I give up on Halloween decorating...

[Stabbo-J20]

Ive had my decorations out in front of my yard since Oct 1st, and Ive been planning since August (my first year decorating the yard) spent numerous amount of money on it and I have nothing to show for it...

I am so fustrated becuase I spent so much money on these decorations (money doesn't come easy, as I am only a 20yr college student and I have tuition to pay and I only get paid at my job $200 every 2 weeks ($ usually covers for food/gas/etc) but yet I have managed to buy approx. $800 worth of Halloween decors since August.

I was so excited when October rolled around because I get to display everything and it is my first year doing so along with my lovely girlfriend who moved in with me recently.

But everytime I walk out my house in the morning, something always seem to be wrong, the tombstones fly away to the neighbors yard, the inflatable isnt standing, stuff falling all over the place, I mean its a mess.

Today, after a t-storm/windy day, basically my whole yard was destoryed and I suddenly gave up and I took all my tombstones/graveyard stuff and inflatable and stored it back in the garage.

Im still debating if I even want to do anything next year for halloween other than the usual Pumpkin by the doorstep.

Sorry I had to vent, I hope no one thinks Im crying and moaning.. what do you guys do when something liek this happens?

[Front Yard Fright]

Get back out and set back up!
Don't let something so small as weather get you down!
At least your stuff wasn't stolen or vandalized!
Don't give up!
:D.

[Sickie Ickie]

stake down those tombstones, and do whatever is necessary to get set up this year. Then as you get ready for next year to make things bigger and better, you can think- I can at least do better than what I did this year. Often, this is what gets us through tough times! Get that first year curse over with!

[Moon00]

I agree, don't give up, especially seeing as you were so excited about it. Try setting it up again and securing your tombstones and other props down better so things will be less likely to blow away. Anything else that could get damaged by the weather that you can't secure down you could wait to put out on Halloween/trick or treat night.
That's what I do because the weather here can be so unpredictable, big props and anything that could be easily damaged by the weather don't go out until the day before or the day of. Everything else is secured down so it can withstand the wind and rain. But like Sickie Ickie said, do whatever you can to set up for this year. Your going to run into problems and have things like this happen along the way, you just have to try to work your way through them, fix it, and keep going. :)

[KevinS]

Don't give up - ever. Do what you can and then take this year's frustration and learn from them.
Tombstones blowing over? Figure out a way to add stability - screw and glue OSB board (costs about 5 bucks a sheet) to them as backing.
If Inflatables are unsuitable in windy weather - look for alternative props.
Browse through the list's of project available on the web and find things that you can build or create from used/cheap materials. It's amazing what you can do with crap found at the dollar store, some imagination, and well planned lighting. An$7 ugly home made prop will always be far more satisfying that any big dollar store bought prop.

[tonguesandwich]

Get bigger rocks, stakes and start looking for free (Trash) to make stuff. I was once a struggling student and now I am pretty comfortable. Many times it really sucked but, I had to learn to fix and build everything myself. I can fix just about anything now. I don't let repairmen in my house even though cost is not an issue.
The best thing is that, at the end of the day I can stand back and say "I did that"... nothing easy is worth doing.
You need to evaluate why you want to haunt, and if it is something that you like (Love) you need to find what works. It is the same thing as going to college, sometimes the road sucks but the journey is awesome. Don't think that all this is only for one day; it is for the memories of a lifetime. If you love it, remember these three words, survive, survive and survive. If you survive this Hallowe’en I guarantee you will remember it in ten years.

[HrdHeaded1]

Ok.. That's it!! Get back out there!! Would you give up on one of your classes just because it was to hard? The first year is always the most fustrating, you learn as you go.. It's still in the infant faze.. next year the toddler.. you learn as you go.. So get out there.. it's well worth the fustrations to see those kids who come knocking on the door.. and some of the adults too..

