Prop Build August Update

Making some progress on the "Mini Mausoleum" prop. It still needs outer paneling, a roof/belfry tier, and decorative trim. Hope to have the building stage completed by the end of August so that it can get painted in September. And still need to build another PVC pipe mannequin frame and base for one of our werewolves! Only 75 days left until Halloween. Since we only set up the yard haunt for Halloween (usually get started the day before), we've still got plenty of time but we can't dillydally. Late last October we drove around some local towns at night to see what kind of Halloween decorating people had done and saw lots of nice lighting, decorations, and haunts. We felt like perhaps we weren't doing enough to promote the spirit of the holiday with just our candy corn lights and fall leaf garland around the front door. So this year we're putting up orange and purple LED C9 bulbs on our Christmas light stringers on the front gutters and matching mini lights for the front door garland at then end of September as the opening act to the big night.

Jack-O'-Lantern Candles

We took advantage of a good sale on Yankee scented votive candles and stocked up.  We picked out a fun assortment of seasonal scents. When you do large groupings of jack-o'-lanterns, the smell of the candles can really permeate the Halloween night air!

2017 Yard Haunt Cast

Only 93 days until Halloween! Our local Michaels stores already started stocking the shelves with Halloween decorations and props. We've pretty much finalized what masks we're going to be using for our standing props in this year's haunt.

Halloween 2017 Preparations

Halloween is only a little over 3 months away and we've already started working on this year's props and theme. Last year's Skeleton Circus Ticket Booth got a lot of nice compliments and attention. It was just the right size, in just the right location for our haunt. So this year we're going to build a "Mini Mausoleum" prop. It will take up the same footprint as the ticket booth prop did. The prop will be two tiered and will have a belfry tower and interior mood lighting. We've spent a lot of time researching numerous cemetery mausoleums and have come up with some great design ideas. Some of the trim parts have already been acquired. Our goal is to get it built and painted by end of summer.

Merry Krampusnacht!

Keeping in the spirit of "Creepmas", Krampusnacht is traditionally celebrated the evening of December 5th, the night before Saint Nicholas Day. Here's another fun article on Krampus: National Geographic: How Krampus, the Christmas ‘Devil,’ Became Cool

2016 Pumpkin Portraits

Weather was pleasant enough that we decided to take a few more pictures of this year's jack-o'-lanterns (minus their plastic clown noses and teeth) before they become compost.

Halloween 2016 Post Mortum

It's always a tad depressing right after Halloween. Our haunt materials are all put away and all that remains are the soon to be composted jack-o'-lanterns. We're very happy with how this year's haunt turned out.  We spend a lot of time each year envisioning how the haunt theme will look. Numerous days and weeks are spent acquiring the necessary items and building the props needed to pull it all together and it's always satisfying to see that vision come to life on Halloween night. So thoughts now focus on next year's haunt. It's hard for us to believe that this was our 6th Halloween in this house and technically our 19th haunt since 1998. 1998 was our 3rd Halloween in our first house and the first time we decorated beyond just putting out a jack-o'-lantern on the steps on Halloween night. We've never done a vampire or werewolf theme at this house, so next year we're planning on mixing the two themes. Going to take some time off from the blog for a while but we'll leave you with some pics from our "first haunt". The first pic is the "lamp post that started it all". A couple from up the street asked is they could take a picture of their toddler in costume in front of the lamp post because they loved how it looked. That really was the spark for the idea to take the decorating a bit further the following year. The rest is history.