Thread: What's your favorite aspect of home haunting?

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For me it is truly every single last thing about the entire fall halloween season.
I love planning, designing, building all my props and scares. I love the scary movies and specials for the season. I love all the decorations. I love seeing how everyone enjoys all the hard work that i put into it all. I love the costumes,the halloween party, i love my department 56 halloween village. I love browsing the web and getting ideas. I love it all.

When people say, "This is the best house I've seen all night," or, "We always look forward to this house," I feel like all the trouble was worth it.

For me, it's the building, creating, planning, getting new ideas, and seeing it all come to life. I absolutely love the Fall season, football, cool nights and days. It brings back so many good memories of times when I enjoyed ToTing. Hearing the appreciation of the parents and kids. I just want others to have the same great memories I had when I grew up here in town.

I love the planning stage, the actual build stage and REALLY love when I get a prop to come out close to what I'd planned. It is definitely a creative outlet for me.

BUT I am also a praise hound. I looooooove hearing the kids and adults tell me how cool the setup is or "this is the best house in the neighborhood" stuff.

I like see the look on peoples faces when I talk about halloween in the spring, and they say you got lots of time, and I say I am behind or am already planning this years haunt. and I love being in front of my house and telling people 'this is my house!'

Halloween was always a magical time for me when I was a kid. I love that I can still have that feeling. Its a creative expression for me. I love developing an idea and seeing how close I can come to re-creating on my lawn the picture that was in my head. The hunting and gathering brings a real thrill. Of course, I love the attention too! The cars slowing down, people stopping to chat while I'm setting up, the magic of the actual night with everything lit and the TOTs coming by. I overheard a kid comment "She does better every year!" That was a thrill in itself.

I'm into home haunting only for the groupies and tons of cash.



Ok, so there are not really any groupies and the tons of cash flow out of, not into my bank account, but it is still fun. I agree with those who mentioned the creativity and satisfaction of bringing a prop or scene to reality.

Eric

Originally Posted by Scatterbrains

The ego stroking ...

When the cars slow down or better yet , they stop and get out and take a picture...that's when you know you've done something cool and that folks apprecitate the effort you put into keeping their youthful memories alive.

Yes there is great gratification after all your hard work, and pain staking effort to make everything look just right. About a week before Halloween I will post flyers on stop signs around the area. Not long after there will be a parade of cars going down my little horse shoe shaped street slowing down wanting to talk to you. And of course every haunter knows you have to work late nights, due to the fact you cannot setup your lighting in the day time.
And yes of course it is always fun to pull out the boxes and see what you forgot you bought on clearance the year before.

Well, for me, I like quite a few things.

For one, I love the creativity some people have (Or everyone here has) on their yards. Yeah, everyone does the graveyard scene, but they all have their own spins on the tried and true display. Also, some people make up characters and haunt themes not everyone does.

Next is the fact that haunting gives me a hobby. Things to find at thrift stores and modify, props to make.

Also, I love the appreciation that people have in the displays. Some of my neighbors and relatives and classmates love the work I do every Halloween, and sometimes ask me what I have in store this year.

Not to mention, I had fun trick or treating as a kid, and I want everyone to have the same great experiences that I had, the spooky ones at least.

Lastly, it's the screams. To me, shrieks, screams, yells are music to my ears. It's the applause of the haunting industry IMO, just like an actor gets a standing ovation.

I love all of it, except the taking it down. I love putting in my favorite Halloween cd as I unpack all of my spooky treasures, decorating and putting things in their rightful places, finding new ideas and seeing what others have done, researching how to make things, researching history of halloween and witches and werewolves, looking through pictures of previous halloweens, deciding where to place the cemetery and the witches outside, buying an entire cart of candy glow sticks and wax lips, looking at costumes and always deciding to make my own, going to the garden to finally chop all the pumpkins off the vines, carving the pumpkins, parties, movies... LOVE everything about home haunting.