When do you call it a night...

[ghostie]

I was just wondering when you usually wrap things up and start your teardown? Or do you party all night and then just go to bed?? I'm assuming most of you bring in your most beloved props Halloween night...true?

[Beepem]

i call it a night when tot time is over....i bring it all in

[Hellrazor]

Good Question Ghostie...I hold off until people make me start tearing down that night.... I always say... theres one more coming... one more...

My friends for the past 2 years have been coming over after the rushes are done at their places and I make tea... I keep the door open then at about 11 pmish I start to bring in my "stuff" and pile it in my Living room.

I leave my tombstones and Reaper out... but that stuff I have out for a month in advance anyway. Its just the loose stuff I take in.

This year will be a little different for me as I will have some scaractors and a "haunted walk" around my yard. I would love to hear the rest of the responses to this..

[Vlad]

The last TOTer usually comes through between 10:30 to 11:30, then I usually spend some time in the haunt alone around midnight. After that, it's take in the most valuable or easily stolen items and then back inside for some horror flicks.

[Beepem]

then I usually spend some time in the haunt alone around midnight

thats kinda weird vlad :p

[Front Yard Fright]

i leave everything out until mid to early nov.
got to take it down so dad can start christmas.
lol.

[trishaanne]

That's because Vlad IS kinda wierd....but that's besides the point! :D There is a 9:00 PM curfew here and we stay open till around 10:00, just for any of those that want to stop by as a group on their way home. I don't start tearing down until a day or two after Halloween. All my stuff is out for a month or so with the exception of 1 prop, so a few more days isn't gonna matter. Besides....I HATE the tearing down and finding a place to put it all part.

[Hellrazor]

I do my switch November 1. Some people think Im crazy after all that work but by then its anticlimatic and Im ready for Christmas decorating - Griswolds christmas ring a bell.

I too Vlad, spend some time alone with my haunt. Walking around, taking it all in.... Taking pictures... mmmmm

I absolutly do not start dismantelling until I dont see 1 T & T on the blocks around my house.

[ghostie]

I like to have everything down by November first too. We recently moved to a nicer neighborhood and we're the only ones who decorate (putzes), so I figure it's best to clean it up and get it back to normal as soon as possible. Besides, there's a ton of raking to do and the graveyard gets in the way! A pet pieve of mine is when people leave props/dec's out way past the season...like Christmas wreaths out until may, so I like to clean it up early and if anyone wishes they had seen the display and missed it, they'll have to wait for next year! Hopefully we can inspire some others around here to join in...A little friendly competition is a good thing~

[jdubbya]

Our TOT hours are from 6-8. I keep the fog pumping and soundtracks going until at least 10. We have a lot of after hours visitors (co-workers, kids from the college my wife works at, friends who don't live close enough to TOT but want to see the display.) They stop by to hang out awhile, have a cold one and some snacks. I too will take some time to soak it in before it gets too late and spend time alone outside looking at things, making notes on what to move, what else might look good next year, etc.. As much as I enjoy the TOT hours, the afterglow ain't bad either. I normally don't get back inside until close to midnight, and will also stay up way late watching horror flicks. Last thing I do before hitting the sack is take a last look at the jack o lanterns, that normally burn into the wee hours. Now I'm getting all misty:(

[Koumajutsu]

you know... I never really kno what time we start tearing down. usually i wake up hungover out on the lawn and everythgin's already cleaned up. :D

j/k

We usually wait till we see the rest of the neighborhood shutting down/cleaning up. Since we're the coolest, we wait so that we're the last house standing.

[Hellrazor]

Last thing I do before hitting the sack is take a last look at the jack o lanterns, that normally burn into the wee hours. (

I do that too. I usually put a piller candle in my jacks or 5 - 6 tealights and replace them once or twice throughout the night.

I never ever blow out my jacks - superstition of mine I think. I let the go out on their own.

To date I have not had a problem with my Jacks being thrown onto the street. I have, however, seen others.

[turtle2778]

I havent done an outside thing before. This is my first year doing a cemetary. Im excited. My plans are to take almost everything in that night only because of the money i spent on the tombstones. I can make more fence, but i cant explain to my husband that the tombstone i got last year for that "great deal" really it was super expensive...oops. LOL, yeah that wont work out. I do leave out my skeleton all year in my yard. I decorate him up for the different holidays. i saw somebody on here did one with the skelly riding a reindeer, im so doing that this year...So thanks to whoever that was. I just ususally have the costume, but im making him ride rudy this year. I took my village down in mid November. I liked it, it took my 2 months to put up, i needed the time with it. LOL

[Da Weiner]

I do the same thing Vlad does. For me, I start to decorate October 1st until the 31st. It's like you're soo busy all day setting up and tweaking in things that after putting all the finishing touches and entertaining all day, I like to sit outside with my yardhaunt before I take it down. It's kinda like your own quality time with "the fruits of your labor". I just sit outside with my drink and reflect on the day's events and just look at my haunt and to be around my props.

