# Planning for 2013?



## Cole&Jacksdad (Jan 20, 2011)

So I am getting ready to start getting my garage haunt in order and props finished. I am already thinking about 2013. This year is a secret government research facility. Next year is going to be a traditional haunted house with ghost, cemetery and monsters. Anyone else started planning for 2013?


----------



## OlliausHamm (Jul 26, 2012)

Jep ... I do. In this year we dont can build the haunt. My girl and i become a little baby in 4 days and we thing then we are toooo busy ;-)

Next jear we will build the cemezry new ... Whit new tombstones and moving props. A little karneval sektion and 1.000.000 other ideas in my head ...


----------



## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

I have some prelimnary ideas/plans for next year. since this is the last year for our full walk through, I'm planning a kind of rotation of three different themes we'll use starting in 2013. Last year was zombies, this year is a haunted witch forest. For our first year of the scaled back display, I'm considering a graveyard with several skeletons doing various things. Maybe a skellie wedding complete with Grim Reaper minister, little skellie groomsmen, etc.. We've also never done vampires so that's not out of the question. I have a coffin begging for some pneumatic action. I'm going to be getting rid of some large wall panels we've used with the walk through, and possibly selling a few things we might not use again. I'll know better after this year.


----------



## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

OlliausHamm said:


> Jep ... I do. In this year we dont can build the haunt. My girl and i become a little baby in 4 days and we thing then we are toooo busy ;-)
> 
> Next jear we will build the cemezry new ... Whit new tombstones and moving props. A little karneval sektion and 1.000.000 other ideas in my head ...


Oh Olli good luck for your new arrival!!!! That is exciting. And you sound very much like me - I also have 1,000,000 other ideas in my head. I have already had some ideas and think NOOOOO that will have to be next year. I don't have enough time to make so many NEW things.


----------



## OlliausHamm (Jul 26, 2012)

The ideas are not the problem ore the time ... The store is the problem ... I need a 2 house ;-) ore a lager basement


----------



## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

OlliausHamm said:


> The ideas are not the problem ore the time ... The store is the problem ... I need a 2 house ;-) ore a lager basement


:jol:I totally understand where you are coming from about needing more room! I think every haunter worth their salt needs more room, for storage and new prop making! And congratulations on the new baby! I am thrilled for you! Is it a little vampire, or nice little ghoul? (boy or girl in layman's terms...)


----------



## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I haven't even started planned anything for 2012 yet, let alone 2013


----------



## OlliausHamm (Jul 26, 2012)

A little ghoul ;-);-)


----------



## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

With luck 2013 will be the year of the dragon. 
I have been collecting ideas for the last four years and now I think I have a workable plan.


----------



## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

I'm like Bone Dancer, except instead of ideas, I've been collecting pumpkins, for a couple years now. I had hoped to have enough for this year, but went with another idea. But 2013, for sure, I'm going with the totally pumpkin yard, like in TrickRTreat. My problem is we have a lot and a half, and a corner lot, to boot. So I figure I'll need a couple hundred pumpkins. I started counting the ones I already have this week. The thing that takes so long is getting them all out of storage. And finding all the hiding places I stick them in when I get home from the thrift store/garage sale, before hubby sees them. 
Heck, I'm already starting to collect dolls for my 2014 ideas. It just helps money wise if I spread my buying out of a longer period of time.


----------



## Kaoru (May 6, 2009)

Unfortunately, it's been a VERY busy year with my baby that finding ANY time to start on props or any work on background props has been zero! Terrormaster and I are going to FINALLY have time to work on stuff next week! So we are on an EXTREME time crunch! So sad but can't be helped! I wish we had time to even plan for 2013!


----------



## Troll Wizard (May 3, 2012)

Pumpkin5 said:


> :jol:I totally understand where you are coming from about needing more room! I think every haunter worth their salt needs more room, for storage and new prop making! And congratulations on the new baby! I am thrilled for you! Is it a little vampire, or nice little ghoul? (boy or girl in layman's terms...)


