# Peanuts Child theme being added this year



## Cassie7

We've always run a hard core scary haunt and its always bothered us that adults would literally drag their children kicking and crying through it.

With that said...

We decided last year that our haunt has gotten too large to host in our front yard any longer so we're going to do a bigger one in our backyard this year.

We were wondering what to do with the front and have decided on doing a 'soft haunt' for the little tykes up there. We're doing a "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" thing and began making the pieces/props for it.

Here are a couple of progress pics (I think they're coming out great!)...










In this next pic, Charlie Brown is uncut (That just sounds bad, sorry LOL)










I want to add that people always sound off on how they think I'm such a great artist, but the unsung hero on this project is hubby. Particle board never cuts easy and he is doing a fantastic job cutting and sanding on this one.


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## joker

Excellent idea and great job. Can't wait to see more pics.
Thanks for sharing!


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## Frighteners Entertainment

Love it.
That's why we bought our kids haunt 5-6 years ago.
We actually have more folks that wanted to go through it than the adult haunt!


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## crossblades400

omg! you made those!??!?!


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## Stiff Kitten

Great job they look like Schulz did them himself


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## Cassie7

Hubby jigsawing Charlie Brown out. He's doing a great job. Particle board is really nasty stuff to work with. Sorry about the crappy pic, I took it through a screen window and my camera sucks.










Charlie is done now and I have most of the paint work on the kid with the **** cap.










I'm looking forward to painting Pigpen. BTW, my cat Booger says that she can kick Snoopy's butt any time, any place and any day


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## BoysinBoo

This is great! You've gotta add this scene.

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ5-RDkX2O4[/nomedia]

Snoopy Silhouette rising out the patch would be great!


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## Revenant

When yo0u pass out treats to the ToTs, have two dishes, one full of candy and the other full of rocks and then act like you're taking time to choose before getting their treat!

Looks awesome btw... Peanuts rules... kudos to you both


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## skeletonowl

awesome job so far! what a great idea!


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## crossblades400

lookin good!


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## Cassie7

I've finished Pigpen. I really think both kids and adults will love this theme when we set it out. This is going to be so much fun this year.

Here's a pic of Pigpen finished and group shot of them all.


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## Sickie Ickie

Terrific! I love the idea of a toned down haunt for the kiddies! Kudos to you!


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## Bone Dancer

Excellent work. A kiddie haunt is a good idea. We have to get the little kids to like Halloween first. Then you can ease them into the scary stuff later.


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## Hauntiholik

I think they are all adorable! I love the idea cassie7.


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## Revenant

That is just too awesome.

You better have a really _*sincere*_ pumpkin patch.


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## jdubbya

Revenant said:


> That is just too awesome.
> 
> You better have a really _*sincere*_ pumpkin patch.


Good idea! A really large wooden cut out of a jack o lantern rising up from a "patch" of real pumpkins (or even fake ones) with a big spot light on it. Very neat idea and I'm sure the kids as well as a lot of parents will get a kick out of.


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## Lilly

Peanuts good kids attention getter
y that would be cool snoopy silouhetted in the pumpkin patch with moonlight 
(you could get a bunch of those plastic pumpkins sand weighted or wooden cut outs and fake greenery unless you can get real stuff somewhere)
you cutouts turned out great


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## BudMan

Very Nice! What a great idea and beatiful execution.


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## Haunted Bayou

Fantastic idea. I really like the Peanuts idea, and the kids are going to love it. I never understood why a parent would drag a kid through a haunt. 

I keep my haunt TOT friendly, and the parents like it as much as the kids do but even as tame as mine is some kids don't want to enter because they are afraid something will jump out at them. I usually let them know it is only me so the will come get a treat.

If the kids see the cartoon cut-outs, they won't be afraid. Very well done.


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## ghostie

And for the kids, they're life sized. What a wonderful memory you'll be giving them.


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## Bloodhound

*Cassie7-*You are with out a doubt another one of my hero's. That's why I like this forum so much. The creativity it outstanding. Thank you.


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## scareme

Nice idea. I have a child friendly area of my haunt and alot of parents like to get a picture a their of kids there.


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## GothicCandle

oh i love this. very cute idea.


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## Night Owl

Very impressive... The kids will go crazy for this!


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## Revenant

This is why I just don't get all the people who think that it's not Halloween if the little kids aren't crying and pissing themselves and wanting to go home after visiting the haunt... something like this they're going to love and want to come back next year... or even do at their own house next year. Whether it's actually scary or not, you'll never go wrong with Scooby Doo or Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown; it's totally in the spirit of Halloween.


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## Hauntiholik

Cassie7 - do you have templates for the characters? My work bench is in the basement and I have dull concrete walls to look at. I would love to make a mural of the peanuts gang.


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## Cassie7

Thanks everybody for the great comments and support! It really means a lot to me.

Hauntiholik, I don't have a template, sorry. I did them freehand in pencil on the boards and then darkened my final lines in magic marker.


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## Daphne

Cassie, you did an incredible job!! My haunt isn't gory but it is really spooky so there are kids that really don't want any part of it. I love that you have done something for them and you've done it extremely well!

It might be cool to add Linus and Sally sitting next to a couple pumpkins ha, ha.


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## Cassie7

Daphne, We're running up to Lowes this afternoon to get more particle board for the Linus and Sally characters.  We bought two sheets last week and I had hubby cut them into thirds. So we got 6 character out of them at a cost of about $10 total.


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## Daphne

$10!! Sweet! 

I can't wait to see Linus and Sally!! Kids will be lining up to have their pictures made!


