Thread: Depressed

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No other word for it. It looks like my haunt will be dark for 2010. We did a ton of work last year (probably too much in retrospect) and my wife has revolted and refuses to help. There is no way I can do it by myself. I figure it'll take 3-5 full days for setup and another 2 days for takedown if I had several people assisting (last year the rough takedown took six adults a full day).

It's really a bummer because last year was a huge success and I expect this year would have been even bigger. We even raised a good amount of money for a local animal shelter.

The closer it gets to Halloween, the worse I feel!

Drat.

Sounds like you need a Halloween summit at your house.
What can you do for your wife to get her to turn around?
What are her reasons for not helping?
See if you can find a compromise or common ground!
Don't give up yet!

Surely there is SOMEBODY willig to help even if you have to start earlier and work a few hours at a time

Don't give up. I am sure that there is some way to change her mind, afterall think of all those poor animals you had a hand in helping. I know I can't look at those comercials on TV it is so sad. How good of you to do that.

I'm sorry to hear that! All is not lost yet though. Can you wrangle up a few more friends to help? I honestly wonder if your wife would get involved once she saw you getting the process started.

If you want it bad enough, you can make it happen. Just start earlier and don't complain about not having help.

Ask for volunteers on Craigslist!

If all else fails, post and ad on Craigslist asking for helpers. paid? You can also rally the teenagers in your neighborhood to help.

OpenTrackRacer I go through this myself every year, my exhusband and I started haunting together years ago and once the div in '06 I have had to do most things myself and then the week before the haunt I beg and beg and get family and few friends to help. I do a big haunt every year for charity myself and it is very hard work and time consuming and stressful but I love it! It takes me 5 to 7 days for set up and 2 days take down. I save part of my vacation every year for the week before. I think part of the problem is your wife doesn't have the haunting gene that you have and all the people here have. The average person doesn't really get interested in Halloween until close to the season so there is no desire to build, make, create, etc. all year. You may need to give her a break this year but answering from experience you CAN do it. It seems overwhelming at times to me too, but hang on and try.

This is too bad, and I remember you posting about your wife's loss of enthusiasm/support last year. Your haunt pics were really fantastic so it was evident how much work you put into it. If it's simplt a matter of manpower, start now and recruit people. Maybe different folks for set-up and tear down. If you planned to make the haunt a charity event like last year, ask the charity of choice for volunteers; they have something at stake. If your wife is just against the whole idea of having a haunt, then you have a bigger problem that nobody here can truly help you with. You have 3+ months to work with so you can only try to bring her into the game a bit. Maybe if she knew she didn't have so much to do, it would at least allow her to be more supportive of the idea. Best of luck. Home haunts are a LOT of work, and can be difficult to keep going year after year. I'm feeling it too this year and think this may be my last one, at least on the scale we're used to.