|
1 -
Spookify your computer with a scary screensaver!
2
-
Old tree trunks or cut sections
of thick limbs make great stands for your Jack O' Lanterns, witches
cauldrons and other props. You can sometimes find these at nursery's. You
can also check with local firewood providers.
3
-
Hollow out mini pumpkins and use
as votive candle holders. They are inexpensive and look really great, you can even carve
or paint faces in them!
4
-
Ask your Halloween party guests
to bring a carved pumpkin to the party. Set up a special table to display them all on
(this will also enhance your party décor!)
5
-
Serve fresh veggies using a
hollowed out pumpkin as a bowl. Cut of the top and clean out, leaving the top in a jagged
edge design! Use mini pumpkins to hold dips!
6
-
Add the effect of lightning to
your haunted house, yard haunt or Halloween party with the Lightning Machine from Haunted
Creations.
This unit realistically simulates the effects of both thunder
and lightning!
7
-
Use clear food handlers plastic
gloves to freeze ice hands to throw in the punch bowl. It will keep it cold and look
great!
8
-
For an eerie effect, hang
glow-in-the-dark bats, skeletons and spiders from the ceilings and trees! Write scary
Halloween messages or body outlines on your front walk using colored chalk or washable
fluorescent paint. Use a black lights to enhance the effect.
9
-
Treating your kids to a spooky
Halloween dinner will make them less likely to eat the candy they collect before you have
a chance to check it for them.
10
-
Create creepy autumn
centerpieces by filling vases with dried flowers, brown leaves, and empty branches. Tie a
black ribbon bow around each centerpiece.
11
-
Fog machines are now very
inexpensive and readily available during the Halloween buying season, adding one to your
haunt or party makes a big impact on your Halloween celebration and will add that extra
effect to thrill and scare your trick or treaters.
12
-
Add some spider web to your
party decorations and haunt, you can find it at most stores selling Halloween products.
Just attach to something and pull it out all over!
13
-
Use apples for taper candle
holders. Choose small, round apples that will sit stable on a flat surface and remove the
stems. Cut a small round hole in the top of each apple - deep and wide enough to securely
hold a taper candle. Make sure the apples are shaped so that they have a
flat bottom,
so they won't tip over.
14
-
Great party idea, start a circle
ghost story! Sit in a circle and start a scary ghost story. Each guest adds on to the
story until it reaches a scary ending!
15
-
Videotape your Halloween
memories! Interview some of your trick-or-treaters, your yard haunt, carved
jack-o-lanterns. You'll be glad you did when you sit down to watch it later!
16
-
You can find candy companies on
line that will add a personalized wrapper to your candy bars! They are relatively
inexpensive and make a great treat to hand out at your yard haunt!
17
-
Having a party for little
ghouls? Let them make their instruments out of oat meal cans, tin cans, add a inexpensive
plastic flute, noise makers, kazoos and start a musical Halloween parade through your
neighborhood! The kids love it and the neighbors will, too!
18
-
An alternative to bobbing for
apples is to hang them by their stems with thread from the ceiling and let party goers try
to bite them!
19
-
Hang long strands of white
thread on your porch to simulate spider webs. Make them long enough so that little kids
will be able to feel them, too. Spray them with water to add an extra creepy factor.
20
-
Have a pumpkin carving contest
for your kids and their friends. Buy a few smaller pumpkins and give prizes for the most
creative. You can also use paints as an alternative.
21
-
Make a scarecrow for your front
porch or yard to great your trick or treaters. Stuff jeans and an old shirt with newspaper, use a stuffed mask or
plastic pumpkin for the head. Add some straw for effect.
22
-
Use mini ears of Indian corn,
mini pumpkins and gourds to embellish your Halloween party table. They make excellent
arrangements for an autumn table as well.
23
-
Tie small glow sticks to string
attached to helium balloons and let them sail over your house for spooky lights in the
sky. Make sure to tie off the strings to something solid so they do 't get away!
Goblin Light article
24
-
Black lights add an eerie touch
to your party or haunt. You can find them all over year round, use the florescent lights
as opposed to screw in bulbs which are not true U.V. light.
25
-
Use a plastic cauldron partially
filled with hot water, then add some dry ice and a glow stick to create an eerie
centerpiece for your table. Be careful handling the dry ice! It can burn skin very easily.