Our town's TOTs curfew is at 6:30 which I don't care - if I have candy and they knock on the door - I treat them as if it was 3 in the afternoon. Usually people and TOTs are walking back home so I have open house until the last person leaves - usually around 9 o'clock on a weekday and later when Halloween is on a weekend.

I take Nov. 1st off from work so on Halloween night I usually start bring in the props that I don't want stolen in around 11-12 that night. I leave out some stuff until until the next day (tombstones, lights, little things) and in the morning (Nov. 1st) I go out and clean up but I do leave the autuminal stuff (cornstalks, hay) out for display for Thanksgiving. After I bring in my precious props on Halloween night, I sit in my Halloween pjs with a big bowl of popcorn and watch horror films to top off the night. I usually rent a new horror movie that I haven't previously seen. :jol:

[madmax]

Around 11pm on Halloween night, I'm still building and changing things for the next night. After the 2nd night I will clean up my yard display and move that around back, in one of the rooms of my haunt. The next day I take down the 16x20 room I build on the front of my garage and the 8x27 room going down the side of my garage. The 1200 sq ft in the back yard gets taken down as I find the time. Usually over the next week or so. Some of it (my 16 foot electrocution tunnel) was left up and used as storage space. The part of the haunt that was inside the garage wasn't taken down till a few weeks ago. About the same time I started putting up this years haunt:)

[TearyThunder]

I usually setup by Oct 1st and strat tearing down Nov 1st. I don't have to worry about anything getting stolen or vandalized since I'm in a sleepy little town. I am also usually up into the next morning so as long as the TOT's come I will give them treats.

[Great White]

We tear down all that night. The tot's last until about 8:30. I have a professional kareoke system that is assembled in the garage that provides the audio tracks and vocals that needs to be torn down as well. We usually get a fire pit going on the driveway and we hang out with the neighbors until about 10:30. I also have a life-size palm tree (18ft) that I assemble and take down the same night. Pirates of the Carribean theme.

[Spooklights]

We don't tear down until the weekend after Halloween. It's hard for me to take off work the next day, and I put up too much stuff to take down in one night. Luckily our neighborhood is pretty quiet, and I do have a fence around the yard that discourages my props from wandering away. It's nice to have it all up for a few more nights, and people still drive by to look.

[DeathTouch]

I put my stuff up on Oct 1st and run to 31st. By the last TOT, I am already out there tearing the FCG apart. Slowing, I start tearing things apart to get ready for my christmas Display.

[wormyt]

When do I call it a night LOL...HUmm well for me I start decorating the end of Sept. so my things are out over a month. On Halloween night usually it dies down by 10:00 and my last volunteer goes home. One year my soon to be EX came out like at 9:30pm and said Im sorry dear but I thinks its over and he blew out all my candles. It broke my heart. So when the bum went back inside I relite them and went and stood in the front yard hopeing more totters would come. Ok so they didnt come LOL. Anyway like someone mentioned I too will start taking pics after everyone is gone. Its like my closure on my haunt. Its like coming down slowly off my high. So I will set things up cool and take bunches of pics as you can see here starting on page 8 and going through the rest of the pages. You will notice I even did a bunch on Nov 1st. I will then taer everything down during the first few days of Nov. I mean actually just clearing out the front yard and getting all the decorations/props thrown into the garage and inside the house so the neighbors and passerbys dont have to look at it anymore. LOL Then By the second week of Nov its time to get the Christmas yard planned out and see what Halloween props i need to repaint for that LOL.
Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket this is page 8 and keep looking and you will see my cool pics i took after halloween LOL.

[HibLaGrande]

most of my stuff is out the first week of october. the only thing that is not out is the speakers and the FCG and fog machine. everything comes down and is packed away Nov 1st

[BloodyRose]

Morbius sets up the morning of and takes down when he feels it's done with.

Living in a townhouse we share a common front yard with our neighbors so we can't exactly put it up any earlier nor keep it up. Eh i'd rather not take the chance of any of his props being stolen either he's worked too hard on them.

[Zombie-F]

Oh man. I call it a night usually just before 10... unless there's still a flow of TOTs still coming... which only happened two years ago. I post that it ends at 10, but if there were still people showing up, I'd probably let it go as late as 10:30. I do have to bring some of it in that night, so I kind of want to have that done before 11:30 so I can sit back and relax for a bit.

[slightlymad]

Official tot is over at 9 i usually leave it up until 11ish. kick back have a few drinks chill out cool off and then take it all down and pack it up. we only decorate minimally before the night in out current neighborhood basically becuse the parents dont seemed interested in teaching children not to touch.

