It’s the early days of October, and you know what that means right? It’s almost Halloween! Believe it or not, in the most recent years, Halloween decorating has become just as popular (if not more) as Christmas. People are getting more excited and prepared a lot earlier than they used to in order to have the best possible experience. But rather than just decorating your door and patio with some pumpkins, why not go all out this year and transform your home into a haunted house?
Here’s how.
Pick a theme
Every kind of haunted house needs a theme to focus on, as a few black candles aren’t going to cut it. Come up with a story that leads from one room to another to keep people guessing (and scared!) Do you want your house to be a graveyard that is now infested with zombies, or vampires? Or maybe the abandoned home of a cult of witches that practise their dark magic. Or the home of the chainsaw massacre… Once you have an idea – run with it.
Choose your scare squad
Rope in the help of your willing friends and family to play characters in your haunted house. This will just add another dimension to the experience by having live actors that can make noises, move around, jump out, and even touch people. Make sure that you go all out on costumes and makeup so they turn into the character you had imagined them too. Even if it’s just fake blood, a pale face, and greasy hair – make sure it looks legit.
Set a path
Make sure you have some sort of coordination and structure to your haunted house. You’ll need to make sure people start in the right place if you’ve created a story to go along with the different rooms. So they know what order things have to go, you can write a bloody number on every room. That way your live actors can be ready and prepared too for when they need to perform.
Setting the atmosphere
Any ordinary bulbs that you have, make sure to switch them for some red ones, or even black lights instead. This will just add to the drama within your home. If you’re taking things out into your garden, place some solar spotlights down on the lawn, or even use some candles. Keeping them in mason jars that will prevent them from going out. You may want to paint them red or black. Remember that it’s not just the lighting – it’s the shadows that are created by them too. Another thing to add to the atmosphere is to switch air conditioners on to make your home unnaturally cold – perfect for the living dead.
Now that you have some basic ideas you can come up with a plan. Then do absolutely everything you can to make it as entertaining as possible. Just remember that if you have an open house for neighbours, if it’s too scary, put a warning outside for parents of younger children!!
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