[Liam]

Stabbo, you can't give up! Halloween decorating is a constant learning experience. Every year something goes wrong, but you make a mental note of it and figure out a way to make it NOT go wrong next year. In fact, the more that goes wrong, the more you learn. It's kind of like moving into a new neighborhood - the best way to learn your way around is to get lost. That's a little late-night-not-very-good analogy for you.

But don't give up. Haunting is one of the best hobbies (or businesses for those haunters fortunate to make a living at this thing) out there, and for you to give up before your first year is even up would be a HUGE waste.

Now get back out there and put those tombstones back up!!

[UnderMan]

I know how frustrating it is when all your best efforts at setting up a display, not only for your own amusement, but for the neighborhood as well, won't stay put or even goes missing. It's disheartening and apt to make you wish Halloween was already over.

I leave things for outside to the last day. Halloween day. I take a whole week off work during Halloween, including a day for tear down, but I work the whole month or two getting ready for it. This year we have a garage that I can put up walls and black plastic (hopefully wooden walls one day) ahead and set up displays. It's coming together slowly due to the fact that I am the only one doing the display and I suffer from severe headaches. The headaches take over and I am useless to any task. At least I got my gravestones made and my graves dyed the way I want them. Hope the dye comes off my hands.
I wouldn't let it get to me that much if I were you. Just sit back and relax for a few days and reflect on why you bought and set this stuff up. You were enjoying it all the while. You know how you want things put up and how long it takes. Maybe leave it for a few days ahead now and hopefully the weather will co-operate closer to Halloween. All my positive thoughts are for good weather on Halloween, no wind, moderately warm.
My gravestones are made of wood and it would take a lot for the wind to move them, plus I have got some spikes to stake them to the ground.

[BooGirl666]

Don't give up!!!! I totally understand the struggling student lifestyle... I'm still in it.... Our first and second year was really really nerve racking but finally, this year is coming together a bit smoother (design wise) money wise, well thats a whole nother topic.....

Get those tombstones back out there, tie-down material, flood lights, spooky music and throw the inflatable in the garbage (oops did i say that lol sorry dont like those damn things) and haunt that yard!!!!!!!!

You can do it Stabbo! I got faith in ya..... If we all can do it you can too!!!! It gets easier I promise!

[michael myers]

Never, ever give up!! Construction dumpsters are a very valuable source of prop material and its free! Remember, one mans trash is another mans treasure. Some of my best props were made of 95% scrap. "t doesn't have to be perfect, its a halloween prop" are words that most of us haunters live by. http://www.halloweenmonsterlist.info/ otherwise known as the Monster Page of Links is an excellent place to start. You don't have to start out with the fully animatronic, pneumatically controlled bucky (just an example) as your first project. Start small, and build from there, and if you ever have any questions at all, don't forget that we here will help as much as we can!

[wormyt]

Stabbo do you have any pictures as to how you had this set up. Dont give up please. Yeah we all have rotten things happen ....things dont go right, or blows down. Ok listen to this i just had a friend whos hubby was cutting down a tree and the thing fell on her crypt she had made. She was mortified and so angry with him. BUT she got back out there and rebuild it. This was just with in the last two weeks.
DONT give up. If you had any pics wed love to see them and then we could give ya some pointers as to how to get everything tied down. If no pics we will still tell ya. BUT dont give up. You have two weeks yet and you can do this. If you were excited at the beginning of Oct, then by golly you will be so upset on halloween night if you let this pass by. Come on Stabbo....get with it guy. Just get on here and fuss and cuss and get out the frustrations with us but get out there and GET HER DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU can do this........

[Darkside]

Giving up is never the answer. If you were at a big kegger party and doing beer bongs, you wouldn't give up if the first try wasn't perfect. :)
Seriously, It's just trial and error, man. Trust me, the long term effect (the praise, the kids who talk about it for years to come...etc) it makes it all worth it.
As for the money thing, hey have a government job and 2 kids, I understand a empty wallet, but there are tons of ideas on this forum to get around that too.
Now, get out there and get to work. :)

[DeathTouch]

I have had the same issues, and it seems we are in the same area. I just get out there and tie it down again. 50 times if I have too. I won't stop because I love it.