First, congratulations on the new baby girl!

Pumpkin5 is right, the problem with most of us if finding enough room or space to store things after Halloween. Now if you also decorate for Christmas, then it gets even worse! :jol:


----------



## Cal78 (Aug 20, 2012)

Honestly about a month ago, its things that i know i wont get to finish this year if i want them exacly How i want them finished.


----------



## Troll Wizard (May 3, 2012)

I try to plan all throughout the year. With the exception of when the holiday season is upon us by that time I have already decided on what I will be planning and setting up for Halloween, Thanksgiving (yes I decorate some for Thanksgiving), and then Christmas! So after Christmas I take some time off and don't think about anything related to the holidays. 

So I guess it's after New Years is when I start planning for the new year. This also gives me plenty of time in case something new comes along in the way of decor, and new ideas I might get from places like HauntForum and the like. :jol:


----------



## R. Lamb (Oct 11, 2011)

I don't have a group to help me out and I live in Hollywood CA. So I must compete with all the "Candy Cane Lanes" that we have around here. In those, folks that come from a film/TV background decorate their homes in an amazing way. They actually have The Police direct traffic through them. I'm just trying to get my neighbors to join me in my "Halloween Lane" attempted. To that end I never stop looking for more and better ways to make a yard haunt. I have built 3 different types of props this year and I have plans for 3 more next year. I do all of these on no budget at all, and I make sure that they all hold up to Hollywood standards.
I have found (almost) everything I needed to know from this forum!


----------



## silentskream (Sep 20, 2012)

I am definitely already planning for next year - there are droves of new ideas and a few old ideas that i just can't get done in time for this year.

namely, 
I've got a coffin to build, and i'm not sure what i'm going to do with it yet, so i need to figure that out.

i'd LIKE to try my hand at an FCG

and i need to build some better options for gravestones.

also, i'd like to do something like this: http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=32486

we shall see.


----------



## remylass (Sep 18, 2008)

I am usually too exhausted to think about it for the month of November. However, I think I need to revisit my theme for next year.


----------



## Cal78 (Aug 20, 2012)

Again already planning for next Year, As soon as of the 1st of November, My Giant Flat Top is getting ripped apart and I'm using the wood For My Mini Sized Model T Hearse, and then I'm also making, a Brick Wall With Sewer Pipe, Fence Picket Coffin.


----------



## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

Add to the currect theme. I have aquired a light-o-rama device and plan to use it for a light show. I also have some more props I would like to build. Who doesnt? Thats the problem with this forum. Too many good ideas are posted here.


----------



## Manon (Aug 2, 2011)

I'm taking this year off with a super basic graveyard, no extra props and no big buys. I'm already working on the big 2013 change in my whole yard haunt.


----------



## lisa48317 (Aug 18, 2010)

I always keep my cemetery, but I've already thought of a couple things I want to add / improve upon for next year. I've also gotten my first non-plywood stones this year and really like the look of them, so I will be stalking garden centers now!


----------



## lisa48317 (Aug 18, 2010)

Olli, congrats on the new little fraulein!! How exciting! 

I've had a few ideas for adds / improves for next year, but I always stick with my basic cemetery.


----------



## Cal78 (Aug 20, 2012)

About Half Finished with The Scarefx $25 Fullsize Toe Pincher, and was Shopping This weekend at the Local Mall when i saw they were throwing out a Mannequin, legs were cracked but thats ok, as im cutting them Down Anyway, so ive dcidd to make a Vampire for the Coffin, but here is the Kicker, at the Grocery Store they are selling Big Fake Ribeye Steak dog toys, so in the End. Ill Have a Vampire With A "Steak" Through His Heart.


----------



## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

I'm not done yet for this year but I'm definitely thinking about next year - not sure if I will just develop what I have this year again or try to go for something quite different. Much will depend on our financial situation but I hope to eventually do a carnival theme.


----------



## ATLfun (Oct 12, 2012)

Since this is my first year with full fledged decor, I have a lot of wants. :biggrinkin: I would like to have a pneumatic pop up barrel scare. And I would like a neat second story window ghost/ghoul projection or some kind of lighted image.

