Thread: Need help choosing 2010 theme!

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I dunno...not to be difficult, but I really think having a cohesive theme truly pulls it all together, helps to create a feeling of more "reality", or altered reality. And I am partial to Huanted Houses/Seance type stuff. But, that's just me.

Great advice guys, thanks a lot. It's comforting to know that even if I don't have a specific theme, it can still turn out to be a great haunt. Thanks again!

We do a different theme every year, and everything - facade, haunted walk-through, interior decorations, our costumes, and even our food - is based on it. And each year, we find a way to retask many of our props to fit in with the new theme. Of course, after 11 years of extreme Halloween parties (we've been referred to as The Disneyland of Halloween Parties), we have enough props that we only use about 2/3 of them in any given year.

My advice would be to pick a theme, or at least choose a name for your haunt/facade. In fact, there is nothing that says you have to have a different theme every year. In fact, many people on here build on the same theme year after year (Old West, Pirates, Skeletons, etc), which means they get to use 100% of their props!

Say, where abouts in Central Illinois are you? I'm from Decatur & Monticello, but have family all over that area.

Don't get me wrong, I still love the idea of having a singular theme. I think if we get creative enough we can find ways to incorporate all kinds of props into a particular niche. My co-hoster typically supplies mostly just the house to have the party in and a fogger here, strobe light there, so convincing him to go with a theme shouldn't be tough. Most of the props themselves I will be buying or building, so I think everything should turn out fine. There is no strife between us or anything, he was just worried we wouldn't be able to reuse decorations from year to year and didn't want me to incur more cost than necessary. I think MorbidMariah and Scott, you've convinced me to go with just the one theme.

Oh, and Scott, I'm actually from Danville, IL. Just on the other side of the Indiana border. Maybe we can trade invites this year and you can give me some professional haunting advice!

We did "general" the first year, and themes ever since - people get way more excited about a theme. It's more fun to shake things up year to year, and I think it's a lot more freeing - let's face it, everyone always expects you to top the previous year, so having a different theme really helps set each party apart. I think it keeps people interested, and part of their fun is to notice how you've themed everything together, and to try to tailor their costumes into it.

I think with a theme or without your party will still be fun. It does help shake things up a little bit by having something that will seperate your party out from other parties, but either way will still work. I like the carnival idea as well, I think there's more short term activities you can do with it than the other two ideas.