Halloween 2015

Well, haven't I been the lazy one?  Finally, here are some pics of Chabby House, Halloween 2015.

I go for a more creepy and chilling Halloween Haunt as opposed to the gore alot of haunts have these days. It scares a few of the little ones but the older seem to think it fun and not scary at all.  I will have to work on that.

I rebuilt the pillars again this year.  I went with a wood frame and covered in dry wall.  They looked really good. I also, at my hubby's suggestion, added electrical to one so we can hide a few of our cords. I also revamped the arch itself. I covered them up over the winter so, fingers crossed, I don't have to do a lot of work on them again in 2016.  We also added a better fence. I will be making more sections this year.

We built our first walk through this year.  The ToTrs were met with the Grim Reaper.  As the night wore on and it got colder, the batteries started to fail but it was cool while it lasted.  By the time it was really dying, the kids were pretty much done. We picked up the Reaper at Canadian Tire.  It lit up, spoke and had flapping wings.

This was the first section in the walk through this year. I was going for a creepy overgrown feel.

Our dropping spider hung out here, along with bugs and snakes. If you look close, you might be able to see him.

You can see the doorway into the next room, the witches' lair.

This is a pic of the witches' lair looking back toward the doorway.  It definitely will need more lighting next year.  It was too dark to see all the detail - potion bottles, etc. You can also see a bit of the altar beside the witch.  She is facing two other witches - part of my haunt since the beginning - one stirring her cauldron and the other reading from the spell book.

This is a close up of the altar.  We set up my hubby's monitor to show a ghost video - Ghostly Apparitions, from AtmosFearFX.  People seemed to enjoy it. I am using more Celtic flavour of props - due to my wanting to promote the past meaning of Halloween as Samhain, a time to honour our ancestors and the dead. 

The Scarecrow was at the top of the haunt where it turned to head back out.  I had my jumping spider and skeleton here as well but they were hard to see in the dark.  More planning to do for next year.

The last section to go through before you left the haunt was the crypt. This is where I had my ghosts. The one you can see lit up also made noise and moved which was pretty cool.

Again, this past year we suffered through the winds of late October but the temperature was good and we had more kids than ever before. 

I have already started planning for 2016.  I have picked up a couple of deer motors from FrightProps so I will have a couple more animated props. 

This coming year will be harder as Halloween is on a Monday night but we will do our best. So, hope to see you in October! Bigger and Better!

Happy Haunting.

13 DAYS!

Yup, only 13 days left until the big night.  Just a quick post.  Still working on fixing up my props - painting, painting and more painting.  I hope to get things up this week.  Hubby is helping but we still haven't got the walls up yet.  I hope it doesn't take too long to put them up and decorate.  I have a few new and awesome props this year.  Not sure where they will go.  More info to come.

October 1, 2015

Well, it is the first day of October and I am far from ready for Halloween.  Most of September I was sick so now I have to go into overdrive to get the yard ready.  I will post pics as I get things done. Now starts a marathon run.

93 Days Until Halloween!

Another Halloween is on the way!  I have drafted up my layout, bigger with more scares.  I am building a walk through that will go into the backyard.  I am having a bit of an issue with how scary to make it.  Don't want it too scary for the younger kids but don't want it boring either.  I guess I will have to use my son as a guide; although things that should scare him don't but things that shouldn't scare him do. Oh well, I will do my best and learn from it.  I will be posting my progress here for you to see the development of the haunt.

Happy Haunting!

Good Bye Halloween 2014

Another Halloween come and gone.  This year was a very good year.  Only real wind was during the set up.  The evening was great - warm and very little to no wind. Tons of compliments on the set up.  We have expanded as much as we can in the front - next year growing into the backyard. 

Not many new things this year.  We built a grave digger and picked up a jumping spider.  We also put together a "witches' lair" and finally got the sound going.  We picked up a sound system we found in the Christmas decorations.  It coordinates sound and light.  The speaker isn't the best but it worked great. 

Halloween 2014 In Progress

Purchases for this year have been made.  Might need a couple more things but we have already exceeded the budget so now it is put together, paint and get ready time.  Too late today to start painting but I can't wait until tomorrow.  Thinking of working on the PVC tonight to get the witches and grave digger started.  Fun. Fun. Fun.

Update - Halloween 2014

It is that time of year again.  Time to start the posting and count down to the greatest day/night of the year.  I have already hit both the Halloween Superstore and Spirit Halloween.  Here is my take on both stores.

The Halloween Superstore on Macleod Trail (just South of Chinook Centre) is great this year if you are looking for costumes.  You have to go way into the back to a small room for props.  They have a couple of good ones and their prices aren't too bad. The front of the store is everything for costumes and for in-house decorating.  The in-house decorations are pretty nice but kind of "cutesy". 

Spirit Halloween (on 32nd Ave NE beside Michaels) is okay this year.  I think they had a bigger store last year on Macleod Trail and  it had more props and accessories for the yard haunter.  Either way, it was a great time wandering through the store.  We picked up a couple of things that I hope we can put to use this year.  I am hoping to check out the other Spirit Halloween store to see if it is any different.  They also have a decent selection of costumes.

As for our progress, I pulled out the pillars out today for a look over and started the process of repainting - again.  Yes, I will need to find a better way to store them over the winter.  The main issue is that we usually have snow by Halloween and putting things away can be a real hassle.  I will need to do some repainting of the archway too. 

I am looking at building a grave digger this year and we are working on walls to enclose the witches and possibly building a Mummy room.  I will post pics once things are under way. 

Happy Haunting!