Every time you check pics of another member's haunt, you find a new idea to steal....er...borrow. :devil:



.


----------



## doctarii (Oct 25, 2012)

I don't ave a real haunt yet but I ve made alot of pumpkins inspired by you know who (Stolloween). But I'm already working on some spell/which/warlock books and I'm definately going to be diong more than a few tombstones. 

I 've also been collecting as many small jars / bottles/ containers as I can.


----------



## Darkwalker (Jul 4, 2010)

I've been planning for next year and actually bought a coffin on friday. Thats gonna look terrorific in my haunted mortuary! 2013 will be my first year having an actual walkthrough and I'm really amazed at just how much material I'll need to build all the wall panels. I haven't gotten to paint or decor yet. Good thing I'm starting now.


----------



## Rage (Oct 23, 2012)

My wife and I are planning a "different" sort of haunt for next year. From what I'm envisioning the haunt will include from 8 to 10 rooms (I have acreage and a 120' by 100' flat spot next to the house). What we are planning is to tell a story (Back story being developed) but the story progresses with each room entered getting more and more horrific. Bale out spots will be in each room. I want to use subtle techniques like darkness, strobe flashes towards the guest, smells, tension, sound effects. The rooms will be suggestions but the biggest haunt will be in their minds.


----------



## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:I think I posted in this thread ages ago (well, maybe it's been a couple of months...but dog years for me...) so I am adding to my thoughts now...I am switching it up next year since I have basically done the same decorations for the last three years. Skeleton sentinels by the doorway and over the door and cornstalks and grapevines and leaves....For 2013 I am going with a ghost theme....sort of the Ghostess with the Mostess vein of decorating madness. (an homage to my FCG Lily, and her ghostly goodness, she has been haunting for me for 13 long years next year, and I think she should get proper credit for haunting my house) I will still have the skeletons, because I can't have Halloween without lots of skellies, but the ghosts are going to kind of take over....Picture in your mind, lots of handmade ghost props and lots of black lights and graveyard goodies, glowing, flowing and haunting up the house.....I think I will add a couple of Dave the Dead's lost souls thrown in to keep it creepy....ideas are just coming out of my ears. Oh and yes, my Hatbox Ghost that Great Pumpkin made this year will definitely get that body I've been promising him....


----------



## Death's Door (Mar 22, 2006)

With ****storm Sandy hitting us this year, I didn't put out the tombstone popper and a few of the other electrical props that I enhansed for this year. There were a few things that I wanted to make but didn't because of time. I am going to make some fake stones out of the pieces of pink foam that I have lying around. As far as any new ideas this year, nothing is coming to mind, however, I do want to change my porch around.


----------



## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Having had to scale back and do an entirely different and smaller display due to hurricane Sandy I've decided to change things up completely for 2013 and forward. Being that we only do a display the transition will be fairly easy. There will be two levels of display: the front yard and the garage. 

The front yard will be a static lit display. The design should be able to withstand 20-30mph winds and be water resistant. No real animatronics. Will most likely consist of a graveyard, a scarecrow or two, a few corn stalks, and some pumpkins depending on the final grand scheme theme.

The garage will be closed (except for familial through traffic) until October 31st. This will keep it a surprise until Halloween night. Within will be a separate small but detailed display consisting of a single scene that fits within a subset of the grand theme. The scene will be completely gutted and changed out entirely every year (think Pumpkinrot and Marrow). The scene may or may not feature animatronics. As has been the tradition since 2010, the ToTs will have to come into the garage to get their treats where they will be greeted with the year's thematic scene.

Keeping the special themed scene isolated in the garage allows me to prepare something surprising in somewhat secret from the neighborhood. It also keeps everything nice and dry away from heavy rains and winds should another storm blow through. And lastly it allows me to build more focused and detailed. It's a win/win for everyone.

