# Pro Haunt ideas on a LOW budget, anyone?!?!



## Paranormal Media (Sep 20, 2007)

Moderators Dont know if I posted this in the right place or not?!?!?

Hi all,

Next year Im thinking of doing an "Attraction" if you will. But with the prices of insurance going up for these, and props and building materials. What would one here guess they could do with a small budget of about 3000.00 Im not personally looking to make money, obviously, but I want to know what ones imagination can come up with having little or NO budget to work with.

This is going to be an outside haunt, in the woods/ a field. And I already have lighting generators and MANY props already. All I need is building materials.

A couple years back we had a budget of about 3X's that amount and we had a haunt that had everything BUT props, we had to make them. Seriously, you'd be amazed at what thrift store clothes and balloons can do..lol

Next time I want to do it right and TRY an have a haunt, but very inexpencive to do. Im not wanting to make money, I do these for the love of halloween, and the love of a haunt. But I dont want to lose my ass again neither.

Any and all suggestions here welcome. Good, bad, happy, hell unload anger here if you want, just let me know!

Many thanks!


----------



## CreeKcoog (Oct 9, 2007)

My word, no budget? With 3 grand I could make an incredible haunt. Bro, there are endless possiblities. If you are interested in making your own props check this site out. http://www.halloweenmonsterlist.info/ they have 100's of build-it-yourself props from pneumatics to motor driven or even static. From 50 bucks to a couple hundred. For professional props just type "Professional halloween props" into google and voila! Revel in the endless amounts of items you can buy straight up. Of course invest in some high quality props costumes and makeup for your actors.

For example you can build a full size guillotine WITH a decapitated dummy in it for less than a 150 bucks and depending on your imagination, make it look incredibly legit. I just built an electric chair with a dummy that shakes violently when the switch is thrown for $130. Again it just depends on how much time you want to put into it. If you want to buy already built props, you can pay anywhere from 100 to 10,000. Naturally a 100 dollar pre-built prop will be small and usually unanimated(and often times lame).

The possibilities are endless! Have fun with it!


----------



## higginsr (Oct 4, 2007)

There are sooo many working parts to your question it is hard to give a general answer... zoning, permits, inspections, insurance, for profit of charity? Sponsorship? City Coucil?
The scariest part of this haunt is usually how fast the 3k will go when trying to stay legit


----------



## DarkShadows (Feb 6, 2006)

Yep x2. It's going to be hard to pass fire code also when you only have 3k to spend. Black plastic is a big NO NO.


----------



## Empress Nightshade (Jul 25, 2004)

$3,000 is not a lot of money when going pro. BUT, it can be done. I did it! Of course, I'm a nonprofit and we had most of our things donated. With that said, choose a local charity and chat with them about the possibility of giving a fund raising haunted house for their benefit. Please don't do it for the haunt itself -- truly choose a charity you are passionate about.

Call your local zoning department and fire marshall. Find out what requirements they have to create an outdoor haunt. Also find out their fees.

Next, you must determine how many square footage you are going to utilize. Once you do that, choose your theme. My suggestion is to keep it general since it cost more money to purchase props and items for specific themes such as a western haunt, a medical haunt, etc. Once you've done that, find an insurance company. May I recommend Frank Parkhurst at Gold Coast Specialty Insurance Agency. We've been with him for three years now and he's great! Contact him at: 239/549-0054 He will send you a form where you will write down all your props, etc. All of this will determine the price of your insurance.

Lastly....
Don't be discouraged. If this is something you really want to do, it can be done with hard work. Good luck!! :jol:


----------

