[Kenpilot]

I was thinking of moving my Halloween Display/ Walk Thru from my usual front yard location to my backyard. I was wondering if any of you have done such a thing and the results from it. My display is mostly just a walk through- up my driveway, down my long sidewalk and up a couple stairs to the front porch. I believe there are pluses and minuses to both and Im going to list them and if you have anything to add please do so. Thanks!

Front Yard:
+'s 1) Yard/House looks really cool
2) More viewers/passer bys that don't want to actually walk through the
display can just look and admire from the street.
3) Parents can wait on the street and be able to watch their kids as
they walk up to the house.
4) Setup was basically "built" for my front yard layout with Cemetary
gates/columns at the beginning of my driveway along with cemetary
fence bordering my entire front yard

-'s 1) I have so much stuff I wait until the last couple days before
Halloween rushing putting everything up in fear of theft/vandalism.
2) No way of "crowd control" as a lot of people like to hang out in the
driveway
3). No Seperate Enter/Exit Point. Everybody enters and exits at the
beginning of my driveway thru the Cemetary Gates.

Back Yard:
+'s 1). More Room and wide open for possible better layed out for display
2). Darker/ Scarier
3). Seperate Enter/Exit places.
4). Better "crowd control" by only allowing a number of guests in at a
time at timed intervals.
5). I could take my time setting stuff up, out of the public's view and
have no fear of theft/vandalsim (fenced in backyard).

-'s 1). Front yard would pretty much be bare and boring with no
decorations except Halloween countdown sign/display.
2). I would have to make more signs for Enter/Exit areas
3) I would have to "advertise" somehow that the Display is in the
Backyard since everybody is used to seeing everything out days
leading up to Halloween
4) Fewer Passer bys as everything will be in the back yard.
5) Parents won't be able to watch their kids unless they want to go
thru the walk thru themselves. Which I've learned almost half of
the people that come to see everything don't really ever enter my
display, they just admire it from the street.

 

[Mr_Chicken]

Perhaps you could put a couple of attention getter props in the front with a sign about the haunt being in the back this year.

 

[Homestead Haunt]

I use my front and back yard. I start setting up in mid September and start with the front yard to get word of mouth going and so people no I am stetting up this year. Then I start working on the back yard which usually takes until mid October to get finished. The last 2 weekend prior to Halloween I open up the back yard to guests. I ususlly see 200-400 people a night on the weekends prior to Halloween. Ilike the back yard set up because it is secure and much of it is contained in my 16x32 workshop that ge turned into a walk thru. I also keep everything that is pneumatic back there closer to the air compressor and controls.

 

[Scatterbrains]

I'm contemplating the same thing....the only minus I can see is what the foot traffic will do to my lawn....especially if it's raining. Other than that, all I can see is positives in lengthening out the haunt. I agree with Homestead on being able to have all the pneumatics out back, which will allow for earlier setup and better security

 

[mrhamilton234]

I have an unusual area with two houses, one in the front (used for storage) and one in the back (where I live in). I usually use the front house for the haunting (since it looks a lit creepier without the need of a facade), and there's an old dog fence in the front that would make a perfect graveyard. I guess you could say I'm a fronter, but I use the back yard as a practice area for scares and as a prop building ares (my garage is filled with my dad's crap/lawnmowers/miscellanious junk).

 

[Warrant2000]

A nice large and well lit entrance should make it obvious where the ToT's are to go. Some lighting that is just visible from behind your structure should provide a nice teaser. I bet parents would suddenly like to escort their kids to the backyard to find out what new devlish things you have concocted. An unknown scare is much scarier!

I decided the same for this year, moving my walkthru to the large backyard, and making a new cemetery in the front yard. However, I have only one entrance/exit and I haven't figure out how I'm going to manage that.

 

[Johan]

My decorating started as a theme party idea and has grown from there. I historically decorate my backyard for a party the Saturday before Halloween and then gradually move it all up front over the next couple of days to be ready for the TOTs. The shock of having my front yard explode with decor has been part of the fun but my collection has outgrown my ability to do that anymore.

