[ScareyCarrie]

I realize Halloween has just ended, but I am curious, when do you start planning for next Halloween? Do you start immediately, or do you wait until after Christmas and New Year's?

 

[Saruman of Many Colours]

I’d already started planning for next year, even before last Thursday night, tbh.

 

[internet troll]

Weeks ago. As I was making things for this year I was coming up with ideas that I was able to contemplate, but realistically did not have the anywhere near the time or money to do with all the other stuff I had going on.

I have my big addition already in mind that I will start working on next July. I also have a good idea of what the theme for my garage will be halloween night.

 

[TerriG]

I started thinking about ideas for next year while still setting up for this year. I have now decided on one theme I want to add and have started researching ideas to make it happen but won't actually build anything until far into next year

 

[mrincredibletou]

When I am finished with setting up, so around October 15th I start planning. It will be a work in progress untill the summer.

 

[kuroneko]

Pretty much all year even before this year's Halloween has happened. There's a ton of "next year..." that happens while we're trying to get things done for this year. Since we have the same theme year after year it does cut the amount of planning down (no building from the ground up). However, we're always looking to improve and build and tweak so we are constantly making new tasks for ourselves. Like we're been using these skull path lights for years, but this year we didn't want to use them when we updated all the other lighting. We didn't come up with a good solution this year and ended up hanging some string lights, but we had two possible ideas for next year. So we have that along with ordering some beef netting and some other things...
I should really get started already.

 

[guitarist155]

I’m with everyone in that it started before Halloween 2019. Any ideas that were obviously not going to make the date got bumped to 2020. I also make long term plans for where I want the haunt to go over a few years.

 

[lilibat]

I start my to-do list for the next year while I am setting up.

 

[BewitchedFae]

I also start planning a year ahead. I make most of our costumes and decor for the themed party we have, and that takes me a long time to do. This year we are doing a Mario theme for our party and costumes. Since we now have a yard I’m planning what I’d like to make for it and what general theme I’d like to start with outside. I’ve already started to split the list up into priorities for this upcoming year, and future years because the list is getting so long. 🤣

 

[Cephus404]

I already know most of what I'll do for next year. I finalize my big projects by Halloween of this year.

 

[HauntedWyo]

Started coming up with ideas for next year long before this Halloween. Now I have to research builds and figure out if they are something I can build to withstand weather. I really want to build a haunted playground, but not sure if what I want to build can be built to withstand high winds.

 

[Ghost of Spookie]

Since I didn't get to do what I had planned for this year, I'm nearly done now with planning for 2020 ....Although with extra time now I'll make it even better with things I had passed on...and add some new things I've thought of since. Feels good to be almost done so early . Have to be careful to pack all the things organized in marked containers and kept together however.

But seriously why are we having more than a week of gorgeous weather NOW after halloween?? Wonder what our winter will be like this year. We have been having mornings in the low 40s for a while now but since almost the day after halloween we've had highs in high 70s and into the 80s. However since stuff isn't packed away yet and with weather still nice now, I might position things in the yard bit by bit and take photos before putting away for the season. Photos will give me things to think about and maybe map out lighting for next year. Might even get in a few projects to work on before the weather turns cold.

 

[gondivin]

Based on the props I acquired this year (mostly skeletons), the animatronics I almost accomplished and the under-estimation of setup time from this year, I've got a plan for next year that involves a lot less "additional work" (i.e. just sticking w/ plain skeletons) and smaller scale animatronics that have a better chance of getting setup and not jostled in the process and actually all getting set up before the kids start showing up.

For context, this year involved a pretty extensive build of "skeleton pirates" and my first time attempting any home-built animatronics. Next year, to reduce the amount of setup, I was just going to set up all my skeletons (I ended up acquiring about 15 of them) like they are attacking my house, and probably some simple animatronics like rocking tombstones and skeleton heads / hands waving or rocking around. Additional stuff will be actually getting around to setting up a projection of some sort and getting my Froggy's fog juice in time to use my fogger + chiller.

Many lessons learned this year!

