Thread: Need help choosing 2010 theme!

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I've narrowed down my possibilities for my 2010 theme to just a few, and now I can't decide what I like best!

1)Haunted House/Seance: I'm scouting components to build my own "Haunted Ouija Board" as seen in a couple of other posts. Also would be (hopefully) building a self rocking-rocking chair, a door slammer, and a "floating" candle holder. Would do some things with tarot cards and the like, you get the drift.

2)Zombie Apocalypse: Would cover all outside windows with zombie cutouts/sillhouettes backlit with eerie lighting and place a couple zombie props eating poor folk in some areas of the house. Have a game half planned involving hoarding "weapons" and killing zombies.

3)Carnevil: My wife's thought, I must admit. Would have a bloody contortionist in a lucite box prop, and your other various carnival stuff. Evil clowns, scary fun-house music, and Halloween twists on classic carnival foods.

I don't have anything set in stone prop wise for any of these, merely ideas in my mind. So, I'm not nailed down in one way or another to one particular idea. Which one do you like the best, or should I scrap em' all and try something else! Help me out and lemme know what you think.

Go with your wife's idea. Why? (whisper) because she'll let you spend more money if its her idea

haha! I like the way you think ReaperRick. Perhaps you're on to something here...

Originally Posted by ReaperRick

Go with your wife's idea. Why? (whisper) because she'll let you spend more money if its her idea

Ha ha ha.....Good thinking....!!!!!

My vote goes for a haunted Pirate ship......but I am a bit biased.....!!!!

Party wise the carn-evil has a lot of possibilities for interactive games, theme food, as well as decor. It's definitely been on my short list for a while. It's also easy for people to put their own twist on - they can be scary or pretty and still be on theme.

You could definitely still do your ouija board - just put it in the fortune teller's booth, maybe a skeleton dressed as a gypsy. And change your zombie ideas to creepy clowns, you can still do all of them too - clowns eating people is excellent. And believable.

All great ideas, thanks for the input! I love the skeleton gypsy/fortune teller behind the ouija board. If I was to go with the carn-evil idea, I also thought about hiring a tarot card reader for a couple of hours of the night. I think it would be something fun people could do without being an activity involving too much structure. My friends like to imbibe and anything that requires more than a few minutes of their attention tends to grow stale quickly.

I need advice again! The more I speak with my party co-hoster (a fair weather haunter, albeit a serious one) the more he insists that there be no particular theme. What do you all think of just a general Halloween themed party. I myself like the idea of themes, although I must admit, the use of recycled props becomes easier each year when you just add more to the mix. Has anyone found success in a more general approach to the party, or do you think a specific theme finds more effect on TOT's and partygoers. Thanks again in advance.

I suggest incorporating a number of smaller, themed vignettes as a middle ground. I have a nighbor who has done with with great success for many years. As you walk through his yard you might travel from an undead wedding scene to a mad scientist scene to a group of zombie fishermen. The ToTs seem to love it and it makes for easy reuse of props each year. Decorating in this fashion would probably be even easier in a house, where each room or corner could have its own theme.

If even that is too themed for your co-hoster, you might want to go with a more generic "Dead Man's Party" or "Monster Mash" theme. That helps to unite otherwise disparate elements into an assembly that makes some degree of sense. When in doubt, put a glass in a character's hand and a plate of something disgusting (organs, limbs, whatever) in front of them!

I've been building up new props, new scenes and such for a while. However, I really don't have a theme. Was thinking of doing a theme like a Dungeon theme for next year, but I will definitely use old props too. So I guess my vote goes to a common ground approach. Put up a theme here and there, but it doesn't have to be in any exact way. Just have fun with it. Let your buddy decorate one side of the yard, or one room. You do the other.