But TM if you keep changing the theme every year at that level where will you put everything? Simple answer is... I won't have to. I've committed to doing the unthinkable. In true necromancer fashion I plan to just take a knife or saw to existing props, tear them down, and turn them into something new. Out with the old. In with the new. I have plenty of great pictures to capture the memories. Everything grows. Everything changes. I've learned to accept and embrace that. Life is organic, so is art, so is Halloween, and so are my props.


----------



## GOT (Apr 17, 2007)

I'm going small this year. It's going to be in my front entryway rather than my three-car garage. I am thinking of doing something along the lines of a fortune teller and ferrofluid...


----------



## halloweenbarbara (Jun 26, 2010)

Terrormaster... good point about changing the props. We do a different theme each year and build specific props that only really belong in the theme we do. Just cannot justify storage unit for the props and heaven forbid we store the animatronics and something happens to them! And as far as the thread... Day after halloween want to quit... within a week planning the next year. This year may move the haunt to my house to have full control and true walk through with classic images most likely to use what I own and others have not seen.


----------



## Joiseygal (Sep 3, 2008)

It sounds like a good plan! I try to build to withstand the kids abuse in my haunt. I figure if it can survive the kids than I can handle a hurricane. I was lucky and didn't get too much damage except for a couple older props. I think making it easier on yourself and showing a good display at the same time is the best way. My haunt was smaller this year and I might even go smaller because I want more quality than quantity. I really like your idea to attract people with smaller props than go for the grand finale on Halloween. Let's just hope we will have nice weather!


----------



## tortured_serenity (Sep 25, 2012)

I have my theme picked out for 2013 and plans for my giant spiders saved in my favorites on my comp. The house will be covered with webs, spiders and black lights


----------



## MurrayTX (Nov 4, 2011)

I wanted to do a mostly walkthrough down my long side yard, but am being dissuaded by all the lawsuit talk. This year was supposed to be all display, viewed from a large service alley adjacent to that yard. Am now thinking to build like a walkthrough, but allow as a display all down the side, and allow only select guests into the walkthrough. I know one can't really profile who the lawsuit happy people may be, but I will try. Am thinking only those I seem really into Halloween and fun will enter. "Any complainers...?...No Soup For You!!!!"

Latest script of rooms: Clowns, Ghouls, Reapers, Pumpkinhead, Yard of White Faces. 

Heavy focus on diverse lighting sources, saturation of costumes props with minimal actors, and use of touch elements such as water drops, cold fog, wind, and multitextured entrances. This is all outdoors.


----------



## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

Earlier this year, we had planned for 2012 to be our last year of our walk through, for a number of reasons. I was prepared to scale back, and had hoped to go out with a bang. The bad weather prevented us from doing so, and let's just say that certain things happened which made us rethink the plan of scaling back, at least for now. We are now considering doing the whole walk through haunt again for at least this year and possibly the next 2-3 years. Part of me is excited as there are some neat things we want to do. Another part of me thinks I'll be kicking myself next October as we scramble to get it all together. We have many of the components we weren't able to use this year already in place, and a fresh bunch of enthusiastic actors who all want to help and who have promised to set up and tear down, which will be a huge incentive for us to continue. This past year was actually a lot of fun and less stressful than years past and we're hoping this will continue in the next couple years.


----------



## CrazedHaunter (Nov 18, 2012)

I'll be moving early next year. which is cool, new people who haven't seen the my props before, plus forces me to plan things all over. mostly going to be working on adding pneumatics to my coffin that I got this year. Can't wait to see the new neighbors faces when I move in with coffins , crypt and various ghoulies. should be an intersting year


----------



## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

CrazedHaunter..make sure some of your boxes are marked, "severed parts" or something just in case a neighbor is looking....


----------



## CrazedHaunter (Nov 18, 2012)

I'll definitely do that Haunted Bayou, that and have some corpsed body parts visible...LoL


----------



## spideranne (Jul 17, 2006)

I'm in the land of new neighborhood too. We closed on a house 10/29 so didn't have a chance to do anything this year (I was going to try but couldn't get the electric turned on in time). Since these neighbors haven't seen anything yet, I don't have a huge build list planned but the front yard layout is completely different from what I've had in the past so I need to re-imagine how everything will be set up. I'm thinking of focusing on infrastructure for future years as I want to eventually start a walk-through.

