Halloween blues...

[hedg12]

So I've got probably 85% of my stuff done for the year, and really feel pretty good about how things are going. Of course I'll be working right up 'till the last minute to get it all done, but that's normal. What's not normal is that I really don't have the urge to finish. The spirit's not there any more. I even cut out of work for an hour & walked around Halloween Express. I wasn't moved or really even interested, just - ambivalent.

I'm sure it'll change as the big day gets closer & I get everything done, but for now I've got the Halloween blues. Anyone else ever get this way, or is it just me?

[Spartan005]

well unfortunately I'm not doing much of a display this year except a sign that says "Darkness Rising will Return... 2010" yay.

so yes, I have halloween blues. just a different kind

[Fiend4Halloween]

Ditto Spartan. I just had double disc surgery at the end of last month and I can barely walk, still a long healing process and am SOOOO bummed that I can't even set up lights for my haunt. I registered my haunt this year and had to have the administrator add a disclaimer saying my haunt won't be up this year...and all year long I've been building props, buying awesome stuff, but unfortunately, none of my friends care enough about Halloween to wanna' help decorate. It's always a one man show for my haunt, I've even got a lot of people stopping by asking why nothings setup yet. I feel your pain...literally.

[hedg12]

Sorry to hear it Fiend. I guess I should feel lucky - things could be much worse. Like I said, I'm sure the funk will pass soon enough. Hope you heal quickly & get back to the fun stuff soon.

[Spartan005]

Ditto Spartan. I just had double disc surgery at the end of last month and I can barely walk, still a long healing process and am SOOOO bummed that I can't even set up lights for my haunt. I registered my haunt this year and had to have the administrator add a disclaimer saying my haunt won't be up this year...and all year long I've been building props, buying awesome stuff, but unfortunately, none of my friends care enough about Halloween to wanna' help decorate. It's always a one man show for my haunt, I've even got a lot of people stopping by asking why nothings setup yet. I feel your pain...literally.

yeah it does suck, BUT think about how much more awesome your yard's gonna look next year, right? I've been buying/building things for two years that no ones seen yet, so next year should be pretty cool. hope you feel better too

[Monstermaker]

I'm glad someone was able to put a name to how I've been feeling.
We started building in April, (after we signed the lease to our new permanent location) with great anticipation and enthusiasm. We were anxious to see what the season would bring. We've been open for 2 weekends now, and I hate to say it, bit it's been rather anti-climatic.

[MrGrimm]

I dunno, I think it might be that some of us start building up the hype inside our minds so far ahead of the haunt season, that when it does comes, it just can't live up to the expectations we imagined ourselves into for most of the year...
I think I need to watch some classic Halloween specials like Charlie Brown and Garfield to get me back "in the mood"... :)

[Just Whisper]

I have always waited until around Aug to start seriously planning my haunt. In Sept I started building and Oct first I started setting up. I saw so many people on the forum who work year round I thought I would try it this year. So as soon as my Christmas stuff was put away I started planning, collecting, making smaller props, and always looking for new ideas. When Sept rolled around I realized I really hadn't accomplished much because I thought I had so much time. Now it is Oct and not only am I really behind, but I also have little or no interest in finishing my haunt. I have put out nothing yet, and some days do nothing to work on it. I actually did yard work yesterday so I had an excuse not to work on halloween. I am burned out. Next year I am going back to my original schedule. The worst part was I wasted my entire summer thinking I was accomplishing something. I never went to the beach or fishing, or anywhere. I felt compelled to work on halloween. So now I have wasted a whole year. I am bummed.

[RoxyBlue]

I think JW, Monstermaker, and MrGrimm are absolutely right about one of the potential side effects of planning and starting work on Halloween so far ahead of time. It can be difficult to maintain the enthusiam and momentum over a long span of time. It's also true that reality doesn't always live up to the beauty of our imagination.

I too find that the more time I have to do something, the less efficiently I do it and the easier it is to find other things to do because I think "There's plenty of time for that". Not having enough time to do something can certainly be a problem, but, if nothing else, the adrenaline rush from having to meet a quick deadline can be quite revitalizing:). Unless you have to do it every day, then...not so good.

JW did a smart thing - if you're feeling burned out, go do something entirely unrelated to Halloween like yard work or Christmas shopping or a long walk with the dog. Take a mental and physical break. Then go watch fun Halloween movies like MrGrimm suggested.

Getting the blues on occasion is normal. It's a sign that you might just need a break or a change of pace.

[Warrant2000]

Whisper, I did the same thing as you. In fact during last season I was planning for the next. I started working on props in April, got burned out 2 or three times, only to find some inspiration here and jump back into it.

Big change for me is that I built many new props; 6 tombstones, direction sign, standing zombie, grave grabber, section of cemetery fence. In fact, everything in my front yard is hand made, except for the Blucky. I'm glad I started so early.

Kept busy during the year, though. Camping with the family, dates with the wife, neighborhood bbq's and parties, business travel to Hawaii and Japan (brought the family with me), holidays at the beach.

