# 2011 Clown/Circus/Carnival Theme



## dusty588 (Oct 8, 2006)

Hey there. I've decided that this year, I am going to be doing a clown/circus/carnival theme. The last few years, I've just taken a bunch of prop and decorations that I have bought, and put them into the yard for a display. This year though I want to have a theme (thanks to some forum members for talking about the importance of having a theme). I'm not sure what I can do for a fence for this theme. The last two years, I just took a bunch of 8 foot bamboo poles and cut them into 2 foot high lengths, stuck them around the front yard, and wrapped twine around them. I don't have a ton of room for storage of a fence. Any ideas for that are welcomed. Also, for lighting, I was thinkning of going with yellow and red. I will probably just use floodlights (do they have led floodlights (coloured) and are they as bright as regular bulbs)? Is there another colour scheme I should go with instead of red/yellow. Another thing I thought I could do was buy a 8 or 10 foot long piece of PVC pipe, put it in the middle of the yard, run some mini christmas lights up it, and then hang them over the yard, and attach them to the eavstrough/rain gutters on the house. Is there any way I could incorporate the coffin i made as well into this theme? I will attach a link to some pictures of the house/yard. They will be right at the bottom. If you have any ideas as to how I can make it look like theres lots of stuff, but not crowded, please post! (I need to buy lots of props/decorations from Spirit or the other Halloween store where I shop for this theme) How would I use my fog machines as well? I have two regular ones, and one ground fogger. I know that is ALOT of stuff to ask, but if you have any answers/ideas/comments or suggestions, please post them. I am also wanting to get into more handmade stuff this year. Thanks, and I know you talented people will give me some great ideas!

Thanks!

Dustyn

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.457773696942.244003.715101942&l=e6b6ec14e4&type=1

Oh ya, and only 89 days till Halloween!


----------



## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

I see you have created a new thread. I looked back through your old thread and noticed I did not answer one of your questions, The boarded up windows. My house has removable storm windows on it. There are 4 turn tabs that hold the storms in place. I cut some pallets apart and screwed them together in the design I needed for each window. I then took some thin pieces of sheet metal about an inch wide and 6 inches long and bent it into a U shape and screwed them to the top back of the panels. Then I could take out the storm window, hook the metal hooks over the top just like you would a Christmas Wreath, and put the storms back in. Made it look like boarded up windows without having to put a single screw into my home. 

For your lighting idea, I would use the bigger C7 style bulbs instead of mini Christmas lights. That is more of what you see at a fair/carnival. 

As well, for halloween night, use atmosphere of a carnival by putting out straw in the yard and popcorn everywhere. Your hard task is going to be finding clown stuff at a reasonable price the first year, not always an easy task. 

For a fence, might seem simplistic, but orange snow fence is used at carnivals. Maybe get some old tattered snow fence that is falling down all around. Might work or might make it look bad, wouldn't know until it went up I guess. Just a thought.


----------



## dusty588 (Oct 8, 2006)

I think that I am going to use pennant string (the triangular multi coloured banners) for my fence. I'm not too sure what I could use for the posts, as well as how high to make the posts. Just waiting for some Halloween store to open, so I can see what props/animations, clown related I can get this year. It seems that theres lots of clown stuff this year.


----------



## Boomalator (Jul 21, 2011)

Spiderclimber said:


> As well, for halloween night, use atmosphere of a carnival by putting out straw in the yard and popcorn everywhere. Your hard task is going to be finding clown stuff at a reasonable price the first year, not always an easy task.


Froggy's has both Popcorn and Cotton Candy in their scent line. We use Cotton Candy with our clown, so that 6 months later in the middle of the town fair... they remember us. :devil:

The sprays are cheapest/easiest, but the scent cups work well too if you have the machine.

http://www.froggysfog.com/category/30-scents.50-scent-sprays/


----------



## Acid PopTart (Oct 29, 2007)

I, for one, can't wait to see what you come up with - we're doing a carnivale theme this year too! Ours will be a bit different, since what I wanted to do was to utilize all the stuff we already have from last year (vodou black light theme) so we're going to stick with the black light and chroma depth paint ideas (which I adore) and do it more carnivale. 

I love the idea of the pendant flags, I sew a lot... so depending on how cheap you can find those plastic pendant flags, you could make them yourself. You can even buy that vinyl type table cloth fabric at Jo Anns and probably get away with not hemming them since the fabric wouldn't fray (but time will start to age your edges if you don't hem.)

A fence I'm still stuck on - I mean one that doesn't cost a lot and would be a storage issue. I've been collecting scrap (my dad works construction so I hunt the job sites) and I have a nail gun so I may build mine. 

There has to be a way to use the coffin still.... we're sort of going for old school bearded lady, mermaid, fortune teller route.... my husband is a painter so he's painting the old school carnivale signs and we're thinking of doing the coffin with the "Come see the world's only LIVING DEAD GIRL". Or maybe think about the fair with their midway games and rides and how there's always a haunted house ride (which I had a tragic encounter when I was 6, haha!). I kind of want to see a coffin full of popcorn. Damn I've had too much caffeine. 

Good luck!!!!


----------



## dusty588 (Oct 8, 2006)

I really love black light stuff, and I would love to do some in my yard. The thing is, that we have a street light right in front of our house so, it's a little hard to get the black light effect with the light there. I just built a cheap coffin out of particle board a couple years ago when I was bored., but it doesn't open or anything just use it for decor. I might make a new one, that can be opened and just make a clown dummy and have him inside there. 

Does anybody know if you just spray the Forggy's scents in the air, if it will last for a while. It would be cool to have smell included.

Does anyone have suggestions for lighting. I'm just using flood lights with a ground stake for highlighting the house and stuff. I think yellow and red is what I'll use. If I can find LED flood lights, I'll use those.

I also have the most recent Hallowindow, and we use a projector and a large white sheet in the upstairs window. There is a great loop on there that will fit perfect for this theme. 

One more thing, any suggestions/ideas for what I can do in the porch area? It is about 10 feet long by 3 feet deep. 

Dustyn


----------