CrazedHaunter - when we first moved in we had and exterminator out to take care of a spider problem (ironic I know). I had already started moving props into the garage and when he went out there he was completely freaked out by a plastic bag corpsed blucky that was lying amongst the boxes. Took him a second to get his composure - made my day.


----------



## CrazedHaunter (Nov 18, 2012)

What is it with Haunters that we get a thrill out of scaring someone to death? I really am looking forward to next year and planning a new layout and new people to scare. Plus I will be on a main road so I should get lots of traffic. Down side is security for my stuff way easier for someone to just grab and go but I got plans for that. Good luck in your new place Spideranne, keep us informed how it goes.


----------



## Manon (Aug 2, 2011)

Haunted Bayou said:


> CrazedHaunter..make sure some of your boxes are marked, "severed parts" or something just in case a neighbor is looking....


I've got boxes in my garage marked "Chains", "Body Parts" etc. I love it!

This year I'm going with a totally new theme and I'm starting this week with prop planning. I'm doing a witches' coven and I'm very excited about it.

Out with the old, in with the BOO!


----------



## Haunt2530 (Jan 29, 2013)

*Halloween 2013*

This is the place to post your 2013 haunt plans or ideas. I know all of you have some good ideas and themes. My theme is going to be a zombie graveyard. With the zombies coming out of their tombs. I've been working since last halloween on this. I want to take my haunt to the next level this year.


----------



## CreeepyCathy (Mar 28, 2009)

I am doing 'Broadmoor Hospital for the Criminally Insane'.

And since I am a pic 'ho, here are some of what I have been working on (for two looong years) lol....

Façade for front porch; sign; razor wire; window bars w/ security fencing; Escapee will be coming off roof.


----------



## Dr. Maniaco (Sep 7, 2012)

Spider Hole














































Still more planned, and lots more to do.


----------



## Osenator (Nov 11, 2011)

Plans and new props already done for 2013


----------



## Up_Up_And_Away (Jul 19, 2008)

CreeepyCathy said:


> I am doing 'Broadmoor Hospital for the Criminally Insane.'


That historic site marker is INCREDIBLE... it all is!


----------



## mys197gt (Jul 7, 2010)

So many creative ideas. Looking forward to seeing them all come to fruition.


----------



## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

I'll be developing my walk to the haunt with a few more tombstones and have a few additional ideas for the graveyard. I always have four displays/walkthroughs in my haunt - this year I'll rearrange it a little - first will be the haunted dolls with some additional dolls on last year, I'm keeping my spider cave but will be adding to that as well. The last display will be another shopping mall but in addition to the Witches Accessories and Supplies store fronts with a Haunted Pet Shop. Still haven't finalised the other display as yet.


----------



## DreadKnightswife (Oct 16, 2011)

We are working on so many new projects my head is spinning keeping track of them all. I like working on one till it's done and starting another but we are doing a lot of paper mache this year so working on multiples while waiting for things to dry. We are doing a huge corn maze with aliens that "landed" so we have at least 5 alien props in the works. (I have no idea where we are storing them!) We are trying some new Ideas, (a sump pump jumping alien), and are trying to get our layout for the back yard settled so we aren't scrambling to get it done at the last minute. (Too bad we keep changing our minds on what exactly we want!) I have lots of sewing to do. Making costumes for my daughter and 3 of our alien props. I told my hubby he is lucky I am efficient at sewing or we would be out laying a lot more money!


----------



## Manon (Aug 2, 2011)

That insane asylum work is absolutely incredible! I'm super impressed!


----------



## Lamborgman (Jul 14, 2013)

Yes have the plans all drawn up and me and the wife are already starting, have 2 kids 5 and 6 1/2 so if we do not time will sneak up on us.


----------

