Ahhh, almost in double digits! I can almost smell it in the air. A few stores (Hallmark, Michaels, Dollar Tree) have already started putting up their Halloween displays, and a few more are getting ready. We've already started our planning, layout and design and as always, we'll need your help.
2010 Wish List:
People to help build, setup, act, and *cleanup*
Old Halloween decorations (or new, I'm not picky!)
Building materials such as wood, foam and plexiglass
a large cardboard box
more will be added as I think of it...
Friday, July 23, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
It's almost that time again...
I'm only 2 days away from being able to say "Halloween" in my house again (a little deal my wonderful husband and I have... He helps me out and puts up with all my Halloween crap, as long as I dont mention it from Nov 5th - July 15th. I'll give him till the 23rd since I cheated a few times this year hehe.) Then let the horror commence!
I've already created the layout for 2010 to include any changes. I also have a list of things to add/move. Also, this year will be our first FL Halloween party! WOOHOO! Lots to look forward to, so keep checking back for updates!
I've already created the layout for 2010 to include any changes. I also have a list of things to add/move. Also, this year will be our first FL Halloween party! WOOHOO! Lots to look forward to, so keep checking back for updates!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
PICTURES!!!!!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Year 2 - SUCCESS!! Recap:
So everything was completed about 2 days before. The day before opening night, I made a quick sign (after 2 prior attempts at something fancier) we perfected the lighting, and put up the movie screen. Of course, after working a long day, we were beat and unorganized as usual so we ended up starting a little closer to 730pm than 700. Still, after an hour and a half, we already had about 60 visitors. All made it out alive, and we only had 1 crier.
We then called it a night and headed off to Meg-O-Ween for about 2 hours. Got home around 12:15, got to bed around 1:00 and got up at 5:00 for work. FUN FUN! Worked until noon and then headed home to prepare for HALLOWEEN NIGHT!!!
WOW!!! Is all I can say. We started only about 10 - 15 minutes late this time. It was pretty chaotic because we were missing 2 of our cast, and the air tank was empty so we didn't know what to do with Blake! So we threw mom in the cage which left us no one after the bodies (but we didn't have an extra costume for Blake to do the corner which left it empty) and Gustavo went into the butcher shop. Around 7:45, Alyssa got off of work early, and with a line down the driveway and down the sidewalk to my neighbors house, I ran out, grabbed her, ran her in, got her changed and make-uped within 2 minutes flat - RECORD TIME! So we were back to a normal cast, and we enlisted Blake as a bouncer after 2 little kids went running through at high speed and knocked almost everything over, and then had a kid trip on her dress and fall after running out of the butcher shop.
After a while, we had everything down pat. Dad was finally able to get up there and take over for Gustavo and Blake took over for Felipe. Terrance and I had our timing down perfectly and our crowd control lost count of people around 150... which was still a good hour and a half before we closed. By the end of the night, we figure we had well over 250. We had only 2 criers, 1 absolutely WASTED man, and the cemetery box was the only one that started to fall apart during the night. Jeremy only got hit in the face once (This may be an improvement from Josh last year) and only 2 walls ALMOST fell down. The table in the coffin area had to be removed after about 4 people knocked over the lamp and one kid fell backward onto it when I scared him. Not too bad after the amount of people that went through there!
Last year, every 15 minutes or so, kids would stop coming and we would get a break. Last night, I think we only got 5 breaks all night, and we just held up the line and told them to give us 5 minutes to recover and repair whatever was being knocked down. And of course, whenever we would get a break, the line would start accumulating very fast and soon we would have a line down to the sidewalk again.
All in all, it was a great SUCCESS and we had a BLAST! All of us are losing our voices and my whole body hurts. I must've lost 10 lbs in the last 2 days!!! Now we have to head out and clean it all up today and tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone who came out for supporting us! It was a great year for Haunting! We look forward till next year! HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(pictures coming soon - the video was too dark but we got some footage of the outside)
We then called it a night and headed off to Meg-O-Ween for about 2 hours. Got home around 12:15, got to bed around 1:00 and got up at 5:00 for work. FUN FUN! Worked until noon and then headed home to prepare for HALLOWEEN NIGHT!!!
WOW!!! Is all I can say. We started only about 10 - 15 minutes late this time. It was pretty chaotic because we were missing 2 of our cast, and the air tank was empty so we didn't know what to do with Blake! So we threw mom in the cage which left us no one after the bodies (but we didn't have an extra costume for Blake to do the corner which left it empty) and Gustavo went into the butcher shop. Around 7:45, Alyssa got off of work early, and with a line down the driveway and down the sidewalk to my neighbors house, I ran out, grabbed her, ran her in, got her changed and make-uped within 2 minutes flat - RECORD TIME! So we were back to a normal cast, and we enlisted Blake as a bouncer after 2 little kids went running through at high speed and knocked almost everything over, and then had a kid trip on her dress and fall after running out of the butcher shop.
After a while, we had everything down pat. Dad was finally able to get up there and take over for Gustavo and Blake took over for Felipe. Terrance and I had our timing down perfectly and our crowd control lost count of people around 150... which was still a good hour and a half before we closed. By the end of the night, we figure we had well over 250. We had only 2 criers, 1 absolutely WASTED man, and the cemetery box was the only one that started to fall apart during the night. Jeremy only got hit in the face once (This may be an improvement from Josh last year) and only 2 walls ALMOST fell down. The table in the coffin area had to be removed after about 4 people knocked over the lamp and one kid fell backward onto it when I scared him. Not too bad after the amount of people that went through there!
