[gilnokoibito]

So recently I got to thinking that I'd like to throw a small Halloween party at my new place this year, just a few friends kind of thing ya'know? Last year I didn't get the time nor have the energy to do anything but I'd like to change that this year (plus, since none of my friends have gotten to come visit yet it would be a nice way to throw a (bit late) housewarming party!)

I've put a lot of thought into it so far and have come up with several simple, cheap decorating ideas for the rest of the place and a few spots where I could put some extra decor such as around the front door, in front of the kitchen window, corner of the living room, etc. Thing is my roommate recently moved out and I don't have any reason to seek another roommate out so I'm left with a nice 10x12' empty room. I was going to use it for storage space but I thought that it'd be a nice spot to put something...how we say..."extra" special?

Thing is, I'm just not sure what would be the best use of this space! While I can figure out the rest of the area easily enough I'm stuck on this spot. I know most of my friends will hang out in the living room and kitchen most of the time so I'm trying to leave those rooms more open. But I really wanna put something extra creepy in that spare room. I'm not sure if I could fit a small walkthrough in there but I want it to be something I can easily do (since it's just me that will be decorating everything) and something not too pricey but with lasting effect if you know what I mean. Mwahahaha! I want it to be someplace I can drag my vic---err...party guests into or they will be interested enough to wander into themselves and leave with thoughts of either "That was amazing!" or faces frozen in fear!

So far I have lots of creepy cloth and several sizes...err "ages" of skeletons (one nicely decapitated itself last year! XD) as well as lots of multicolored lights (mostly in orange and purple...colored light bulbs too!) As well as a fog machine that I'm thinking of setting up an ice rig for to keep it lower to the floor (cover this hideous blue carpet! XD) So I have a few small little things I can always put somewhere but I really want that room to be something nice and...memorable. Heheh.

So really, any and all ideas would be muchly appreciated!

Oh, and here's a little layout of what I'm dealing with. Just a simple little room with one small window and a closet and furnace to one side:

 

[Ugly Joe]

Mad scientist lab and drink / hors d'oeuvres location. This will give people a reason to go in, and can make it memorable with enough little gimmicks.

Platters of goodies done up as body parts / bugs / alien bits and pieces - placed and labeled all around the lab.
Ice chest or two with beverages - perhaps styrofoam coolers with your fog channeled into backs of them, to have fog creeping out - people have to reach into the fog to get their drinks.

Maybe some motion / sound activated props placed around to give people a startle now and then.

Black lights.

Different sized skeletons become a series of failed attempts at making a monster - last cage in line has bars bent out from inside, since the monsters has escaped and might still be somewhere in the lab (prop and strobe light in closet, use a simple wall outlet remote control (like the kind for Christmas tree lights) in your pocket to light it up whenever you want.

 

[WitchyKitty]

Just an idea...you could make it a Halloween photo op room. Every Halloween party I have ever been to, we are always taking pics in or around the Halloween decor and props. The better the decorations, scene, effects and lighting, the better and more fun our pictures turn out. Having a room that is done up to the max to take pictures in would be completely a blast if you guys love taking pictures! Have somewhere to sit that matches the theme of the room (for example, my husbands family has a mad scientist room with a working electric chair which was sooooo great for photo ops)...also have props that match the theme sitting around that can be held, such as bottles of blood or poison, weapons, skulls, ect...or even matching character props that your guests can take pictures with...like skeletons, vampires, ect that they can pretend to hug, fight, act scared of, ect. One party I went to had a room filled with fake, spooky trees like a haunted forest that we took pics in...another party, my aunt did a graveyard with fog machines and lighting that was great for our vampire pics. Another cheap idea for a photo op room...old furniture covered with white sheets, add cobwebs, candles/candlesticks, black roses in silver vases, spiders, creepy portrait paintings, ghostly haunted mirrors (which can be easily made), a couple spooky ghosts and some other old, Victorian decor touches and anything else you can think of to make a perfect setting of an old haunted house for picture taking!
If you do the room up well enough with an animated prop tucked in here and there that's activated by motion, sound, ect, even on a budget, it can function both as a mini haunted house and a place for photo ops!

