[baykay1984]

The count down has begun, we will open our gates in 2 hrs! Not entirely ready, but at that point where I am happy enough. Will post photos soon

 

[Ween12amEternal]

So exciting to know Halloween has started. Have a very fun time, & Happy Halloween!

 

[baykay1984]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152030712309903&set=a.10152030707829903.1073741830.762454902&type=3&theater

 

[baykay1984]

https://www.facebook.com/baillie.kay.3/media_set?set=a.10152030707829903.1073741830.762454902&type=3

 

[baykay1984]

see my facebook for photos as I was having trouble uploading them on here. Hoping to get more night shots loaded soon

 

[vwgirl]

Wow, nice set up. Looks amazing.

 

[mariposa0283]

how many tots did you end up with.

would have loved to have seen something like yours when i was living in australia. pretty decent set up considering its not really a big thing there yet.

 

[baykay1984]

We had about 150 people through, one latex hand prop stolen and a few near misses with other items, but other than that a great night. Have better photos coming soon from a friend.

 

[mariposa0283]

wow, and isnt caboolture between ipswich and brisbane? i could swear i remember hearing them rattle that off when we'd take the train into the city when i lived in ippy. my bro in law lives in bundamba (hes alright, dont judge.. lol) and didnt get even close to that i dont think. i cant believe how fast its picking up over there, no one did anything for it when i was there and that was only 3 freaking years ago!

 

[mariposa0283]

ah no, definitely not between but i have been through there. probably on one of our trips to mooloolaba. ah fun times. for some reason though it just sounds like one of the stops between ipswich and brisbane. hmm *chin stroke*

ETA: after texting the hubby, he refreshed my memory. it would rattle off "this is a caboolture train stopping at all stations, next stop *insert boganville name here*"

glad to have that cleared up.. even though it was only bugging me and now i probably look like a crazy lady lol.

 

[baykay1984]

Yeah, it is between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, about an hour from Brisbane. This was our 4th year at decorating the yard, no one else does to the same degree, usually just a few lights and cobwebs. We had people dressed up scaring people too. Was a night of many screams

 

[mariposa0283]

we bought a carving pumpkin one year from woolies but that halloween ended up being the night i was supposed to go get my tattoo so we did that instead and didnt get to pass out candy. though we did get a couple small kids before we left, hubby just let them know we werent participating (as much as it pained me) and they sulked off. the next halloween we were living back at his dads house and they werent doing halloween in his neighborhood yet. still not sure if they do.

 

[pacman]

sounds like you starting a trend down there baykay1984 , look forward to more pics when you get time .

 

[Zaiden]

Nice setup! Good to see more of us Aussies getting into it! Glad it was such a success, though sucks that people always spoil it by stealing things.

We had a huge night here, too. Weather was great, things went fairly smoothly, and we ended up with about 350 ToTs. It was crazy busy!

 

[pacman]

Bloody hell Zaiden 350 TOTs that's excellent , your going to have to get more sweets next year though all of you because when word spreads there will be more , when i first started about 13 to 14 years ago i had 16 TOTs and not last year but the year before was my record so far over 300 + so ..... IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME ...... lol

 

[Zaiden]

Started about 4 years ago, with just a few little decorations, had about 4 ToTs. 3 years ago, when we started doing a bit more decorating, that jumped to about 100 ToTs. Last year was about 240. We'll probably keep adding about 120 bags each year, until it settles at a more steady number. We're hoping it doesn't jump too high though. We like that people see and enjoy our display, but if we end up with 800 kids, we probably won't be handing out treat bags anymore!

 

[pacman]

Lol , its surprising how word spreads though isn't it , people still keep going up to my daughters and saying they saw our Halloween yard display on Facebook with photos etc and they are strangers who just came trick or treating and then post photos on there pages apparently ? I have seen a couple of posts from the forum over the last couple of years from people who tried decorating their house or yard and only had a few visitors and don't bother anymore , it is like anything isn't it you have to let people know so they can come see , and like a food shop or any business you have to become established in a way . The only problem with what we do is its one night a year in the U.K. i know its a bit longer for some in the U.S. in places i think as they decorate for a week or two overall but for me its set up in the morning and taken down that night or else i would have nothing left by morning . Keep up the good work Zaiden , i reckon the reason maybe you got so many now IS perhaps the lack of others in your area , so that's why you draw so many TOTers , think how much inspiration your giving the kids , i bet in years to come there be a good few who follow your lead .

p.s. do you have access to a lot of materials like in the U.S. as a lot of the stuff the other U.S. forum users use we cannot get in the U.K. and have to adapt especially with relating to prop building like cheap liquid latex and polystyrene sheets , its not as cheap over here as in the U.S. and of course cheap timber .

 

[Zaiden]

Yeah, word spreads fast these days, thanks to Facebook! There were a lot of people who came to our display because a friend told them about it on Facebook, and then they told their friends, who also came, and so on.
You definitely need to stick at it, and advertise a bit for the first few years. Flyers around town really help, and even just a couple of signs that say "Trick-or-Treat" and your street name can go a long way to getting people to your haunt. Like you said, once you're established, people will come year after year.

It's the same here in Australia, too, just a one night thing. We usually set up a couple of things a few days earlier, but only stuff that can't be stolen or damaged. Most of it goes out on Halloween day, and comes back in Halloween night. Otherwise, like you, I'd have nothing left in the morning. It sucks. I wish we could set things up earlier, do the whole month of October like most of the Americans on here. Our display is usually quite big, so it's a lot to do in one day. Not once in the last 3 years have we got everything done or put up in time.

Thanks pacman Yeah, there's really not a lot of people here who get into Halloween. More are handing out candy than ever before, but there's still a real lack of actual Halloween displays to see, so I think that's why we get so many. Our stores have such a lame range of Halloween items, so we shop from all over the world, so we end up with a lot of props and decorations you'd never see in Australian stores, and people love to see it all. We had so many "I've never seen anything like that before!" comments this year!
Hopefully our haunt encourages others to get into the Halloween spirit a little. From all the comments we get, it seems like people are actually really interested in Halloween, they'd just never put a lot of thought into going all out with the decorating. It does seem like it's slowly starting to change, there were a couple of houses in our town who actually put up a few bigger decorations this year, so hopefully there will be even more next year.

I totally feel your pain with the lack of materials in the U.K. We have the exact same issue here. I can't even by polystyrene sheets in my town, and to get them delivered works out about $70 a sheet! There's a paint called Krylon Make It Stone that I wanted to get (textured paint, used for tombstones, etc). Can't even buy it ANYWHERE inside Australia. There's so many cool props on this forum that I want to build, but getting the materials for them is going to cost a small fortune. There are so many things that we can't get, and so many more that are just so expensive! It sucks.

 

[pacman]

So i see Zaiden its not just us over here that have to really scratch our heads and adapt whatever we can . There,s so much really cool stuff in the states but most of it has not crossed the pond yet , and although we can get polystyrene sheets in the U.K. they are not that cheap certainly not as cheap in the U.S. , if i,m lucky now and again i get an odd bit from a job i work on and have asked if i can have it from the foreman , but that is rare what with the recession and all . Wood is getting dearer by the minute it seems over here and old wooden pallets have been my savior many Halloweens , but even the throw away pallets are hard to get now , most builders merchants i try to scrounge from say they send them back or someone recycles them now so it makes it quite hard , although i got a tiny amount of timber stockpiled it has gone down rapidly . Not sure if we get that paint you mentioned over here , in the past i used water based external masonry paint which i mixed colors for effect etc for my tombstones and also a water based sealer , that has gotten me by , combined with enamel spray paint at times , i will see if we got it here though .It sounds like you could potentially have a real good burst of enthusiasm in your area , i hope for you sake you do else your going to have to bulk buy more sweets lol , so your probably like me planning for next year , i think i might go back to my favorite theme of ghosts and graveyard again next year , but if i do i want to build a new graveyard fence and a load of new tombstones as well , i also want to build a prop of the little SAM character from the film TRICK OR TREAT as well , what about yourself , you already trying to source stuff for next year ? lol

 

[bourno]

I happened to be over in Australia in mid to late October. (Told the Boss, I needed to get home before Halloween, as he knows I like to set up the yard). Was over in the Griffith area and then over in Brisbane for a couple days. I talked to several people about Halloween and just doesn't seem to be much interest or slowly catching on in the country. I was at a Target store in Brisbane and just seemed weird to have maybe a dozen items and a couple costumes near the entrance area and that was it.

It could be just a seasonal thing, where we are harvesting and where Summer is just starting to kick in. When I was in Griffith, they were having their annual orange and grapefruit festival for displays.

Glad to see your that your are doing your best to promote Halloween into the area. With so much attention towards America, it seemed odd that Halloween seemed to be one of the items just not paid attention to. I am always fascinated at how much American influence is worldwide either through television or politics.