[Eyes_in_the_dark]

Had a nice Halloween this year (75-100 TOT’s) and my first real haunt went over very well with most people, mostly the older ones. The only thing with my haunt was is scared my 7 year old daughter so bad she had trouble sleeping by her self while the haunt was up. I tried everything from letting her help with the props to letting her control the fog machine on Halloween night but, she is only now getting back to sleeping by her self after I‘ve taken everything down. Also during Halloween night a lot of the young TOT’s were scared to come-up to the house. This is the opposed of what I want my Halloween display to be so, next year my daughter will be in charge of what our display will contain.

After thinking about it I realized there are very few “nice” Halloween displays without any blood or gore what-so-ever so, I’ve decided I want mine next year it to be a Halloween wonderland for the young TOT’s with a flying Casper the friendly ghost, Windy the nice witch cooking in a smoking caldron, and all the other not scary creatures from my Halloween past. I’m sure I will be able to use a lot of the “tricks of the trade” to do my display next year and your knowledge of prop building will come in handy I‘m sure.

Well thanks to everyone on this forum for your help this year and I look forward to working with ya on next years display.

 

[KryptKittie69]

BLASPHEMY!

Taking the scare out of Halloween?
That's what Christmas is for. Casper?!!! yuck.

 

[Otaku]

Life's no fun without a good scare! I use no blood, gore, body parts (except skellys and bones) in my graveyard display at all. I have a number of mache groundbreakers, but the overall theme is the creepiness of a graveyard on a dark foggy Halloween night. Cute can be fun, too, but Halloween does have it's dark side.

 

[NecroBones]

Heheh, understandable. I think there's plenty of room for cute and non-scary stuff. You just won't see me doing it... well, not much anyway. I do cute at my office. Spooky at home.

I too don't use blood or gore. Just bones and skeletons, and hopefully soon a ghost. Graves, JOLs, that sort of thing. I go for "spooky" rather than "scary" if you know what I mean.

If you do go all cute on us, be sure to post lots of pictures! I'd love to see what you come up with.

 

[TearyThunder]

I can totally relate Eyes. I have wee little ones too that come up and I don't want to terrorize them to where they are afraid of Halloween and I ruin it for them. I usually go with funny, cutesy, and quirky. I nutty anyways so I can certainly come up with some crazy ideas. I am slowly adding mare spooky and scary in as the years go on. So far all has been going well.

 

[Koumajutsu]

I can totally relate Eyes. I have wee little ones too that come up and I don't want to terrorize them to where they are afraid of Halloween and I ruin it for them. I usually go with funny, cutesy, and quirky. I nutty anyways so I can certainly come up with some crazy ideas. I am slowly adding mare spooky and scary in as the years go on. So far all has been going well.

It's true, she just recently aquired somethgin -really- scary, but she's still waitign on it to get delivered from CA

 

[trishaanne]

We do one side of the yard as the cemetary and the other side is child friendly, where nothing will move, scare them or jump out. Last year I had bluckies doing yard work and a little zombie playground set up complete with a quick-sand box and a krpyt kiddie on a swing, but nothing moved so the kids weren't scared. This year we made the band for the kids and the little ones had a great time dancing to the band while their older brothers or sisters or parents went through the maze in the back yard. Just a suggestion to combine both, although I know you weren't really asking for suggestions or ideas. Please post pics of whatever it is you decide to do.

 

[TearyThunder]

It's true, she just recently aquired somethgin -really- scary, but she's still waitign on it to get delivered from CA

Do you really think I'm going to use you for a prop? You are even too cutesy for my display.

 

[pyro]

cute-mmmmmm maybe not as scary i know next year im splitting it up , but im not going cute

 

[Lilly]

"cute" is fine especially if the scarey is upsetting her. maybe she will grow into it. thats a good idea to let her do it.

 

[wormyt]

Well I can relate to this thread LOL. Mine is all about cute and fun. We had just about 400 folks this year. Oh yeah its me again ...WORMYT!!! I work at the Elementary school where alot of kids know me, so they all come to my Halloween home. We serve Hot cider, Hot chocolate and apple juice to the folks so I CANT scare anyone and make um spill hot drink on them. So mine is all about come and visit. Its like my one big party for the year. I want them to come and walk around, take pics and just enjoy each other. Its like a huge party, even though alot of them dont even know who I am as its my volunteers who serve the drinks and hand out the candy. Im always just walking around taking pics here and there, while my volunteers do the work. Its sooooooooooo much fun though. I can be standing out front and listening to folks talk about my Halloween display and them not even knowing its my house. Then i had three survalience cameras going also that i record all night. So now its fun to sit back and watch Halloween night all over again and listen to the comments folks make. So trust me here if its Cute you want...I can help ya out lol. Parents with small kids love it, and the parents love walking around without having a screaming kid in tow.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Normally my mother-in-law greets the TOTs and hands out the candy. She likes to decorate the front foyer with all sorts of cute scarecrows and Happy Halloween stuff. I figure if they are brave enough to make it past all the outdoor displays and up to the front door they can have the cute Halloween stuff with their candy as a reward. LOL!

 

[Eyes_in_the_dark]

Thanks wormyt I will be looking for help around spring time. I personally love the scary and macabre but, I want to pass my love of Halloween along to my daughter and if that means one year of cute…so be it, I also think it will be a fun and unique display to try.

 

[ghostie]

...I also think it will be a fun and unique display to try.

I think so too. I can't wait to see what you end up with. I think a cute haunt would be a neat change...(by the way, Casper rocks!) It will be fun to see the looks on the kids faces when they realize they're not going to be scared and miserable...smiles and laughter are way better than tears...IMHO.

 

[bozz]

My family friendly maze pics.....

We kept our maze family friendly....no bones,blood,gore,monsters.....more of a fun house with a little spooky and creepy in places......we have way too many little kids here....now our actors were a little creepy.....but we would take off the mask and not jump out when the little tots came through......we still had to beg a few to come in and they were teens....we use blow dryers and sound box for cheap scares....still had screamers in the thick fog.....see pics here.http://community.webtv.net/boswell7/doc0

 

[SkullAndBone]

Check out RickPolizzi's haunt http://www.boneyisland.com/

I think it's a very cool kid friendly haunt.

 

[slimy]

Very cool indeed. Love the video.

 

[Eyes_in_the_dark]

Thanks for the supportive comments, the more I think about it the more I’m convinced this will be a fun project. One thing I know I want to do is Linus in a pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin and life-size models of all the Peanuts in their Halloween costumes, maybe even a sound track for Charlie Brown saying “I got a rock”.

I will look at all the links and pictures you’ve provided first chance I get to maybe get some ideas.

 

[edwood saucer]

Yeah - totally agree - have fun. It doesn't have to be particularly scary or gorey to say holloween. I really can't wait to see your progress.

 

[stretchnuts]

cute has been the decline of halloween everywhere!! every year halloween decorating has seem to slowly diminish and all that remains are inflatable props. scarecrows, ghosts and skeletons with rosy cheeks and happy smiles. ( yuck!!) people like ourselves are the last hope for halloween. by using our imagination and crafting skills we can only hope to spark the flame we call home haunting for future generations. i beg of you dont go cute.