Halloween Decor for Haunted Houses !

Decor for haunted houses

 

How to create a satisfyingly scary experience for kids

 

 

 

This house in Vancouver is decorated for Halloween with an astonishing assortment of carved pumpkins.

Photograph by: Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun

You may be too old to trick-or-treat, but you can still enjoy Halloween. 

One great way is by setting up a haunted house.

It can be simple or elaborate, mildly frightening or intense enough to send people running for the door. Just know your audience and don't overdo it, especially with little kids. In fact, creating your own haunted house lets you take your children's scare-o-meter into consideration.

The first step: Find a location. We suggest a basement or garage. A basement has more rooms to work with. A garage can be opened to the street, and sectioned off by hanging sheets of black fabric or plastic. (That fabric also comes in handy in a basement, hiding the regular decor. A guy dressed like the Grim Reaper is going to look a little ludicrous lurking between the laundry appliances.)

Decide what your haunted house will include and where each set piece will go. Which corner is best for the casket? Where can Dracula hide? Where will lights be set up? Be sure to have an easily accessible exit (a frightened visitor may want to sprint for the door).

Then the nuts and bolts. If there are props to be built, get started. If you're going to rent a special effect -- say, a fog machine -- get it reserved.

At this point, things can get overwhelming, so recruit help. Friends, neighbours, family are all fair game. Remember, it takes a village to frighten a kid.

Get your helpers to brainstorm and build things, of course, but their greatest value may be as living props. Have them get costumed, slather on makeup, splash themselves with fake blood (do-it-yourself directions at chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/fakeblood.htm or wikihow.com/Make-Fake-Blood). They can jump out and yell "boo!" at unsuspecting visitors -- especially effective if your setup is partitioned into rooms -- or march zombielike around the layout. For a minimalist approach, they can stand in a corner, motionless, staring blankly ahead.

Now you have to pull it all together. Some other ideas:

Good grave-y: A graveyard out front gets visitors in the right mood even before they enter the haunted house. Dot your lawn with tombstones made of heavy cardboard or Styrofoam. If you want to keep the neighbours talking for months, build an animated tombstone. It takes a little effort, but the results are worth it. Go to instructables.com and do a search for "creepy tombstone." For the ultimate graveyard twist, dig a grave-size hole, just deep enough for a colleague to lie in. Cover him or her and the surrounding area with leaves or straw, and at the appropriate time have your co-conspirator spring from the grave. You'll be surprised how fast little kids can run.

Set a mood: Nothing says spooky like fog, whether it's from a fog machine -- you can buy a cheap one for less than $100 or rent one for even less -- or a dry ice do-it-yourself version. A word of warning: Dry ice is dangerous and needs to be handled carefully by a responsible adult.

Music: At this time of year, even supermarkets sell recordings of Halloween-themed music and sound effects. Get something on the gentle side to give the little ones the willies, then climb the ladder to recordings of moaning, demented laughter, crackling thunder and chain-rattling that older kids can roll their eyes at. If it's drama you want, buy Verne Langdon's Music for Magicians from amazon.com. Save your sanity and avoid recordings of endless screaming. A little of that goes a long way.

Lighting: Spotlights and black lights can make the difference in a haunted house. A judiciously placed red bulb can transform a display from pedestrian to scary. Remember, it's important that visitors be able to navigate your haunted house safely, so make sure there is enough light. It's also smart to have your helpers carry flashlights to guide the little ones.

A science lab: Set up a laboratory -- workbench, creepy lighting, large jars containing body parts (doll heads, arms or legs, mannequin parts, etc.). A lab coat and a fright wig turn a helper into a mad doctor, especially with the right spiel. Have the good doctor pull out a tape measure so the little ones can be fitted for the right-size jar. There'll be no sleeping that night.

Tangled webs: You can't go wrong with spider webs. The store-bought stuff works; just don't scrimp. Little ones will get a kick out of a giant spider web you make yourself with yarn. For older kids and gullible adults, skip the webs and hang lengths of the yarn from the ceiling in dark areas of the basement/garage. As they walk through, the yarn brushes across their faces. Increase the creepiness by wetting the yarn.

Touch this: Set up several small boxes with holes cut in the side, into which visitors reach and feel "body parts." Two jumbo stuffed green olives can serve as eyeballs; cold and squishy cooked elbow macaroni or spaghetti can pass for brains; a large soup bone can be delightfully gross. Nothing feels as liverlike as liver, so include a hunk to increase the ewwwwwww factor. For the last box, cut a second hole on the side opposite the first. Have the helper who is supervising the display surreptitiously reach his or her hand in to touch the hand of the visitor.

Just disturbing: A life-size latex or plastic skeleton can be had for less than $100. Department stores sell them or check novelty and dollar stores for an array of choices, including skeletons that light up. Get three -- yes, it's a bit of an investment, but it is guaranteed to make you a neighborhood legend -- and position them so they appear to be scaling your house.

Check out examples at instructables.com, itsapartypalooza.com and halloweenpropmaster.com.

Simple yet scary.

Happppppy Halloween !!!