Thread: Hello from sunny (hot!!!) Arizona!

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Hey All!

First, let me say that I think this is so cool that we can discuss halloween year-round with people all over the world! My wife and I are originally from Indiana but are now living in the the Phoenix, Arizona area. I work as an airline pilot, and I've married to my wonderful wife and best friend for four years. We don't have any children of our own yet (working on that) but we do have an awesome little niece and nephew. I'm really new to home haunting. We moved to the valley in 2004 and bought our first house in 2006. Our first "haunt" which consisted of some basic (mostly store-bought) decorations) was in 2008. We decorated the foyer and hallway, and had the kids come inside to get their candy. We didn't have too many trick-or-treaters in the neighborhood, and I didn't think anyone really noticed the effort. The next year, my wife and I were on vacation and did not return home until Halloween, so there weren't many decorations. I'll never forget when one man came to the door with his little one, and said "Where are all of the decorations? Your house was so cool last year, and I was really looking forward to seeing what you would do this year!" My wife told him that we had just returned from vacation. The gentleman laughed and replied that her answer was unacceptable.

I was so excited that someone had remembered... for a whole year... our house (one of many that look the same in our cookie-cutter subdivision) and what we had done! A couple of other comments later through the night, and I was hooked. Our neighborhood is fairly new, so nobody has claimed the title of "the halloween house" lol. I told my wife that my goal is to be THE halloween house in the neighborhood, and maybe even find some like-minded people to join in!

This year, I've reserved vacation time over the halloween holiday, as well as aranging our travel plans around it. I've worked on several basic props, and plan to continue throughout the year, building up toward halloween night. I've built a handful of basic props (some fence, three chandeliers, wall sconces, etc) and am currently working on a haunted bookshelf. While my stuff is pretty basic and simple, there is something special about building something yourself and seeing the end result! My theme is meant to be "spooky" and "haunted" , and I don't feature any gore or guts. I guess I'm going more for the "atmosphere" approach. I am a huge fan of Disney World's Haunted Mansion, and go for the same type of feel... besides, it allows for all ages. Our plan right now is to have a basic walk-through of our house, and lead the guests to our back yard, which is basically a large patio surrounded by a raised garden bed. I have a garden railroad and pond in the garden bed, which will get decked out for halloween. I think the little kids will especially enjoy seeing the train going around.

I'm really excited to share ideas and make new friends on here. A lot of my time is spent travelling, so these message boards are going to be what keeps me going when I'm sitting in a hotel room wishing I was at home, itching to work on projects!!

Thanks, Maleficent!

Welcome to the forum N4niner206, wouldn't mind a bit of your sun and heat here in rainy England lol.

...and we wouldn't mind a bit of your rain here in Phoenix! We sure could use it... extremely dry spring, and the winds are fanning some enormous wildfires! Perhaps we can arrange a swap!

Welcome from a native Arizonan!

Garth, I love your welcome sign.