With this years Halloween falling on a Saturday, I will be decorating the whole place. This years plan is to have a cave around the side of the house and dumping the public right in front of my backyard bar. Might as well give the parents a treat too!

Plus I can have two parties this year and the kids can enjoy at least one of them.

 

[bozz]

This ? comes up a lot. We decorate the front, side and backyard trail all starting early sept. in the back and sideyard for good early advertising. we use our driveway to sideyard for entrance and after a 300 yard walk from the back woods trail they come up to our garage service door and out the garage to exit......works great but we built the house 5 years ago and kinda plan it that way, our back walk is on an acre or of woods.

 

[UnOrthodOx]

Wish I had an acre....

Anyhow.

We started with the front yard only, and have gradually added to where last year, the haunt extended from the front, all the way around the back.


So, while I have never been front vs back, one or the other, I can comment on what moving haunt elements to the back has done.

In the days leading up to Halloween, we got a lot of looky-loos parading through the yard. Seeing stuff in the back, they'ld all come stand at the fence and gaze over, or, if one of the kids had left the gate open, they'ld just come on in...

This was mildly annoying, but since it was all neighborhood folk, and I was off of work and able to keep an eye, it wasn't soo bad. I need a privacy fence...

Yes, more parents now come through. Very few wait out front anymore. (very few kids under 8 WILL come through on their own anyway).

I didn't bother with signs. The enterance is obvious, the exit not so much. No one went 'the wrong way'.

The whole one way path, enterance on through exit, not bottlenecking at the enter/exit combined made the flow much smoother, which was very important for the numbers we pull.

 

[Kenpilot]

Thanks for the input and feedback! Please keep em coming as I am still trying to decide. I have a lot of stuff but unfortunately not enough to decorate the Front AND back. Eventually I'm sure I will get there.

 

[Junit]

There appears to be only one solution. You need a bigger haunt. Enough to fill the front and the back.

 

[Kenpilot]

There appears to be only one solution. You need a bigger haunt. Enough to fill the front and the back.

LOL Thanks Junit. I definitely agree. Now the only solution to THAT is $$$$$.

 

[Variant]

I agree. More $$$$$$. But then where do you store everything?
I personally go with a backyard haunt as I have a decent size backyard. PLus I can close up my RV gate as I am paranoid about one of my props walking away in the night.

 

[kprimm]

Yep i think i would do front and back, but if you cant, there is no reason you couldnt do up the front a bit to grab attention and put the haunt in the back.

 

[Kooka]

I have a corner house, and it actually makes more sense for me to set up in my backyard, as I do every year. With a simple chain link fence, people can see right into my backyard and that street is the busier street, so I know more people see my set-up. And it keeps getting bigger and bigger every year. If I can get it all together, this year it should be really noticeable that I have added stuff.

I also live right across the street from a school, so I am sure that if I set up in my front yard, it would get damaged. So far in the four years or so that I have been doing my set up I have yet to have any problem with vandals.

I also start setting up as soon as I can get away with it, often near the end of September, and just keep working on it all up until the day of.

I've never done a walk through for my house, and really don't plan to. It sounds like too much work for only a night's set-up and I really don't want to stay home on Halloween. I would rather be out trick-or-treating with my boys.

 

[DetroitGrass]

you can do cemetery front, rest in back

 

[Homestead Haunt]

Like Detroit said, cemetery in front and the remained in the back. A single $25 sheet of foam can get you a dozen tombstones. Some 1x2s and 1/2 PVC will get you cemetery fence on the cheap as well. You can use the cemeteryto draw them in to the BY!

 

[Kenpilot]

Thanks again guys, and girls I appreciate all your ideas and input. As far as the cemetary in the front to draw the crowd to the back, unfortunately most of my theme and decorations IS my cemetary. So if I put that in the front, half my scene and props would be in the front and not too much for the back. Not to mention I would have to use my fencing for the cemetary in the front to keep people out and I was going to use it to make the walkway in my Back Yard.