Thread: Anyone starting to plan for next year yet?

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We had our party on Sat. the 31st. It was our first and it was awsome! I've already got our theme for next year and our costumes planned. I have a lot of ideas for decor. Anyone else already excited for next year?

Wow, that's amazing - wish I had it in me, but no, I'm one that needs to step away from it for a while. Keep us updated as your plan comes together!

Tink,

As a matter of fact I am. I haven't come up with a theme yet for my second annual party, but I've made a list of what worked and didn't work this time (party night before Halloween wasn't a great idea; I was wiped for the haunt). Just some basic party planning ideas going on now.

As for the haunt, I jumped right back into prop building. I want to do a fireplace surround filled with skulls so I'm making a bunch of papier mache ones. I'm also starting some corpses as I'm going to expand the haunt in 2010 to include the side yard instead of just the front lawn. I've got some ideas as to how I want certain parts to look so I want to get going on those props.

I want to establish an overall theme for my yard starting next year. Many haunts, as you know, have a theme or name and seem to work around that when planning. I think having a central theme would be helpful in directing what props I want to build and what I want things to look like. For the past few years I've had something of a mish-mash of ideas going but now want a more cohesive look to it.

Right now I've got three ideas I'm considering, but they're all open to change. The first that came to mind was that of the Bastille, in France, or rather its fall and aftermath. While it was the beginning of French constitutional government, it also was marked by the Reign of Terror whenmany were put to death by the guillotine.

That in itself sounds interesting, and I was considering calling it Reign of Terror, untilI found that there was already another haunt called that. I don't think it has anything to do with the Bastille, and it's on a separate coast, but I'd prefer to be original. I think it has a lot fo possibilities though as the Marquis de Sade was once a prisoner at the Bastille, as was the Man in the Iron Mask (so was Voltaire). But while the guillotine is fun(!), I'm not necessarily a blood-and-guts type haunter. I'm looking for ambience and developing a "creep factor" just from the set.

That got me to thinking about the Tower of London then. That place was just about evil incarnate and lots of torture occured there, which could provide for some interesting set pieces. I'm still mulling it over.

The third idea I had was the Grand Guignol theater. If you're not familiar with it, it was a macabre theater that ran from the late 1880's to the 1950's in a seedy little district in Paris, France. The theater brought all kinds of taboo subjects to the stage that horrified audiences, but it gained its greatest notariety for the torture and death it portrayed, replete with spurting blood and severed limbs. A film clip I saw showed a doctor using a hacksaw to sever the arm of a woman he had hypnotized. Beheadings, strangulation, shootings, torture (even rape) was portrayed on the stage and supposedly had people fainting regularly from the shock.

Apparently it lost its following after World War II. It's then owner said something along the lines of "How do you shock people after Buchenwald?" However, as I noted before, I'm not a blood-and-guts type of haunter, though I'm not squeamish in the least. I just like the feeling of "creep" rather than an over the top display. But I have to admit, Grand Guignol provides so many great options.

So, the short answer to your question is "Yes! I am planning for 2010," though my wife has some plans for Christmas that she wants me to build first. Build one monster mud reaper and she thinks I can build Santa and his sleigh, too!

Rich

I always satrt thinking about next year when I start to take down my thing I start to thinkabout next year I already got my gib scae idea ready and I know what I want to biuld wich is good cuz it will take all sumer to do it

Well I'm not actually planning for next year yet but I am thinking about it.
I'm analyzing why this year was such a success and what I can do next year to get the same kind of participation from guests.
I'm not getting very far though lol
I need a theme where the invite allows them to pick a role and prepare it ahead of time.

MsM

Oh yeah I always start planning the next year right away..just planning though. I take off from the week of Thanksgiving to after the New year. Then I am ready to start getting my hands dirty again.

It's the best time right now while it's all fresh, to stop and take stock , note of what worked, what didn't, and start planning work on all the great ideas that I found here on the Forum.

Already planning for 2010.
I've got my haunt title and theme ready, and some ideas for the flyers.
I've also got designs on a few larger props that I'll need to build, and some new scares that I want to incorporate.

I'll take a few weeks off over Christmas and New year to relax and have some family time and then start work on the script and haunt layout in the new year.

It's never too early to start planning, but I'll probably still end up panicking on Oct 30th, as I do every year!

Well share with us already so we can steal it

I always get ideas from everyone's party pictures & experiences. I always have an ongoing to-do list. We got our costumes 50% off the day after Halloween. I just need to accessorize.

Sad to say but yes.... I think I'm hooked, I enjoyed my first party building and planning experience. I started thinking about next year the next day but I don't really do a theme. I use "areas" because I host in my barn and I'm not sure I want to theme such a large space every year, I mean I already have 15 large bins of decorations.

This year one of my areas was a "body" shop and I'm toying with the idea of a witch area. I've started working on some small stuff just playing around but I've got some ideas I'm working on. My most pressing idea is how to cover such large wall and ceiling spaces.