Last year, every 15 minutes or so, kids would stop coming and we would get a break. Last night, I think we only got 5 breaks all night, and we just held up the line and told them to give us 5 minutes to recover and repair whatever was being knocked down. And of course, whenever we would get a break, the line would start accumulating very fast and soon we would have a line down to the sidewalk again.
All in all, it was a great SUCCESS and we had a BLAST! All of us are losing our voices and my whole body hurts. I must've lost 10 lbs in the last 2 days!!! Now we have to head out and clean it all up today and tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone who came out for supporting us! It was a great year for Haunting! We look forward till next year! HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(pictures coming soon - the video was too dark but we got some footage of the outside)
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Help wanted!
Here we are only a week away!!! We're still at about 95% completion because we're lazy bums. Gustavo gets his gall bladder surgery tomorrow so I guess this weekend, I'm on my own. I know dad will be helping out though so hopefully we can finish up. Tomorrow is also the 3rd Annual Bunkoween, so they'll all get a sneak preview.
Anyways, we're looking for some serious help on clean up. The day after Halloween, we need to get the WHOLE THING taken down and stored away. Last time this took over a week, and it was only just the two of us. This time, we leave for Colombia just 4 days after Halloween. Of course after working all day, packing, and taking care of other things before our trip, we will have very very little time to get this done, so we have a goal to enlist as many people as possible to help us get it ALL done on Sunday. The more the merrier :)
Anyways, we're looking for some serious help on clean up. The day after Halloween, we need to get the WHOLE THING taken down and stored away. Last time this took over a week, and it was only just the two of us. This time, we leave for Colombia just 4 days after Halloween. Of course after working all day, packing, and taking care of other things before our trip, we will have very very little time to get this done, so we have a goal to enlist as many people as possible to help us get it ALL done on Sunday. The more the merrier :)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
We'll be in the paper on Saturday
If you get Florida Today, look for us in the Home&Garden section on Saturday, 17 Oct. No pictures since there wasn't enough time, but we'll be in the article :)
Front of the house is almost done. Thanks to Terrance and Blake who spent almost their whole 3-day-weekend with us working on the front of the house - building the butcher shop and the entrance. We have a few more things to do in the front (it still looks too plain to me) and then inside the house, we need to finish up the rooms and run the lighting/fogger. We need to be done by this weekend! Check out the pictures of the front of the house (and Gustavo's awesome new contacts!)
The neighbors love us!
We're adding boarded up windows and more creepy cloth this weekend.
The entrance is that little space on the left. The butcher shop is in the block box.
Close up of our awesome new entrance (almost finished)
Gustavo's new Halloween contacts. They're really creepy in person.
Front of the house is almost done. Thanks to Terrance and Blake who spent almost their whole 3-day-weekend with us working on the front of the house - building the butcher shop and the entrance. We have a few more things to do in the front (it still looks too plain to me) and then inside the house, we need to finish up the rooms and run the lighting/fogger. We need to be done by this weekend! Check out the pictures of the front of the house (and Gustavo's awesome new contacts!)
The neighbors love us!
We're adding boarded up windows and more creepy cloth this weekend.
The entrance is that little space on the left. The butcher shop is in the block box.
Close up of our awesome new entrance (almost finished)
Gustavo's new Halloween contacts. They're really creepy in person.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
1 Month Away!!!
Great news! This past weekend, my parents came over as Gustavo and I were starting to put up the plastic on the walls. With my dad's help, we were able to complete ALL of it, along with re-enforce some walls and put up the drop frame. Basically, the structure is completely and totally finished (minus the butcher shop, which will be outside the house. I think if we put that up too soon, the HOA will want to kill us.) Anyways, the only thing left to do it decorate! That's the easy part. Tomorrow, I will spray paint any exposed white PVC, and I can start my decorating! It can literally be 100% completely done by this weekend! I'm so impressed by how quick set-up went this year.
Sunday, I go to Halloween Horror Nights, so hopefully I can get some cool decorating ideas! I was originally going to decorate the outside of the house this weekend, but I figured I'd spare Tavo's sanity for one more week, and change the timeline. I'll finish the inside of the haunted house first, then the outside, then the inside of our actual house. Then the week before Halloween, the butcher shop and entrance hallway will go up. I will continue to post pictures of the progress.
Unfortunately, we decided that there will be no "sneak previews" of the inside of the haunted house since we want everyone to be surprised and as scared as possible on Halloween night, so I will not post any pictures of the actual haunt from this point on. Hopefully you'll come by to see it in person. But don't worry, New York and Colombian friends and family - AFTER Halloween, there will be plenty of pictures, and at least 1 video :)
The official countdown has begun! Stay tuned!
Sunday, I go to Halloween Horror Nights, so hopefully I can get some cool decorating ideas! I was originally going to decorate the outside of the house this weekend, but I figured I'd spare Tavo's sanity for one more week, and change the timeline. I'll finish the inside of the haunted house first, then the outside, then the inside of our actual house. Then the week before Halloween, the butcher shop and entrance hallway will go up. I will continue to post pictures of the progress.
Unfortunately, we decided that there will be no "sneak previews" of the inside of the haunted house since we want everyone to be surprised and as scared as possible on Halloween night, so I will not post any pictures of the actual haunt from this point on. Hopefully you'll come by to see it in person. But don't worry, New York and Colombian friends and family - AFTER Halloween, there will be plenty of pictures, and at least 1 video :)
The official countdown has begun! Stay tuned!
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