# Finding Balance



## majickmaker (Jul 21, 2009)

We live in a neighborhood that is heavily visited on beggar's night by kiddos ranging from the VERY small into the teens, and of course the parents that accompany them.
Because our entire scene has to be in front of the house, in full view of anyone who comes up, we have to try to balance being creepy enough to spook the older kids (and parents, actually scared an adult last year worse than any of the kids) with not permanently traumatizing any little ones.
Our setup last year was pretty small and contained (in fact my hubby, hereafter known as D when referred to by me, was probably the creepiest thing in the yard - he had an awesome DIY costume going on) so it wasn't much of an issue; but as our haunt gets bigger the balancing act gets a little trickier.

So my question is how to strike the right balance for a setting that can attract the youngest *and* the oldest ToTs? I am thinking maybe having some things set up to be "changeable" (if that makes sense) so that they can be manipulated to be scarier if an older group comes into the "graveyard" but not put into play for younger kids - I am just not sure how that would work or what kind of props might lend themselves to that approach.
I would really appreciate any ideas or suggestions...The day of doom draws nigh and I need to get busy if this thing is going to go off like I want it to...Especially since I again have to have surgery and will miss some of the prime time for prop building and haunt prepping - have to make every minute count!!

Thanks in advance...


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## Fiend4Halloween (Aug 28, 2008)

......or depending on the size of your yard, you could send kids to one side, adults to the scarier side. I think it would be a lot more easier than trying to see who's coming down the street, and trying to hurry and change props depending on ages of people about to come up to your haunt. Just a thought, good luck with it though.


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## majickmaker (Jul 21, 2009)

splitting the yard might be possible, hadn't considered it. A crypt is going to be the centerpiece, with a path up the middle leading to it - it might work to direct the ToTs to different sides, especially since there will be 3 of us here in costume working the beggar's night shift - so we could kind of route them appropriately...
Hmmm - new ideas are perculating up through my gray matter...


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## abrcrombe (Sep 18, 2007)

Do people walk through your yard or is it more of a display?

We have a walkthrough, and we let all the actors know if small kids are coming through, and instead of spooking, all the actors just wave and say hi to the little kids.


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## Fiend4Halloween (Aug 28, 2008)

you can also buy some rope lights or light ropes whatever...and make a path that splits at the crypt and directs people to the appropriate paths that are available.


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

I had thought about doing that as well. But this year we're adopting the "No mercy after 7pm" philosophy. So really divide it between times... 5:30-7 toned down for the smaller tots... after that, too bad.


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## Kaoru (May 6, 2009)

yeah as hubby terror just mentioned we probably wont have the prop in the box pop up...although we might test by 630 depending on the flow of the crowed. And we do get a very big crowed of kids. It helps when some of the props are controlled by you. Or maybe turn the scarrier ones off until a certain point as Terror has mentioned. Either way they should expect things to move since its a halloween display. I'm sure they will take it in good fun. Hope you operation goes well and you feel better before halloween.


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

I addressed this in my Theater of the Mind segment in Hauntcast #3. Your 3 basic options are separating them by time (fire up the scary stuff after the wee ones have quit/no mercy after 7), group (selectively scare the older kids, leave the little ones alone) or space (if you're restricted to one yard, have all the scary stuff to one side or have a special safe/tame path through the chaos). If you choose the spatial route, it helps the little ones' confidence to establish a visual barrier that would prevent the scary baddies from getting to them (rope light, row of magical talismans, etc). 

One more approach is have someone standing at the entrance to the walk with a supply of distinctive-looking magical weapons/talismans/etc... glow sticks or dollar-tree pirate swords or rattles or whatever... and tell the kid that its a potent magic item that the monsters are terrified of. This "marks" the scared ones so the actors know not to scare them. Then have a monster approach the kid and when s/he brandishes the item, the monsters run away. The kids feel safe as they go for the loot and they feel like warriors by the time they leave.


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## Warrant2000 (Oct 8, 2008)

There was only one way through my maze, and I have to admit, I was rather ruthless. Kids had to go through to get the candy at the end. "Peanut Butter" was our safe word. If kids or moms did not want to be scared, they would chant that all the way through the maze. That would effectively "freeze" our actors.

You could have a "short cut" for the little ones to skip everything and get to the end, where all others have to take the "long road".


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## Mortissanguine (Mar 30, 2008)

The way my haunt is set up I usually have the "flow" worked out for what I want and have an actor alert those inside when a "wee one" is too small for the full BOO. I also have a decent amount of actors who work the crowd outside so the people get a pretty good idea that their kids might not handle the inside very well.

Every once in a while we have a parent who thinks their kid can take the scare. If it gets too bad for them we take a moment to show them our costumes are fake (if possible).

We had one woman upset when a baby eating bed scared her daughter, I overheard her complaining to her husband. He just looked at her with the "duh" look and said "YOU took her in a HAUNTED house."

My suggestion is to have fun scaring people, prevent the true idiots from traumatizing their 2 to 5 year olds, and let the parents make their own decisions on if their kids should come in. We have adults that refuse to enter our haunt...

but that doesn't mean they are any safer outside.


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## Robert (Apr 28, 2008)

In my haunt the guests get a little ways into it and there is a "Chicken Exit". This takes them back to the entrance (accompanied by a guy in a chicken suit).


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## abrcrombe (Sep 18, 2007)

^^ That is funny Robert. I love the idea!


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## ubzest (Jul 1, 2008)

I like the chicken suit idea also. But no mercy after 7 means no mercy after 7!!
Maybe you could make a wall of corn stalks to block off the more scary stuff, and passer-bys can still see your g rated stuff.


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## Decrepit Desecr8shun (Aug 10, 2009)

Fiend4Halloween said:


> ......or depending on the size of your yard, you could send kids to one side, adults to the scarier side. I think it would be a lot more easier than trying to see who's coming down the street, and trying to hurry and change props depending on ages of people about to come up to your haunt. Just a thought, good luck with it though.


Thats what I do,it's just one behind the other w/ Raven's Hollow.:ninja:


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