| HALLOWEEN 2004 |
| New Props coming including, Severed head, Alien guts bowl and Spider web entrance. |
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| Severed Head |
| Severed head on a stick. A lovely idea, so gruesome, so lovely, so incredibly easy to make! I had a left over head (don't ask me why, I just have these things), from years past, one that I purchased from a hair replacement center for about $10. You can probably get them cheaper but that seemed to be the logical place to get them. I bought a rounded 3 foot pole from Lowe's for about $1.99 and my favorite thing of all time, Great Stuff to make the 'guts' coming out of the head. I painted the pole black and used black and red spray paint on the head. The spray paint I used is a latex based paint that does not mesh well with styrofoam. It looks like instant rot. Use a considerable amount and spray up close to really let it bore in deeply. I filled the head hole at the bottom with great stuff, inserted the pole, and carefully piled it on the bottom of the head, wrapping it a bit around the pole. It only takes about an hour to dry, and it was ready to be painted. This is a very quick and easy project to make! |
| Well, we are in a new house this year, moving from McDonald Manor Maitland, to McDonald Manor Oviedo. The many trees we had around the house are gone, but we have more space to work with, and a courtyard out front to go crazy with. The house might be different but the mentality is still the same! |
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| SPIDER WEB SCREAM |
| It's all about diversion right? So we put up the cheapo spider webs around the entrance to the house, filled it with tons of little plastic spiders and created a diversion with the graveyard and fog machine as you walk up. But what would McDonald Manor be without a bit of a surprise before you come to drink our booze? Well, Andy always takes care of that, and in an hour, he set up a motion sensor, strobe lights and a nice sound that blares at you when you walk to the front door. The motion detector was rigged to three mini strobes which we bought at WalMart for $10. Each were set at different speeds to create a disorienting feeling when you walk up. The motion detector was also rigged to a speaker which isolated a sound that Andy pulled from a Spongebob episode called "I'm with Stupid." It was a really loud horn sound that he repeated over and over again on the computer. Nice little effect even though we didn't do too much in effects this year. |
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| TRACK LIGHTING GELS |
| If you have track lighting in your house, one way to give a creepy effect is to put some gels over the canisters to make a low light that is fun. In our new home, our guests had to go through the kitchen to get to the back, so we just put some green gels over the canisters and taped them with white duct tape. It was bright enough for all to see, yet low enough to work well for a halloween party. Nice cheap lighting effect. |
| FRONT YARD FUN |
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| Just a few props we put up in the front yard, the standard graveyard with tombstones bought at KMart and the party store. They varied from $8 to $10, and I had to buy them this year, considering our tombstones of old had to be thrown out. I will miss those stones, considering we made them all by hand, but when the rats pee on them, and dine on the styrofoam, it's time to say goodbye. Andy set up the fog machine in a courtyard we have now, behind a few cool plants, and set up the floodlights around the front yard. Quick and easy lighting effects to divert away from the Spider Web Scare! |