 

[gilnokoibito]

Thanks for the input guys!

I don't know about making it into a place for food/snacks as I had figured I'd just sit all that out in the kitchen since cleaning the floor would be easier there if anyone dropped anything. (The odd fact that my washer/dryer is in there would mean I could cover them in cloth and decor and turn them into extra counter space occurred to me just this morning lol. Although I wonder if there's any other way I could decorate them to make them creepy looking besides just as table space? Hm...) But the idea of creating a monster out of my skeletons and hiding it in the closet for an extra scare is a definitely great plan! I was hoping to use that closet for something useful! Also I could easily hide those step-activated screaming mats on the floor in various places under all the fog for some nice scares as well! (I also might put some cotton on the floor as well since most would be barefoot and suddenly feeling something soft that you know isn't just the carpet against your foot under the fog should be...fun...wahaha.)

And the photo room idea sounds super fun! I was hoping to have a wall dedicated to photo ops but a whole room would be even better! (And I don't know if I could do it but the fake tree forest sounds amazing!) Sneaking in some motion or remote controlled props and hiding them about would be an excellent way to also spook my guests when they think they're just going to take some simple pics! I could also sit up one of my old cameras on a hidden tripod to video everything and send it to my friends later as sort of an after-party gift (or since I'm pretty good at making gifs I could send them reaction gifs of every time a prop made them scream! XD)

You all have all sorts of plans swimming in my head now! Thanks a bunch!

 

[WitchyKitty]

I have seen people make cool trees here on the forum (Maybe in the props section??) but I think my friends had bought their trees for much cheaper...they were big and made out of thick cardboard or something, I think. Halloween sites may have them...
There are lots of things you could do in there. (Oh, and if you truly did want to try to make a walkthrough...the same friends who did the tree forest upstairs also made a tiny walkthrough in their basement. It would possibly fit in your extra room because it was made of a tight, back and forth, snake like path of black plastic sheeting walls, with a few jump scare type props hidden inside.)

Good luck on whatever you decide to try!

 

[lbc]

You might want to go to eBay and search "photo backdrop". With shipping most come to about $50, and they can add a lot of atmosphere without taking up floor space. Some samples:

 

[wackychimp]

If it were me, and the room wasn't intended for people to go into, I'd put in a Pepper's Ghost. That'll give you the wow factor you're looking for and you can still decorate the room with your other props.

Here's an example:

Also here's the thread where folks are talking about the best scrim projection material.

Post pics if you do it... or whatever you end up doing.

 

[Stinkerbell n Frog Prince]

Last Halloween we did an meet and greet potluck the venue has 2 smaller rooms one that stored the tables and chairs the other a very tiny unused cloakroom they used to store some file cabinets.

The cloakroom became our witches room, made a couple of shelf units out of old cedar fence boards found on craigslist. Filled them up with potion bottles, caged creatures, led candles and whatever else we had hanging around.. creepy statues, cow skull, Tossed a velveteen length of cloth over a folding chair to camo it and some DT clear masks got hung on an old lamp shade. This year I want to make the lamp shade more realistic. And an old chandler that Frog turned into a floor lamp.

The table and chair storage space became the funeral home parlor. The unused chairs got camoed with a LONG length of satiny red fabric draped over them. A fake organ we made years ago went in... some day we hope to pipe fog through the pipes if we ever figure that one out. A lovely second hand floor candelabra, with flicker bulbs, a couple of pillars of torment made from a couple of sonatubes and great stuff foam, of course a couple of pallet wood coffins. On the wall we projected AtmosFEARfx's living portraits.

 

[hhh]

We had lots of fun making a puzzle room in a room that size. It's a bit more commitment for people to go in since you lock them in there for an hour, but its an experience they'll remember.
http://www.halloweenforum.com/party-ideas-experiences-and-recipes/140276-lovecraft-puzzle-room.html