So ours is sudden shock all goes up day of comes down before dawn.

[mnstrmum]

We have alot of family and friends that always come and haunt our yard with us. Many others come after TOT time. Halloween is always a huge party at our house. My little nieces and nephews would rather haunt with us than TOT. There are always cocktails flowing. We take in/ move the important stuff and leave the rest till the AM. The night always seems to fly by. We never seem to get to bed until after 1 AM. We have accumulated so much stuff over the years that we couldn't possibly take it down in one night. We always take a few days off after and recruit many of our haunters. This year we vowed to be completley set up and operational the eve. before. That way more of our friends could come and check us out.( this year being on a school night :( It is so much work for just one short night. Some people think we are nuts to do it, but there is something about seeing the looks on peoples faces and hearing the comments/cudos that make it all worth while:):D

[Lilly]

TOT is only til 7pm the latest here and our party doesnt start til 7pm then, And that goes til whenever the last person standing is, then we get a few hrs sleep and start the fire back up and party on till late sunday night, then i start to take it down little by little usually down by end of first week in nov then i start with the xmas stuff
I too like to sit where i have my displays set up and just look at it all..it's a great feeling

[Lilly]

Koumajutsu ,usually i wake up hungover out on the lawn and everythgin's already cleaned up
HAHA Don`t make me laugh to hard,
yeah well thats happened to me already only nothing was cleaned up,damn

[Brad Green]

11 pm Oct. 31, it all comes down. If I'm really fast, I can have it all inside before the police respond to the "this idiot next door is keeping me up half the night" calls all my neighbors have just made.

[slimy]

My nieghborhood is awesome. They all watch my stuff for me all month long. I'm going to start this year putting stuff out the last week of September. That way I can enjoy it longer. Most of the nieghbors will be over to help me carry in the items that are easily stolen and/or really valuable. I'll usually have drunk friends coming to get scared waay after the bars close at 2 am.

The stuff comes down the next week. I'm really not a hurry to take it down. Then it sets in the living room, dining room,bedroom,etc for a month until my wife threatens to divorce me if I don't find a place to put it.

[otherworldly]

By about midnight we've usually brought most of the props in and are enjoying a glass of wine, reflecting on the night and making plans for the next year!

[malibooman]

Well, usually by 11pm, I bring in the expensive props and put the rest up the next day, Nov. 1. Then I start all over again putting out the Christmas stuff.

[Ugly Joe]

It's good to hear others like to wander their haunts in the after hours...

I'll usually leave everything up until 10:30-11pm, once I'm convinced there will be no more visitors..then I take down anything valuable...

The other items come in the next day or two - but some stay out.

I have had my "Malibu light" JackOLantern out all year - along with my cemetary fence (typical 1x2 and PVC pipe - we now have some kind of flowery vine grown all along it).

I had my countdown sign out until Easter - my wife didn't want a partial skeleton hanging in the yard for Easter...go figure.


...and believe it or not, I have a real pumpkin on my porch, that I bought last September - it has not rotted yet (well...not on the outside, and I'm not going to cut it open to find out if the inside has rotted).
It's sat through hot and cold, rain and dry (no snow however)...

[Wyatt Furr]

I set up the first weekend in October,so its up all month.The last TOT's hit about 9:00pm here, so I turn off the lights and head in the house.I wait till the next weekend to take down,unless the weather is changing later that week.

[JohnnyL]

I leave everything up and running into the early hours of the morning. We're always inside watching scary movies with all the candles lit. There's nothing like having the fog rolling through the open windows and the candles flickering as you're sipping hot chocolate by a fire eating candy, popcorn and candy apples while watching all the scary movies... that's halloween! Plus, there has to be a place for all the witches and ghouls to come home to that night! I do bring in the foggers and sound equipment once I go to bed though. Everything stays up for a couple of days after.

[JohnnyL]

I'm definitely with Vlad though, I love to hang out in the graveyard and think about all the spooky things that may be happening in all the real graveyards across the world. Gotta' love Al Hallows Eve!

[Vlad]

And I also have the same superstition as Hellrazor, I never, EVER let the Jack-O-lanterns go out before midnight, that's inviting trouble.................

[JohnnyL]

Ah yes, I go through a lot of candles myself!

[Sweeney Family Horror]

Our yard haunt is up for two weeks as "advertising" for our haunted basement on Halloween night. We shut it down at 9 on the dot because, where we live, that's the last of the real TOTs. I pull in everything that I care about on Halloween night.

[widowsbluff]

We start taking everything in about 1/2 after the last TOT comes through. Everything get dumped in the front room, it is always amazing to me how quickly everything comes down. Then it is time for a drink. I usually take the next day off to begin the sorting, storing and planning for next year.

