Create a Haunted Yard for Halloween
There’s nothing more fun than creating a haunted atmosphere in your yard at Halloween. You don’t have to spend a great deal of money of have special talents to make a haunted atmosphere. Here are a few tips to help you out.
Recruit Ghouls Encourage family members, friends and their kids to play ghoulish creatures to haunt your yard. Most will love the idea and play their role enthusiastically. Scaring people is a lot of fun and it’s not often that the opportunity comes along. If you know someone who has an old hearse, ask to borrow it and park it in your yard. Surround it with tombstones and install eerie lighting and play a spooky CD to add to the effect. The spookiest part of the atmosphere will be the live ghosts, goblins, mummies, monsters and vampires that stand perfectly still until someone comes up the walk, at which time they can stalk, dance or jump around the yard. Another idea is to have the real life creatures move only slightly while sitting between tombstones or other ghoulish props, such as spider webs, coffins or a huge skull and crossbones. Atmosphere You need to create the perfect atmosphere to make your haunted yard a spooky success. This can be done with special effects, such as eerie sounds, lighting and props. Ghostly Sounds Watch in the stores when they first begin displaying their Halloween merchandise and pick up some ghastly music and sounds. You can often buy CDs that include blood curdling screams, clinking chains and ghostly moans. Eerie Lighting There are several different ways to create an eerie effect with lighting. Have your live ghouls hold flashlights or place them in shrubs, behind resin tombstones, in flower beds or borders. Halloween colored mini lights can be purchased in most department stores and come in a wide variety of themes. Ghosts, skulls, vampires and pumpkins will add a ghostly effect to porches, stair railings or windows. Colored bulbs in flood lights also add to the spooky atmosphere and be sure to trade the clear bulbs in your porch light to black or orange. Strobe lights are great as well. You can purchase one for between $40 and $50 or ask family members and friends if they have one you can borrow. Another option that will be a great hit is to use torches to line the walk or driveway. Be sure to set them back far enough that little ones don’t knock them over. This could cause their costumes to catch fire. Be sure to provide enough light for trick-or-treaters to be safe, but not enough to take away the spooky effect. Fog Have you ever been out on a dark, foggy night? The effect is definitely spooky and if you’re in a cemetery, it can be quite scary. Fog machines can be purchased for between $80 and $120 and last for years. Fog effect can also be created with dry ice. However, this can be dangerous, as dry ice can burn skin. Never allow dry ice to touch bare skin. Haunting Tips and Tricks
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