# Attention grabber



## Jester7902 (Mar 22, 2011)

The yard haunt I participate in is on an almost desolate sidestreet, any ideas what we can do to grab attention without paying attention....we had to watch and use a strobing flashlight last year....and it worked out well but, it was just a pain


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Are you allowed to post a sign advertising the haunt at the nearest intersection?


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## remylass (Sep 18, 2008)

Agreed. You could put out a sign at the corner, like a garage sale sign, but for your yard.


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

Same problem we have. Our very small neighborhood is basically two streets that loop back around to the main thoroughfare that heads to a VERY large neighborhood just north of our location. People forget we are here and head to the other neighborhood.

Once in our neighborhood, you can't miss our haunt. So, I stood on the corner of the main road in my full ghostly undead caretaker attire (don't worry, my costume is white and black and easily seen in the dark) and waved cars into our neighborhood. I got several people to slow down and check out our haunt and had a blast scare acting on the side of the road. Those that didn't divert would honk like crazy and wave as they drove by our neighborhood. I got a few good scares in on few cars that had their windows down. The parents would see me, roll down the window, start slowing down the car just when the kids by the window would notice me creeping toward them. LOL! Good Times!

If you have people helping you with the haunt, take turns on the corner. That way everyone gets in on the fun at both locations.


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## Scarecrow (Dec 11, 2008)

My yard haunt has grown little by little each year just by word of mouth than last year I decided it was time to up the game. I decided one way or the other I was going to make the newspaper. I have had people tell me they called the paper in the past and told them about my display but I was never contacted by the paper for a picture or an article. And each year I would open the paper and see someones house on the front page with a few store bought items hanging from there front porch along with an article about how much they love Halloween.

So I came up with a plan.
I contacted the paper the end of September and asked them who was going to do there yearly article on Halloween then got all her contact info. I went to my computer and printed 100 business cards with the reporters contact info and my contact info on them. Every time someone said "you should be in the paper" I gave them a card and asked them to call the reporter and give her my info. After 2 weeks and getting nearly 50 calls the reported called me and said I want to do an article on you and please stop having people call me about doing an article. My plan worked great. They did a full 2 pages on my yard haunt and we went from 100 tots on Halloween night to bumper to bumper traffic every friday Satureday and Sunday the last 2 weeks of October.

So my advise to anyone who wants to get more traffic get some press. you will be amazed.


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## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

Can you make fliers and put them on posts and things nearby?


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## BarBWire (Jul 14, 2011)

perhaps a small newspaper add ?


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

Up-light a large, tall tree with a strong strobe...you can then see it from a good distance away. Put sign & arrow at bottom of tree. You can contact newspaper asking an article be written about your haunt. This is more likely to happen if you are collecting $$ or canned goods for a charity. Our paper made us send them a "press release" aka email telling them about haunt 1st. We made bottom 1/2 of front page! A '"barker" in costume with a direction sign & haunt's name isn't bad, but might be too time consuming. 

Or a FREE BEER ---->> sign...


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

Yup, what debbie said. Uplighting at the base of a tree with a large strobe works well from a distance. You may have to adjust the positioning of the strobe away from the tree a bit to light up the tree branches that face the observer. It's a simple but dramatic attention getter. An air dancer with a flood light would work great with lots of movement, but they are expensive.


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## highbury (Nov 5, 2009)

I agree with Jaybo. Stand on the corner in full costume. Get a hand-held battery operated strobe if you need to, but do something to get their attention. When they come up, don't say a word. Just point to your haunt. Or get two people to work both sides of the intersection. The kids will love it.

And Scarecrow's idea is hilarious! I've been trying to get in the paper for years and I even have a neighbor who writes for it. I'm going to have to pay him a visit...


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## Dark Angel 27 (Sep 11, 2008)

Debbie is a riot! still...free beer would get anyone's attention.

the strobe light is a brilliant idea!


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## CoolDJTV (Jun 28, 2011)

Put a sign by the side of a major road and state time and place. In canada you are not supose to have any flashing lights of overall lighting on the sign (if it is near a road)
Last year I used beacons to get attention and since my house is a ways up from the street people could still kinda see it. I also pumped out the fog! We had fog all the way down to the major road and intersection. That brought in ton's of people!
Also start advertiseing like a week or 2 before halloweeen!

That is all my tips!


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## curley (Apr 3, 2011)

I had the same problem!! But I agree up lighting really helped. Through cregs list and yard sales I was able to find some pretty large amp speakers. I played an track I found which was a distant single church bell slowly ringing. It echoed through the entire community.. People came from everywhere!!


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

Our local news does a Halloween display map with descriptions of each haunt. You just submit some photos and they post a story a week before Halloween. Call your local news and see if they're interested.


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## SoCal Scare (Aug 3, 2007)

A haunt near me last year used "floaties" basically just large balloons with an led powered by a small battery placed inside before filling it with helium then floating them on long strings over your street like a kite. They are kind of like the big spot lights used at grand opening of stores and theaters but you can make them any color, flashing or not it just depends on what LED's you get off eBay. I just bought 50 red and 50 orange LED's with resistors for $7 shipped to my house. You don't even need the resistors so its even easier. Google "throwies" just don't add the magnet.


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

SoCal Scare said:


> A haunt near me last year used "floaties" basically just large balloons with an led powered by a small battery placed inside before filling it with helium then floating them on long strings over your street like a kite. They are kind of like the big spot lights used at grand opening of stores and theaters but you can make them any color, flashing or not it just depends on what LED's you get off eBay. I just bought 50 red and 50 orange LED's with resistors for $7 shipped to my house. You don't even need the resistors so its even easier. Google "throwies" just don't add the magnet.


This is a very good idea. We are going with a ghostly theme this year, and these would be perfect. Attach them to an FCG rig using spiderwire and they would look like ghostly orbs floating above your haunt.


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## ouizul1 (May 22, 2010)

SoCal Scare said:


> A haunt near me last year used "floaties" basically just large balloons with an led


Ohhhhhh! Gotta try that, thanks!


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## Dixie (Feb 18, 2009)

I was considering putting an ad on Craigslist, so that Jaybo wouldn't make me stand on the corner.


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