[edwood saucer]

Ah yes! that drink on halloween. We live on a long cul-de-sac and I keep a cooler stocked for the neighbors who run out by the time they reach our end. Had another neighbor get excited about the holiday - so I have a sneaking suspicion a small party may break out somewhere on the block this year...

; ^)

[Beth]

We don't get TOTers.:( Although we had about 100 kids come through our haunt last year. (We're pretty rural and word gets around) I leave all of my stuff where it sits. Then the following year I go through and see what needs to be changed and/or remodeled. I haunt our two story big old red barn. This year is going to be a Haunted Circus. We usually clean up the outside within the next few days because its usually raining and we don't want things ruined! !

[Frighteners Entertainment]

We call it quits when the last Hauntees go running from the Haunt or until MidNight...

[mrklaw]

I take down most of the stuff at around 10:30 and leave up some cheap/perishable stuff (spiderwebs, gravestones, etc) until the following weekend.

[DeadSpider]

for our dance, the majority stays up til after the hang-over is dealt with, the next day as its slmost all indoors. We just take the outdoor stuff and put it inside the doors.

At the house its usually after 10pm, and I seem to luck out and hubby brings things into the garage for me. I then the next day begin the sorting and packing.

[Vlad]

the next day begin the sorting and packing.


Okay, I understand the sorting stuff. But packing???? You mean you put it away...........................gasp........

[DeadSpider]

.


Okay, I understand the sorting stuff. But packing???? You mean you put it away...........................gasp........

I know how awful is that??

[writer93]

Well, here where I live there is some kind of curfew, where kids have to be in by about 10 oclock or so. So we usually close our doors whenever all of our candy is gone. Most of the time, we run out of candy before everyone is done trick or treating. So this year i'm going to focus on trying to get enough candy for everyone! lol

[spokanejoe]

I used to set up early in October but we have uncontroled demon children around us and a couple of years ago some of them took a baseball bat to all of my hard work and destoyed everything in the yard on the day before Halloween. So now I set up and take down on Halloween day. It gets so freeking cold here (10 degrees with wind chill last year) that by 9:30-10:00 pm no one is out any longer and all I can thinkof is a warm bed. I have it all into the garage and then sort it out during the next week.

[JohnnyL]

Wow spokanejoe..... That is just HORRIBLE that some little #@&*(%@$&*%!&)*(% would do that.... I probably would of found them and killed them.

[scareme]

That is horrible. Whenyou do it for everyone out there and ad few can ruin it.

I've found I get another surge of tots after 9:00 when the malls close and the churches finish their functions. So I'm still giving out candy til 10:00 or 10:30.

[NickG]

I usually call it a night around 11:00-11:30 or so. Around here the TOTs really drop off after 8:00, might get in a couple between 8 and 9, but I like to keep things going late just in case there are some stragglers out there.... I always hope for more to come... I usually wander around the last few hours or sit on the porch steps taking the evening in. I have to blow out and collect all the jug-o-lanterns, and I bring in the electronic stuff, everything else can wait until later, but I do leave the jacks lit...

[NecroBones]

On the nights I'm actually at home, I close up around 11-11:30 too. Then generally go for a midnight cloaked walk. I bring in the more "accessible" stuff (that is, more easily stolen or broken) at the very least, before coming in for the night.

[ghostie]

...Then generally go for a midnight cloaked walk.

Now THAT sounds like fun. That might have to be a new ritual of mine...:devil:

[Troy]

I'm with Vlad & the others who spend "quality" time with their haunts, my Town has no curfew, in fact things don't crank up until sundown..

I set the yard up during the last week of Sept. I then tweak, add etc. until the big day. many nights i will go out and just sit & watch the haunt, it takes me to a happy place.:D ..I will start tear down on 11-1 and trust me I'm not happy whan that day arrives.

[Vlad]

I'm not really surprised to see how many of us spend some time out in the haunt by ourselves after closing on Halloween night. It's the only time that we have to savor the joy of Halloween that we work all year to bring to others. At that moment, just before midnight, when the stress is gone, and you can still hear the screams in your mind, and the haunt is still fully set up around you, you can flashback in time to your childhood. It's magic.

[the_PROCRASTINATOR]

I was just wondering when you usually wrap things up and start your teardown? Or do you party all night and then just go to bed?? I'm assuming most of you bring in your most beloved props Halloween night...true?

I always take the best stuff in after the TOTs stop coming (about 10pm), but I always get the ones that pull up and jump out of a van while I am doing the tear down. I always let go through.

This year I seen cars slowing down after the tear-down.
11:30/12, don't these kids gotta go to skoool or something?:googly:

[Vlad]

In our case, we have college age kids that have been coming to our house since they were in grade school. Sometimes they'll roll in at 11:30 or so, dressed in costume, and bring friends from Halloween parties they're attending that night. I love living in an town that isn't so uptight that they impose curfews, or try to change the actual day of TOTing.