26
-
If you are having a party for
the kids, make sure to have lots of entertaining games ready to go. The classic "Hal
O. Ween and his Squishy Body" is a great one, you'll find the instructions to it and
more
here.
27
-
When choosing a pumpkin to carve
for Halloween, make sure that you find one that fits the carving idea you have. If using a template, make sure that it will fit.
28
-
You can use tools from around the
house, like an ice cream spade, to clean out the inside of your pumpkin.
29
-
Keep all your pumpkin carving
tools in a tool box so you'll know where they are every year. Keep them clean and
sharpened and you'll be all set for carving!
30
-
You can make your own pumpkin
carving stencils from clip art and your printer. Find something simple that you like, make
a negative of it and print it out!
31
-
Keep your pumpkin seeds when
gutting your pumpkin so you can roast them up later for a fun Halloween treat!
32
-
There are a ton of Halloween and
horror related fonts out there to use on your computer and many of them are shareware. Use
them to dress up invitations and make banners for your party.
33
-
Decorate yourself for
Halloween! Paint Halloween nails in black and orange or candy corn colors.
Find out how
here!
34
-
Making your own blood is less
expensive than buying ready made! It's easy and only takes a few household items like Karo
syrup and food coloring.
Click here!
35
-
Tie or sew glow-sticks to your
child's costume so they can be seen more easily in the dark. You can also use reflective
tape.
36
-
Great party idea, start a circle
ghost story! Sit in a circle and start a scary ghost story. Each guest adds on to the
story until it reaches a scary ending!
37
-
If you have porch steps, make
sure they are easy to navigate for your trick or treat guests. Use jack-o-lanterns to
light the stairs. Put a high intensity glow stick inside for light.
38
-
If using dry ice in a punch
bowl, make sure that the person serving keeps any dry ice chips out of drinks! It can
cause severe injury if ingested. For more info on using dry ice for check out the
Special
FX section in the here.
39
-
Instruct your children not to
eat any treats until they bring them home to be examined by you.
40
-
Halloween style flashlights make
a great addition to your child's costume and can add extra safety to a dark night, helping
to make your child more visible while trick or treating. You can find ghosts, skulls and
many more designs at low prices. Be sure to use long lasting batteries.
41
-
If
you are having a yard haunt for the neighborhood to see, it's a good idea to
check with your insurance company to make sure you're home owners insurance
covers you should there be an accident. You make want extra coverage for the
occasion.
42
-
Make sure that any store bought
costume is fire retardant. Nylon and other materials used to make mass produced Halloween
costumes is highly flammable. Those made out of vinyl can be
particularly hazardous.
43
-
Instead of buying your pumpkins
in a grocery store, check your phone book and newspaper for local pumpkin farms.
Make a week-end trip with your kids and let them pick out their own pumpkins! Also,
pumpkins are usually less expensive at farms and stands.
44
-
Have a Halloween film festival
every weekend in October. Watch a scary film, an old classic or a newer horror movie. Make some popcorn,
invite friends over! For film suggestion -
click here!
45
-
Have a film classic themed
Halloween party! Costumes can include Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy, Frankenstein and his bride,
Freddy Kruger, Michael Myers, Jason, to name just a few.
46
-
If you live in a more rural area
or have the yard space, grow your own pumpkins for carving! After you have picked them,
leave the vines as part of the yard haunt!
47
-
You can make very simple
tombstones that will add a lot to your yard haunt or Halloween party using a few items
from the hardware store.
48
-
If you live out of the way,
build a giant Halloween beacon to draw trick or treaters to your house. Its easy to make
using a large plastic jack-o-lantern, some ABS pipe and a few assorted attachment pieces.
This light really stands out!
Instructions
are available here!
49
-
Make some beautiful Halloween
photo frames to put your Halloween memories in and display for all to see! Easy, fast and
you'll love them!
Learn how
here!
50
-
Instead of
buying candy to hand out to your local kids, make a batch of caramel apples,
pop corn balls or other sweet treats! Home made is always better!
51
-
To make the fog from your fog
machine lay on the ground, build an inexpensive fog chiller from PVC pipe and an old
cooler.
More info here!
52
-
What would Halloween be with a
skeleton hanging from the porch or a tree? Bucky Skeletons are economical life-size
articulated adult size plastic skeleton.
Unlike the paper or cheap plastic skeletons these look very real and you
can buy this time of the year. So, add a skeleton or two to your haunt or party.