[Ms. Wicked]

Don't give up!

My new tree got damaged in the same storms; two branches broke off.

We'll just brace them back on and throw on a new lick of paint. ;)

[joker]

So far so good, but I went into this thing (my first haunt) expecting problems, necessary changes, and disasters. Knowing this is still before me with less than two weeks till Halloween I keep in mind why I'm doing it. Some of my fondest memories as a child are from Halloween. If 20+ years from now some kid that came through my haunt is sharing with their child or someone else it'll be worth it.

My son (6 yrs old) asked me a few days ago why I was doing all of this. So I asked him do you like trick or treating, haunted houses, scare affair (event at local community college), etc... Of course his reply was "YES!!". I then went on to explain to him that other people have to do those things for them to be there for him to enjoy them, and that's what we're doing. Something that others can enjoy. If no one did them, those things wouldn't be there for others to enjoy.

These are the things memories are made of. Hang in there and don't give up....I'm pretty sure you'll regret later if you give up.

[Beth]

Quitters never prosper. Get back at it!! Someday some kid will thank you!!!

[CerysCrow]

Like everyone has said - get back out there and don't give up!

[Stabbo-J20]

thank you so much everybody! youre words were a huge encourgement and just what I needed! Im going to give it a few days and let the tstorm/high winds to calm down a bit and Im resetting everything up

[Hellrazor]

Good job. This has happened to all of us to one extent or another. We jsut find a new/better way of setting up. I have had tombstones go rolling down the road so this year I cut out wedges and PL Premiumed the Crap out of them. they havnt budged.
The birds keep eating my tombstones and I keep putting black paint where they eat... what are you going to do. ITs fun and its constant maintenance.

Im happy you will set it back up again. Dont worry about it, The main thing is to have it all done for Oct 31. I also do a window display so my props that I dont want to go missing, gets shown to the world. Have a super time and keep up the great work...

POST PICS!!!!

[1031fan]

20 and in college - i hear ya man - right there with ya - rough years for sure - glad to hear your back at it though - a true haunter isn't made in the month before halloween, but in the last dwindling light of d-day. LONG LIVE THE HAUNTERS!!!!!

[Otaku]

Don't give up! I remember my first year haunting - nothing seemed to work as expected. The next year I built my first talking Bucky skull, and tried to coordinate that with an animated groundbreaker, thunder/lightning and so on. I got some wiring crossed up, and the whole thing was a major disaster. Swore I'd never haunt again...yeah, right! The folks here helped me get things working and the past two years have had no problems. Ask for advice, we're happy to help!

[Eyes_in_the_dark]

Hey you have to plan on weather when you build/decorate. We’ve had bad weather every weekend this month so most of my display has been setting in the garage or laying down in the yard so the wind doesn’t blow them over/away. Below is not how I wanted my house to look on the 19th of Oct. but, what can you do? BTW tomorrow we are going to get wind, rain, and snow, another weekend shot but, I’m still hoping Halloween will work-out.

Some years are going to be a bust for one reason or another and some years are going to go great….not perfect but, great! The good years are the ones you hold on to and never let your sprit and love of Halloween go!

Peper's ghost mirror and other decs.
http://www.warthogpen.com/halloween_files/weather_1.jpg


Big Screem TV set-up
http://www.warthogpen.com/halloween_files/weather_2.jpg

Decs laid-over because of the wind.
http://www.warthogpen.com/halloween_files/weather_3.jpg

Overall house, looks like crap. Can't even turn on the lights because water is in all the powerstrips.
http://www.warthogpen.com/halloween_files/weather_4.jpg

[UnderMan]

How'd it turn out? Did you enjoy yourself? Did everyone else like what you did? Bet the effort was worth the trouble.