[CaliforniaMelanie]

For those who take their kids ToTing (or go out themselves!), do you compliment people on their setups?

We always do because I know how much it means when someone gets something out of my haunt. It means so much to know that people are getting that spooky feeling and loving it and that they appreciate it.

We complimented many houses last night...the best scares, the most amazing setups...there's one house my kids ask to go to every year and I told the person there that...she seemed very happy.

I feel like encouraging haunters is the right way to go to keep things spooky year after year!

 

[SepiaKeys]

Definitely! There are so few haunters these days, I try to encourage the ones I do see, even giving them thumbs up or a quick shoutout when I see people outside setting up in the weeks leading up to halloween. It means a lot to me when people ooh and aah over my efforts, so I try to return the favor.

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

Very Good, Melanie!!
Everyone should be thinking like you.
Who besides a Haunter ever really will know how much goes into what we do?
Spread the "NICE" spread the "GOOD Vibes".

We have many fans of this house who keep us in business and keep complimenting what we do here.
They will brag is up to others by just expressing a word or two of exclamation.. then the translation begins as the person hearing about us begins to put scenes and actions to fill out the daydream inspired by a mere word or two.
Then we may become criticized when we don't happen to match the imagination that single mere word like "Best" can conjure up in some people's minds.
There are So many things that we Do Not have here and Do Not Do do here and this just how I want it to be,something just possibly a tad more unusual,different and maybe creative....some can not accept such things,they may be young,they may be be very worldly-wise.but something possibly "New" or "Different"can't be comfortably accepted by them... their "Loss".
Compliments are "Gold",money is just commerce.

 

[xxScorpion64xx]

I would like to see other people's set ups but I'm so busy working mine but I really appreciate when people pay compliments and they let you that they recognize you put alot of effort and even thank you on behalf of their kids, it feels really good to hear people say that, truly does.

 

[cmerli]

There are three fairly good setups within a block of us. After the kids stopped, I went to the others and we shared our love of haunting and beer. They each have different types of set-up from mine but they were all interesting. I hope it builds over time.

 

[Ghost of Spookie]

Before halloween my husband and I drive around some of our neighborhoods to see the yard set ups and lighting. I have a few houses that I always look for. If I see the owners out decorating, I've been known to roll down the window and express my thumbs up. I'd love to take a year off and visit houses on Halloween night. I've had parents of ToTers see me or my husband in the yard months later and take the time to say how they loved our halloween decorating. Stuff like that is always appreciated.

This year I saw a newspaper writeup on an annual garage haunt by someone in our area. They were running the haunt several night so we ran over before dinner on Friday. Haven't done this for a number of years and it was fun to see what others do. It was a small haunt but nicely done. The garage was divided into several rooms. First was a portrait room with haunted eyes, then there was the music room, organ with overhead projected hands playing on the keyboard, another room had a monster in the box for a little bit of a scare. Nice graveyard set up. Photo op sitting on a bench with a skeleton. Hubby asked me if the half sheleton-half steer head skull guy was bought or made. I told him surely a homemade project. Don't think he's had much exposure since he was a kid to people who enjoy creating haunts like this. The Man/Steer was a nicely corpsed skeleton, and the horns on the skull were super long and it definitley caught hubby's attention. Not sure if Jim the haunter is a member here but commented to him afterwards about the things we liked. He asks for donations for our local food pantry. Nice guy. Nice neighborhood haunt. He gets a good turn out each year.

 

[BlueFrog]

An idea I hoped to implement this year and am sharing in case others wish to use it: I planned to put fake flowers on the graves in other people's haunts with a tag that read "Thank you for hauntifying the neighborhood." While I planned to do this regardless of the "quality" of the display, you could just as easily modify it by using a card instead of a tag so that you could pen a few words of appreciation. You could easily choose to include, or not include, your name and contact information as you chose.

 

[Jenn&MattFromPA]

On Thursday night (late), DH & I were in our cemetery putting up more lights and stuff, and a van pulled up with a man and woman inside. They complimented our yard and were saying that they were disappointed that more houses weren't decorated in our neighborhood. I said if they were looking for another, to drive straight up the road, make the last right, go down a bit and on the corner of Street X, there was another house that was decorated and looked good. They smiled & said "That's our house!", so that was pretty cool! We mutually admired each other for a bit, LOL!

I've also pulled over in our neighborhood & complimented people as I drive by since I know how much DH and I enjoy that when we are on the receiving end. I wish we had more chance to check out other houses close up too, but most houses that decorate around us aren't in walking distance and we don't have time for it on Halloween night.

 

[DaveintheGrave]

I do. I always hope it makes the recipient of the compliment as happy as I feel when I get them.
I do the same thing with costumes I like, too.

Anything I can do to hopefully keep the Halloween spirit alive.

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

I just drove a few small blocks to buy some food. As I passed one house I felt a little saddened noticing their new inflatables were down, the Dragon, was neat!
But then this used to be my house for seven years, once upon a time.
My kids were small then.. memories....

 

[Tconahaunter]

This topic came up in conversation today.

It's funny. Years ago, before I became heavily involved in Halloween decorating, I would scoff at others displays that appeared cheezy or disorganized, saying to my self "why even bother". But now I appreciate ANY decorating people are willing to do, large or small.

I realize that everyone has different time constraints as well as different budgets for decorations. This should not stop you from enjoying Halloween your own way. I encourage everyone I meet that decorated to keep decorating.