53
-
Liven up your black light
effects by using some florescent paint, cosmetics and material to show off the glow!
54
-
You can find all kinds of
collectable toys at this time of year from Mattel, McFarlane, Sideshow Toys and others!
They make great gifts for that special someone in your life!
55
-
Hook a web cam up to your
computer and run it through the internet. Point it at your front door so people can see the comings and
goings of your trick or treaters!
56
-
Set a boom-box on the roof and
play some spooky mood music! Many rock, theme and haunted sounds CD's can be found at this
time of year! Music can add the perfect mood to your haunt or party. Try some oldies hits,
some new mood music or sound effects.
57
-
Take lots of Halloween photos of
your guests. If you have a party, leave disposable cameras around so everyone can catch
candid shots! Learn how to take great pictures by reading this
article.
58
-
Make your Halloween party a
theme party. Every one must dress as the theme, such as vampires, zombies, witches, etc.
Have a Halloween costume contest at your party! Give prizes out for the best imagination
used, the silliest and the least Halloweenie costumes! Learn more about
starting Halloween traditions here.
59
-
Have a pumpkin carving night
with your friends or family. This is great for a kids party, give prizes out to the most
creative!
60
-
Spice up your doorbell for
Halloween with a programmable one. You can use recorded music, a spooky voice or whatever
you want to set the mood!
61
-
You can find all kinds of
Halloween flags and banner during the Halloween season. Hang one or two up around your
house to show your Halloween spirit!
62
-
Make some Halloween wreaths to
hang on your front door and around the inside of your house. They are simple to make and
fun to do!
63
-
Use apples for taper candle
holders. Choose small, round apples that will sit stable on a flat surface and remove the
stems. Cut a small round hole in the top of each apple - deep and wide enough to securely
hold a taper candle. Make sure the apples are shaped so that they have a
flat bottom,
so they won't tip over.
64
-
Halloween celebrations are going
on all over the country, this is a good time to visit cities like New Orleans and
Salem, Mass. If you live close by, join in the festivities! Don't forget to check
out your local haunts like the Jaycees and other charitable haunts!
65
-
Adding a strobe light to your
yard haunt can really jazz it up! Use it along with a fog machine for extra effect!
66
-
Tired of a plain old skeleton?
Turn him into a vampire! Using an inexpensive cardboard coffin and some prop clothing,
your skeleton can become the corpse on the undead!
67
-
You can easily build a rotting
corpse out of a cheap plastic skeleton using paper towel, spray glue, spray foam
insulation and a little more. It'll add some life to your Halloween haunt!
Read how here!
68
-
At a loss for a costume idea? A
quick and easy costume is the
Totally
Skelebones costume that is readily available during Halloween season. It's a great
costume for everyone, it comes in colors and glow in the dark, which is great under a
black light!
69
-
Dress your pets up for
Halloween! Lots of cool costumes are available for them. Only do this if they like it,
don't force your pet to do anything that seems to bother them!
If you are having a party or a lot of trick or treaters, be sure to put nervous pets in a
bedroom or someplace where they won't be startled by all the noise. Some pets don't
appreciate Halloween.
70
-
Do an "ultimate"
costume this year, be it vampire, zombie, grim reaper or mummy. Use contacts, fangs, latex
prosthetics, and a high end costume. Do it up right and be the life of the party!
Ideas and info here!
71
-
A tasty treat can be made using
simple marshmallows, melted white chocolate and sucker sticks. Check this
article
out for the rest of the recipe!
72
-
Want to take the best
Halloween pictures you can?
Click here for lots of photography
information and tips!
73
-
Looking for ideas on how to make
your Halloween haunt the absolute best? There are a few books out there, some great,
some not so great.
Be sure that
you buy the best book available on haunting,
The Do-It Yourself Haunted House Guide!
74
-
Sitting around with nothing to
do, wanting to surf personal Halloween sites but tired of looking at the thousands of
search links? Try a web site specific site that has only Halloween links.
75
-
Add some color to your
jack-o-lantern display by using some of the many varieties of pumpkins that are out there.
Try out the Cinderella, Snowball, or Atlantic Giant.
76
-
Add some skulls and bones -
random piles of bones and the occasional skull can set off your graveyard or walk way.
77
-
Cobwebs add a lot to any
Halloween theme setting! Get some of the inexpensive bags of webs and out them everywhere!