I've never put out decorations/props this early, so it's new for me. I'm actually nervous that someone will swipe my 6' tall zombie - but my neighborhood is a good one.

A neighbor kid was circling his scooter in the street, circles that kept getting closer and closer to my yard. He finally stopped, looked at it and said, "It's a lot better than last year." "Just wait until you have to go through the haunt in the back yard.", I replied. Aahhh, inspiration!

[Creeper]

I started new props in the summer and now it's getting toward crunch time and I'm thinking of little else. I'm psyched but I've still got a ton of stuff to do and for some crazy reason, I volunteered at my son's school to help with the Halloween Carnival and I've got to make an additional prop for that. My head is swimming but I'm getting something done every day.

[Da Weiner]

I think of Halloween 24/7 but I don't make anything until September. Of course, my props are not as elaborate as the ones I've seen here on the forum. I agree with the above posts that we hype ourselves silly with ideas/projects/perfection that it can be a challenge and we can burn out before the blessed day arrives.

Not to sound like I'm complaining but I add Halloween into the mix of my everyday chores (work, home, cooking, cleaning the house, taking out the trash and recycling, feeding the beasts of burden (dogs), doing the wash, food shopping, banking, yard work, and exercising) that it can be tough to fit in. Halloween is my quality time and sometimes that doesn't happen when I plan my day. That bums me out.

[remylass]

I feel your pain.

I am not inspired by the Halloween stores this year. I bought a house that I don't love the yard for decorating (slim pickings, and I love the inside.) I feel very far behind, and I actually feel pretty depressed about it.

[Moon00]

I have the Halloween blues but for a bit of a different reason. We had a large and very nice display planned out but because of different issues that keep coming up and getting in the way and the fact we'll be out of town for awhile before Halloween, it leaves us with no time to finish what we had planned.

There is no way we'd be able to finish everything in just a few weeks. So now I'm suck with trying to figure out if I should just put out a sign saying we'll be back next year or just set up our display the way we did last year and save all the new props for next year.

I really don't feel inspired at all right now but the more I think about the situation the more I think I'll feel even worse if the big day rolled around I didn't do anything, having a remake of our haunt from last year would be better than having nothing at all I think.
And at least I have a big jump start on next years haunt.

[The_Caretaker]

I know how you feel been trying to redo alot of my tombstones and add a few. But life keeps getting in the way. Also now that have to foreclosed homes in my court, and one of the house left doesn't pass out candy it may not make sense to put out what I do have. Since have the court will be dark, I had trouble pulling them in last year with two not passing out candy.

[spinwitch]

I start planning and building early because that's my artistic release. And I love coming up with ideas and adore doing "proofs of concept".

But now my haunt is in 10 days, and I'm at the stage of finishing props and costumes and building sets in the rain and heat (at least the weather is supposed to break--we had a heat index of 100 last weekend and that curbs the enthusiasm).

Will I have enough makeup? Will I have enough volunteer actors to wear the makeup? enough batteries? Will we rain out like last year? Will I whack a good friend who's starting to whine about it?

All the admin stuff of running a haunt is Not Fun--but it needs to be done.

Our haunt runs for two nights. The first night I spend troubleshooting--fixing lights, moving fog machines, tweaking sets that just aren't working (in between the groups of people). The second night I relax, watch, listen to the screams, and realize that I've Made Magic.

It's so worth it.

OK--just cheered myself up. Gonna go make another costume.

[nixie]

I felt this way last year. Our set up was well underway when my son was in a traumatizing incident that turned our lives upside down. I was also in my first trimester of pregnancy, hormonal and nausiated. I suddenly didn't want to look at Halloween stuff, think about it, much less work on it. I finished up, just to get it done, but I was so glad to tear it down Nov1, I was worried I wouldn't want to get it out the following year. Thankfully not so. I am stressed and flat out sick of working on stuff- I just want to see it all done with the lights on it, but the spirit is here.
Just kick back, relax, watch a good spooky movie, and munch on some candy corn pumpkins. I hope the spirit heads your way soon!

[Ironside]

Yeah, i'm with you guys there...

I think MY problem is that my haunted house turned out so much better than I expected last year that I have a hard time getting the motivation to do another because I feel I can't live up to the same level of quality that I had in 2008.

Last year's haunt took SO much out of me, my friends and family and all came together at the last minute after MONTHS and MONTHS of building. Now when I think of Halloween, I think of endless hard work and stress!

This year I too am taking a break since I moved into a new house and am going on vacation for a week starting in a couple days. I'm hoping that by next year Halloween will have regained some of that fresh excitement as it used to have.

In the meantime... my props lie dormant...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/IronsideXT/IMG_1134800x600.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/IronsideXT/IMG_1135800x600.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/IronsideXT/IMG_1137800x600.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/IronsideXT/IMG_1138800x600.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/IronsideXT/IMG_1139800x600.jpg


***When I come back from my trip on the 23rd, i'm planning on throwing together a modest display for the trick-or-treaters, but nothing anywhere close to my regular haunts***

[debbie5]

I usually am like jdubbya and have a hard time with the post-Halloween let down. I don't know why, but I get so sad that it's all over.