Thread: Is it just me???

Tweet

I know I am new at the whole Halloween thing, and not trying to sound like a cheap skate!!! But the prices on most of the stuff out there is out of this world. Example: a upside down hanging vampire (which I thought was cool) made of foam ranged on websites from 1,400.00 to 2,250.00. Can they have more 100.00 invested in this product including shipping????

I don't normally complain but there was more than this one item I reviewed. So is it just me or do others feel this way?

I like you find the cost of props extreme.

This forum is full of individuals who are making a concerted effort to create very good props for reasonable costs.

Obviously not everyone is capable of making props from scratch.

Hopefully efforts made by various individuals will allow some kit processes to reduce costs.

For that much $$, you must be looking at a professional level haunt prop.

Check around on this board to get some ideas of more reasonable priced props for home haunters - like Fright Props, Spirit and Halloween Express. They'll all have the pricey professional stuff, but there is a fair bit of less expensive stuff too.

However, there are plenty of tutorials also that explain how to build pneumatic and electronic props that would be just as good as the professional level, you just have to either know that sort of thing, or be able to teach yourself how to build them (or settle for less dynamic if you're mechanically all-thumbs like me )

As cool as the fancy professional props are, however, it is much cooler to build something yourself - since no one else will make the prop like you will, and it will be a unique creation. It is addictive... just look around at the amazing things the forum posters have made!

So true Frankie's Girl. This year I made my first pneumatic prop and the people walking through the haunt really loved it. But when they learned I made and designed it, their jaw dropped and I earned their respect. Double the impact, I'd say.

(Now, I've come to the conclusion that their jaw dropped because of how fabulous my design was and not that they were surprised that I was smart enough to come up with it, )

Welcom Vendetta,
So do I think props to by are... expensive. But the basis products are too! So come here to find some ideas and why don't you by your own like most of people here? It's very rewarding even if it take time.

I am proud to say that I am a cheap bastard. But I think thats half the fun. Compiling lists of things you can use to build props. Be it free or just a few dollars. Clay, duct tape, plaster of paris, cans of expanding foam, chicken wire, and paint make up the majority of my supplies and has kept me very busy over the last couple months.

I recently found this section over on one of the other forums and think its just great: The MacGuyver of Haunting Challenge - HauntForum.com . We should do a contest like that here.

I do enjoy building my own stuff just for the fact of self accomplishment, and I have been going through the forums and different sites getting a compiled list of thing I want to create. It's when you are so anal about your own work and you know you lack in a certain area that the prices do make you mad.

Now i did receive a reply from Dapper Cadaver on a separate issue that did give some hope for us DIY sounds cool and can't wait!!!!!

"Finally, as a DIYer you might be interested in a new line we'll be launching in 2009- unpainted, untrimmed castings from our molds at heavily discounted prices and factory seconds. Keep your eye on Dapper Cadaver for product updates"

For many years now there has been the yearly trade show where if you own a haunted house or can fake it(not too hard to do) Or if you have a sponser,or know somebody that knows somebody, or can convince them you will be having your own house , you can see the newest and trickiest props.
Why would $100.oo worth of materials cost $1,200.00?
The trade show floor space might be $14,500.oo for four days plus electrical if you need it plus other fees like moving your stuff with a fork lift , ex cetra.
The motels and hotels within walking distance are not bargain rooms, add to this the travel expense, possibly bringing some hired help for your booth plus the cost of your brochures and meals , not bargain priced either and this is alot of the reason there has to be a noticable profit mark-up.
By the way, the $1,450.oo floor space only measures about 8foot by 10foot, "How many of these did you need?"
So after a successful showing you arrive back at your workshop with orders to fill. If you don't have sufficient profit in your selling price you won't be able to hire anyone to help you make the product, then your phone and e-mail goes crazy with people wondering where their product is?
Time spent answering the phone is not time you might spend building the prop, so you quit answering and responding, then people get nervous and your real trouble begins.
By the way , most haunters really do not appreciate getting the prop they paid for in March delivered in the middle of October.
If you had taken a very clever, fairly new idea of a prop to the trade show last year, then you can bet on at least three other guys duplicating it the next year and undercutting your price. (But not a whole lot)
There it is, more than you ever really wanted to know about the Haloween prop business.

Gym. I did not intend to offend anyone in the prop building business and if I did I apologize!!!! I can understand fully the overhead involved with business. A reasonable profit is acceptable, and would be expected from any vendor. I was just pointing out when one vendor is selling an item and the next vendor is selling the same product for 850.000 more leaves the customer feeling that they are being taken advantage of and thats not good business!!!

Now me personally I would rather make a smaller profit, sell more items, and establish a great customer base.

Yeah, commercial props are ridiculously expensive. That's actually the reason I started building my own.
Indeed, you'd think there must be some way around it, but who knows?