Just attach one side and pull them out to create a spooky look!
78
-
Using a rope type spider web,
add a giant spider! If you place a light source behind it, a strobe or flicker light, it
will give the illusion that the spider is moving!
79
-
There are a multitude of
Halloween cards to be found at this time of year, make sure you send cards to friends and
family! If you don't send snail mail cards, send e-cards instead!
80
-
Add artificial ravens and crows
to the tops of tombstones, in the trees, anywhere they can sit and stare at your visitors.
You can find them at most arts and crafts stores, department type stores, just about
everywhere!
81
-
Do you throw away your
jack-o-lanterns when they start to rot? Start a tradition of burying them instead! Make a ceremony, get the whole family together and
honor the pumpkins that gave their lives for your Halloween!
82
-
For a simple party game, buy a
bunch of mini pumpkins and play "find the pumpkins". Hide them all over the
house and yard and the person who finds the most wins a prize! For more game ideas, try
here!
83
-
Be sure and save some of your
Halloween spending money for those day after Halloween sales! You can pick up all kinds of
things that you'll be able to use next year at discounted prices!
84
-
Decorate your vehicle for
Halloween! Hang a wreath or decoration on the front grill, have a Halloween slogan license
plate holder made, make an antenna ball out of a little pumpkin!
85
-
Remember, when using a fog
machine indoors to have proper ventilation. Also, glycol based fog juice can leave a thin
oily film on wood surfaces, making them slippery! More Fog FAQ's
here!
86
-
Get together with your neighbors
and have an old fashioned neighborhood Halloween block party! Or get everyone on your
street to decorate for Halloween and let the local news station and paper know about it!
Promote Halloween!
87
-
Let your children know not to
cut through back alleys and fields when out trick or treating. Make sure they know to stay
in populated places and don't go off the beaten track. Tell them to stay in well lit areas
and make sure they carry a flash light of some kind.
88
-
If you have a particularly
gruesome yard haunt set up, make sure you have warning signs up so that those with a weak
stomach can be forewarned. Also, consider setting up a less gruesome one for the younger
kids to enjoy!
89
-
Make sure you set a time that
your kids should be home if they go trick or treating with a group or are at a party. Make
sure they know how important it is for them to be home on time or to call home if there is
a problem. Better yet, but a set of walkie-talkies. For more tips check
here.
90
-
If you and your child are going
out trick or treating with a group, make your child's costume a unique one so you can
spot them easily in a crowded area. If there's something eye catching about their costume
or what they are carrying, you can find them easily in any crowd.
91
-
Did you know that Las Vegas,
Nevada is a rockin' Halloween town?? It makes a great vacation destination for Halloween!
For more info,
check this out!
92
-
Use your garage for setting up a
small walk-through haunt. You can turn it into anything you want, a mad scientist lab, a
vampires tomb, a grave yard.
93
-
Create creepy autumn
centerpieces by filling vases with dried flowers, brown leaves, and empty branches. Tie a
black ribbon bow around each centerpiece.
94
-
Open a Halloween savings
account, like a Christmas Club only better! That way you'll have lots of cash to spend on
the latest cool Halloween items each year! For more ways to save,
click
here!
95
-
There are lots of great
instructional books out there to show you how to do Halloween and horror make-up, build a
great haunt and throw a fantastic party! It's also something that you can look at all year
long to keep you in the Halloween spirit! Click
here for
ideas!
96
-
If you are holding your party in
your house, make sure that you move any breakable pieces of furniture or knick-knacks to
another room where they can't get broken. A forgotten heirloom vase that hits the floor
could ruin the night for you!
97
-
Plant two fake novelty feet
upside-down with the feet sticking up or two fake hands
reaching upwards in your Halloween cemetery.
98
-
Remember, if you are using fake
blood or making your own, it can be sticky and stains very badly! Make sure that whatever
you put it on is expendable! Rubbing some petroleum jelly over skin before the blood is
applied will help keep the staining down.
99
-
If you are using a lot of
Jack-O-Lanterns for your party or haunt, you might want to try a battery powered light
source or light sticks to light them instead of candles. This cuts down on the fire
hazards, such as catching costumes or props on fire.
100
-
Setup a table with treats, punch
and goodies in your front yard if you live in a small neighborhood. Invite the children
and their parents to stop by for refreshments, you'll start a small party right in your
front yard!
|
