Thread: how far has everyone got with their planning?

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well so far we have the themes of each room sorted. Kitchen - Sweeney todd/mrs movetts pie shop. Bathroom - urban legends, real body parts in bath is one idea for this. Hallway - arachnaphobia. Laundry - aliens, i have an alien plush toy so will be making a body for it to break out of. Backyard - cemetary, pet semetary burial ground. Outside drinking area - anaconda. Loungerrom - old fashioned haunted house. My son's room - monster mash, he wants it kiddie friendly for his younger cousins which i think its adorable for him to think of them. We are thinking of having a contest throughout the night and see who can find as many movie scenes as possible, we are going to stick little props around the house for this.
Now we just have to get into our shed to clean it up so i can get some paper mache done while it's so wet and wild out here.

How far has everyone else got??? How soon do you start making props/costumes etc??

Planning was 3 months ago, we started building last month. We feel we are already behind with our projects..

I just asked our contractor last month if he thought we would be done before Halloween. We've been going through this long remodel we had planned for a while and have been encountering a series of problems that keep delaying things. Aside from purchasing a few things for Halloween, nothing has been done really. I don't have the room to start pulling things out to work on scenery and props. I keep seeing the countdown clock every time I log on and it's really making me feel the pressure too. I told my husband last night that if that porta potty is still in our front yard come halloween, I'm going to turn it into a Dr. Who telephone booth for Halloween, complete with Daleks. He laughed and said that most kids today wouldn't probably know who Dr. Who was. We thought we would be done by Memorial Day or 4th of July so I'm really getting antzy. My contractor is going to keep his eye out for extra pallets he sees around. Told him I'm planning on using some for a ship's dock and maybe a swamp crossing for the ToTers to navigate over. Once I get some garage space back, I'm going to pick up some foam and work on some projects. Not sure what I'll get accomplished this year. I really wanted to throw a halloween party this year.

Hah, love the themes and movie scenes idea.

I just started printing out invitations last night so I could dye, paint and burn them. After finishing dying all 30 I realized I misspelled 'fate' as 'fait'...and I didn't save the document I wrote it in...so I'm not sure if I want to redo them all again.
Tonight I'll be dying reminder invitations and cutting out letters for the second reminder invitations (ransom note). Getting the tedious things done first. :}

I planned out the rooms and I've been bragging about the party to my roommate so she's really into it now. Hallway is a haunted tea party, living room is a graveyard, kitchen is butcher's shop, bathroom is SAW, porch is a voodoo forest, my room is cobweb den, and my roommate's room is going to be a maze with flashing strobe lights.
The main thing I'm worried about is money. I've never done themes before so all my halloween decorations are random together. I'm planning on doing a lot of commission work to get the extra money and order all the new decorations this year (body parts, bones, decorative cups, skeletons...all the essentials) but I want to get them ordered over the summer.
My roommate and friend will be helping me build body bags, floating furniture and moving props. I have a few other friends who are willing to help but...I'd rather them be surprised at the results.

Hopefully I can convince my mom to spend some mother-daughter time making my costume together this year if I decide to go home near October. :}

REAL body parts you say?!

I like the idea for your contest Maybe for your invitations you can turn it into another contest. Don't warn anyone, but at the party see if anyone can remember the error for a prize.

I think a lot of the people on the forum work on props pretty much year round.

The only planning we've done so far is deciding that we want a funeral theme haha
We are busy with props however. DH is busy making a technical drawing for a coffin bar. That will be our new addition this year.
We also want something that pops up or springs out, so we are considering having the 'deceased' do that in his coffin.
Yesterday, DH suggested having MJ in the coffin lol I"m thinking it might be a bit soon to do something like that!

We normally start planning/building right after halloween. Since we made such a big prop last year (organ and organist) we want to use it again this year to get the most mileage out of it. So we just need a few small additions for this year.

MsM

Originally Posted by MsMeeple

We also want something that pops up or springs out, so we are considering having the 'deceased' do that in his coffin.
Yesterday, DH suggested having MJ in the coffin lol I"m thinking it might be a bit soon to do something like that!

Chiller!!!!

I've managed to build a ground breaker coffin from the prop builders tutorials here. Got several feet of plywood chain made for my pirate section. Have several other ideas sketched up, just now that its summer time, the wife and kids want to spend more family time outside so construction has slowed down for now......

Originally Posted by The Pod

Chiller!!!!

You sicko hahahaha

I've managed to build a ground breaker coffin from the prop builders tutorials here. Got several feet of plywood chain made for my pirate section. Have several other ideas sketched up, just now that its summer time, the wife and kids want to spend more family time outside so construction has slowed down for now......

So take the prop building outside and make it a quality family time event

Meeps

I am also doing a funeral theme, but got side-tracked by some really nasty bad luck:

My dad had a heart attack and double bypass.
I had to go to home state (Kentucky) to stay there for a week while he was in hospital.
I got sick as soon as I got back home, and still pretty messed up (bronchitis - gee, I guess sitting in a hospital for 12+ hours a day was a BAD idea )
The hubby is coming down with it as of right now.

I've lost several weeks to almost a month, and we're playing catch-up on simple household chores and there is very little energy left for prop building/planning. I have one thing 75% finished (moving eye portrait) that is KILLING me since I haven't had the time or energy to get it finished right now.

I have GOT to get it in gear this month and August...

Darkfaith -

Haven't figured out a theme for this year's party -- I want to try and mix up our decor this year but it's a little overwhelming.

We did our kitchen last year with a bit of Mrs. Lovett's Pie Shop to go with our costumes. The costume contest prizes were custom made fresh baked pies.

Here are some pix: