[Bubbels]

I am wondering if there is others that are considering slimming down there haunt from initial plans?

As I am sure many can relate I was very motivated November 1st to get a head start on next years haunt. My plan was and still is to create a walk through that goes through my garage to the back yard and around to the front again.

However when summer hit, the summer projects came along. I found myself building a rather epic play house, an arbour, and managing a garage sale. Now that things are all died down again, I am just wondering if I can take on this big task still this year.

So please share your thoughts on your own haunts and where they are. Encouragement also welcome!

 

[TK421]

I never plan on cutting things out of my haunt, but my dreams are always bigger than my time and budget. I am proud to say that every year I feel like I make a big improvement over the previous haunt. That makes me feel fantastic.

I like to make an "order of importance" list and I start with the most important and/or biggest projects. The things that will make or break my haunt. After that, everything else is just nice to have.

Never give up, never surrender. If you don't finish it this year, you're just getting a head start on next year.

 

[Hallowzeve]

I know exactly where you are coming from and, yes, you can do it! I was in a similar situation last year and still pulled it off (though there were moments I thought I had never worked harder). That is why I am, bit by bit, getting the house ready and trying to constructively make use of my down time. The closer you get to Halloween the more energy you will have. Go through your Halloween stuff; that will give you a boost of motivation.

 

[eanderso13]

I'm with TK! A prioritized list always gets made at my house for Halloween projects...usually 3 or 4 since we come up with new ideas that MUST be added once we've already started. My focus lately, though, has been on making better, more rugged props instead of a huge quantity of them.

 

[evilmanor]

There's still time. My first year I didn't start until late August/September. I had no idea what I was doing and only had one person helping me. I built a cemetery with 7 (3 store bought and 4 carved) stones, put up a picket fence, made a facade out of privacy fence on the porch, built a fog chiller and created a pretty decent maze in a single car garage. Here are some pics from that year

I don't recommend waiting much longer to start, but if you do as others suggested and prioritize you should still be able to pull it off.

This year I'm working with a local charity and hope to start building wall panels this weekend for a 3,000+ sq. ft. haunt.

Just keep in mind rewards of the compliments, smiles and screams and you'll do fine.

 

[Warrant2000]

Never give up! Never surrender!

Like others have said, make a list, get to work, and it will all come together. And the good news is, when the ToT's walk through, they won't know that there should be 3 skulls instead of 2.

 

[UnOrthodOx]

My list of stuff being moved from the to-do list to the 'next year's project' list is ever growing.

Heck, I've got stuff parked from 4 years ago I'll eventually get back to.

 

[Frankie's Girl]

I've always planned way more than I'd be physically capable of completing...

I figure that no one knows what I DIDN'T finish, so it's just me that will be disappointed - everyone else thinks the stuff I do is awesome and have no idea where I get the time to do the stuff I do complete.

Do what you can, and what still feels like fun. Once it starts seeming like work, that's where you stop and add it to next year's list.

 

[Bubbels]

Thanks everyone! I started to prioritize things last night. I considered things that I have the materials for or things that are already over 70% complete. I am also rather handy with wood, so I think I will throw a few wood projects in there as well.

Big ones on the list are:

8 foot tall grim reaper
run down cemetary gate
coffin
box for my big scream TV crystall ball affect

I have all sorts of wood scraps from other projects. Which is great for stuff like this, because the more run down the better!