Thread: Swamp Theme

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Hey all,
I'm a 13 year old who loves halloween. I do a haunted house every year. I've read a couple of other people's threads who have had this same dilema as me. I am looking at doing a "toxic swamp" themed room in half of my 2 car garage. I built a rocking bridge for half of it. For the other half I would like to make the ground feel squishy. I felt the coolest kind of squishy ground at haunted house last halloween, do you know how they made it? Some have suggested a mattress but I don't think that feels real. I already have a great costume for the actor as the "swamp monster". I am on an extremly tight budget because I am not making any money out of this. I am spending my own money which I am only making from my job of being a magician at childrens birthday parties. My budget for the entire haunted house (toxic swamp room + 2 other rooms) is around $150. So I'm thinking of spending about $100 at the MOST on the swamp room (minus about $30 for the costume). Thank you all so much for your help.

I have a few ideas for the floor, not sure which would be the best or most possible for you, here's my list though:

1. Bubblewrap with some kind of netting overtop, it'll make popping noises for effect, or if you don't want the noise just pop it yourself before hand.
2. Sand with something overtop
3. This is a little expensive but uninflated ballloons obviously covered with something

I'll keep thinking but I think the sand would probably be the best way out of the three but bubblewrap is pretty simple, or maybe you could do a combination? Anyway those two are easy to clean up! Hope this helps!

YouTube - Biohazard Barrel this was also posted on here somewhere so i looked it up on youtube for u, its simple and pretty cheap!

To try and make the floor squishy, what about taking a waterbed matress or an air bed matress and putting it on the floor and filling it up to where there is a couple of inches of water in it. Once you have the amount of water in it hat you want put a couple of old blankets or something over it to help keep it from getting holes in it from people walking on it.

Thank you so much,
Do you know where I can buy a 55 gallon barrel?

no idea, but I just asked a family member for a barrel I didnt care what size,it`ll all turn out the same anyway so just pick one up at a yard sale or if you know someone who has a farm, they always have tons of barrels laying around!

I don't have any floor suggestions, other than to always take care when altering where people are gonna walk. Don't want any trips and falls, esp when they get scared.

But any swampy scene needs some burlap. While it is good for covering up a variety of things - it is the 'smell' of burlap that you want. Just like having a good soundtrack, having smells can also really put people on edge. Burlap is pretty cheap at Wallyworld or a fabric store and often found on sale, doesn't matter to you that it is ripped or stained.

It doesn't have to be visible, but get a cheap aquarium pump of some kind, and make a running/dripping water noise off in a corner somewhere (be careful of putting water and electricity around each other).

Have a Michaels nearby? Often this time of year they put on their greenery for 70% off or more. Again you don't care if they are damaged in some way. Besides what you get to decorate around your bridge, get some that are 'stringy' shaped, long leaf plant looking ones. Then hang these from above and make people duck thru/around them. You get a good jungle/swamp theme, and it help distract TOTs line of vision, so they can't look very far ahead to see what may be lurking. The plastic plants are durable enough to make this work.

I DO have a floor suggestion: In the pillow and bedding section of Walmart or Kmart, buy "egg crate" foam mattress pads. They are available in the same sizes as mattresses (twin, full, etc). For a hallway, buy one or more twin-sized. For a whole room, buy king-sized. Cover them with a cheap blue tarp taped down along the edges.

While you're there, pick up a skein of thick wool yarn (dark green). Cut the yarn into 1 - 2 foot lengths, wet them, and drape them across anything that won't stain (new yarn sometimes still has dye in it that comes off). It looks like swamp moss.

Put down several layers of cardboard on the floor and tape the edges to they dont trip... cardboard or several layers of cardboard is kinda squishy feeling. Get a box and cut it up... lay them down and walk on them.. see if this is the feel you want. If so, you can usually get boxes free !

Try this for the floor. Ask around the neighborhood or contact a carpet company and ask for any used carpet padding. People are always throwing out used carpet pad and you might get it for free, if you haul it away!

A plastic 55 gallon drum can be found at food storage companies, here in Utah you can find them in grocery stores.