Thread: Halloween Preparations/Decorating

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Hi all! I'm curious as to when everyone starts their preparations and getting their decorations together. What's the consensus?

November 1st. lol That's when I started looking up props I wanted to make for the next season.

I've been working on props since January or February, but the boxes of my decorations have been migrating from the garage storage area into the house... slowly taking over the dining room and living room.

I'm probably going to be going through stuff over the next couple of weeks and get my ideas together for this year's party and outdoor stuff - testing stuff, touching up or making a decision on what gets put out this year or not.

So August is usually my "trash the house" month in regards to getting the prep work started.

Since the layout of the yard is a "concept" until it is actually done, we put the fence up in early-mid September so we can have a gauge as to how much room we'll really have for everything. Then stuff goes up from there. We're usually mostly set up by the second week in October, except for a few details and a lot of the electronics/animatronics. Let's us have time to move lights and props around for the best effect by Halloween night!

Originally Posted by Dragonomine

November 1st. lol That's when I started looking up props I wanted to make for the next season.

Haha that's when you can get all the best deals! When do you start rolling everything out?

Originally Posted by eanderso13

Since the layout of the yard is a "concept" until it is actually done, we put the fence up in early-mid September so we can have a gauge as to how much room we'll really have for everything. Then stuff goes up from there. We're usually mostly set up by the second week in October, except for a few details and a lot of the electronics/animatronics. Let's us have time to move lights and props around for the best effect by Halloween night!

Do you do your front yard or back?

Originally Posted by Frankie's Girl

I've been working on props since January or February, but the boxes of my decorations have been migrating from the garage storage area into the house... slowly taking over the dining room and living room.

I'm probably going to be going through stuff over the next couple of weeks and get my ideas together for this year's party and outdoor stuff - testing stuff, touching up or making a decision on what gets put out this year or not.

So August is usually my "trash the house" month in regards to getting the prep work started.

I love that when most people are taking vacations, we are planning for Halloween. HA!

Originally Posted by mysterymaiden

Haha that's when you can get all the best deals! When do you start rolling everything out?

Well, all through the year I've been stockpiling things I would need. I started getting everything ready for assembly when the kids got out of school. I wanted to start in the spring but I got pneumonia and that set me back aways.

My haunt got too big for me to handle alone.

This year, I am scaling WAAAAAAY back. I haven't added anything new this year. The majority of my props will probably remain in storage... maybe to hit the online auction block eventually. I'll start prepping (culling) early September.

This year's display will be small- no elaborate yard display, no projections, no walk-thru. It'll probably just be a creepy garden, SFX, foam lighted pumpkins, a crank ghost in an upstairs window. The only silver lining is that the smaller display will be done in advance- maybe the first week of October. The big haunt always went up and down within 48 hours of TOT.

Originally Posted by mysterymaiden

Do you do your front yard or back?

We *currently* do our front yard...we live on a corner lot so its pretty huge. We plan on expanding to the back yard in the future and making it a "walk-around" haunt instead of just a "walk-through".