings; I even negotiated the donation of 3 20 gallon aluminum pressure tanks that were built for NASA, but were slightly out of spec. You can never underestimate the power of a little time on the phone.

My across the alley neighbor spent 3 yrs. rehabbing his old building . The entire time they had a huge dumster right there. I probably emptied that dumpster equalling 1 1/2 fills of it, which saved them alot of money!
The last people to have lived in the upstairs apartment was a man then in the nursing home, 95 yrs. old, he lived in that apartment with HIS Dad when he was a kid!
I did not take the old deer head trouphy, crossed eyes, stitches coming apart, "Franken-Deer"!
An ex-wife of mine used to work in a museum, she educated me on furr..it always has bugs, unless you have it quick-froze at least once a year. No bugs for me, Thank You!
(With my luck it would have been an FBI or CIA bug!)
Other than that I got so much good plywood, the old kind with fantastic glue, and hardwood tongue and groove flooring16 foot long pieces!
I have the technology to pull nails and saw off rotten ends! I'm happy that so many others are not as technically-minded as I am!