 

[Ghost of Spookie]

Something to be said for easy set up either in steps or having extra time to do it; and then having more time to enjoy the days leading up to it and Halloween night. Look for ways to make it less stressful.

For me doing a whole yard walk around will be more work but having gates at both sides of the house provides me with a locked up backyard I can take my time with. Our front yard is rather small and have always set up halloween day for the most part to avoid any vandalism.

 

[Zombie4*]

I start planning for the next year as soon as set up. I always things I want to improve or maybe add to. I start a to do list so I don't forget anything.

 

[Tasty Brains]

Like some others, many of my plans for this year got scuttled due to time and weather. So, I intend on pretty much the same set-up, only with the addition of several things I ran out of time for this year.

Last year I had Halloween on the brain all year, and kept coming up with new ideas. Now that I'm at max storage capacity, I'll just move things around each year. I'm sure new ideas will come to me as we head into 2020. One that might be interesting: If I can't fix the werewolf skeleton that snapped in half at the hip (thanks wind!), I may be able to have him looking like he's crawling out of the toilet prop. Sounds whack, but might look pretty cool. 🦇

 

[ScareyCarrie]

Since I didn't get to do what I had planned for this year, I'm nearly done now with planning for 2020 ....Although with extra time now I'll make it even better with things I had passed on...and add some new things I've thought of since. Feels good to be almost done so early . Have to be careful to pack all the things organized in marked containers and kept together however.

But seriously why are we having more than a week of gorgeous weather NOW after halloween?? Wonder what our winter will be like this year. We have been having mornings in the low 40s for a while now but since almost the day after halloween we've had highs in high 70s and into the 80s. However since stuff isn't packed away yet and with weather still nice now, I might position things in the yard bit by bit and take photos before putting away for the season. Photos will give me things to think about and maybe map out lighting for next year. Might even get in a few projects to work on before the weather turns cold.

Our Halloween weather was awful......3 inches of snow and windy. Like you, our "After" Halloween weather has been beautiful. I hope next Halloween's weather is better for all of us.

 

[Michael__Myers]

I haven't thought about next Halloween yet. Like most above, I'm usually planning for the next Halloween before the current Halloween comes. I think I've hit my maximum amount of work I'm willing to put in each year. I'll probably start planning in early spring of what I wanna do for 10/31/2020. I've been at it for over 10 years at our house, the outside yard decor and garage displays.

 

[pacman]

well i found that the best way to help with the budget is if you have a rough idea what you want to do next year is try and look for stuff starting from NOW , this way you can buy odd items cheap especially if your making home made stuff , little bits especially cheaper prop stuff from foreign countries which take for ever via snail mail like from china , i.e. fake hands fake body parts some of these can be really cheap if your prepared to wait 6 - 8 weeks shipping time , and masks as well if you compare prices theres a huge difference if you give yourself that extra time , but it just gives you that longer period to make your choices prop wise especially financially , else i end up paying out 6-8 weeks before the big day when everyone ramping up the prices because Halloween coming , also if your making a prop and it dont go to plan you still got tons of time to adapt or re think another option .

 

[ScareyCarrie]

well i found that the best way to help with the budget is if you have a rough idea what you want to do next year is try and look for stuff starting from NOW , this way you can buy odd items cheap especially if your making home made stuff , little bits especially cheaper prop stuff from foreign countries which take for ever via snail mail like from china , i.e. fake hands fake body parts some of these can be really cheap if your prepared to wait 6 - 8 weeks shipping time , and masks as well if you compare prices theres a huge difference if you give yourself that extra time , but it just gives you that longer period to make your choices prop wise especially financially , else i end up paying out 6-8 weeks before the big day when everyone ramping up the prices because Halloween coming , also if your making a prop and it dont go to plan you still got tons of time to adapt or re think another option .

That's a great idea, looking for stuff now when prices are reasonable as opposed to right before Halloween when prices are higher than they should be. This gives you enough time to acquire all of the items you want, keeping shipping in mind from other countries. Thanks pacman.