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## Sickie Ickie

Revenant said:


> This is why I just don't get all the people who think that it's not Halloween if the little kids aren't crying and pissing themselves and wanting to go home after visiting the haunt... something like this they're going to love and want to come back next year... or even do at their own house next year. Whether it's actually scary or not, you'll never go wrong with Scooby Doo or Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown; it's totally in the spirit of Halloween.


Couldn't have said it better myself, Rev!


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## Mobile Mayhem

Hauntiholik said:


> Cassie7 - do you have templates for the characters? My work bench is in the basement and I have dull concrete walls to look at. I would love to make a mural of the peanuts gang.


I am working on something similar for my yard for Christmas with Disney characters. I took some coloring sheets and traced them onto clear plastic, then used an overhead projector (my wife works at a school) to trace them directly onto plywood. You can do this right onto walls as well.


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## Cassie7

The core group is done. I just need to do Linus, Sally and some pumpkins and vines.


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## BoysinBoo

Hauntiholik said:


> Cassie7 - do you have templates for the characters? My work bench is in the basement and I have dull concrete walls to look at. I would love to make a mural of the peanuts gang.


Have you ever thought of using rasterbator?

http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/

I know it sounds like something you have to ask for pennance for, but it's a cool program. Basically you submit any image you want and the software converts it into a PDF file that has as many pages as needed to make the image as big as you want. Color or black and white. All you need is a picture. You could print a template or even just print it in color and hang them up. It could be the size of the side of your house if you want!


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## Bloodhound

BoysinBoo said:


> Have you ever thought of using rasterbator?
> 
> http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/
> 
> I know it sounds like something you have to ask for pennance for, but it's a cool program. Basically you submit any image you want and the software converts it into a PDF file that has as many pages as needed to make the image as big as you want. Color or black and white. All you need is a picture. You could print a template or even just print it in color and hang them up. It could be the size of the side of your house if you want!


^---- I like this idea, Thank you BoysinBoo.


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## Death's Door

You guys did a great job. Shultz himself would be proud of this project. I was just thinking about the silouette of Snoopy in the pumpkin patch that one of the members posted and thought if you could have the silouette go up and down like Snoopy did in the patch. Just like the cartoon when he appeared as the Great Pumpkin. Sorry if this was already said from another member but I just got back to posting after a few days being away from this place due to that work thing.


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## Cassie7

Nah, We preferred Snoopy doing his Red Barron act on his dog house. Perhaps another year.


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## beelce

YES Cassie...your cut outs are outstanding!! They look like lots of work..Nice job...I also salute you for making a soft halloween for the wee ones...I have done the same thing at my haunt as well...In my haunted woods, we have the "white" trail that is well light with lots of white light, big inflatables, plastic pumpkins and lots of other "soft" haunt stuff...The cool thing is that after they enjoy the "white" trail, many of the smaller ones will venture into the cemetary or the "red" trail.... I think that gore is not necessary to make a great haunt...your visitors will love the Charlie Brown theme!


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## Cassie7

I'm currently working on the Linus and Sally board. And also several vine and pumpkin boards to use as filler here and there in the yard. I'll post update pics when I get further along.

Today, hubby and I were moving the completed pieces to the basement when we decided to hammer some rebar into the ground in the back yard for a couple of the pieces to see how it looks. OMG, it's looking great! I couldn't be happier. (I hot glued PVC tubes onto the backs of them and we just slide them down over the rebar).

Our neighbor's two little kids came running into our back yard (ages 4 and 6) and were literally dancing around and hugging the figures. It was adorable. They are a hit already


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## BoysinBoo

> Our neighbor's two little kids came running into our back yard (ages 4 and 6) and were literally dancing around and hugging the figures. It was adorable.


You just made my Friday C7. I leave for work now with warm fuzzies in my head. Kids joy and imagination are what Halloween is about for me.

Thanx


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## Evil Queen

I want, I want! How about if you make a large pumpkin and have someone dressed as Snoopy rise up from behind it to give out candy?


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## Cassie7

No can do, we already have the entire haunt planned out. The kids will be escorted through the Great Pumpkin theme-scene with only one scary prop which stands about 9 feet tall that they have to pass by to get to the candy giver area.

Here's a pic of the Linus and Sally board. It's got a lot of work to be done, but it's coming along


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## Bloodhound

Cassie7,All of the boards Look Fantastic!!!


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## Johnny Thunder

Those are amazing! I've been meaning to check out this thread and just had time to do so. My wife and I are huge Peanuts fans and those rock! Great job.


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## crossblades400

Bloodhound said:


> Cassie7,All of the boards Look Fantastic!!!


what they said =p


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## Sickie Ickie

plus infinity!


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## Revenant

Holy Cow! Cassie you are my hero. This stuff looks awesome... wish you'd have taken pictures of your test setup as a pre-season teaser for us.

Come Halloween, you realize that we will settle for nothing but a complete video walkthrough so we can see ALL of it!


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## Nancj

BRAVO!!!! to you and Hubby Cassie!!! Great Job! Holy cow they look awesome!! Incredible artwork. very talented indeed. wished I lived nearby to come and see those in your front yard, I would definately bring my kids to see you haunt. WOW!


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## Cassie7

Wow, thanks for the great kudos everyone. It means a lot and keeps my creative juices flowing.

I've completed the Linus and Sally Panel. I found that doing a short vid showed more detail (being able to pan and zoom) than a single pic does.

I need to work on my camera skills, sorry about that.

I'm also adding a vid of another character which shows a couple of my pumpkin and vine boards. The pumpkin and vine boards will be scattered throughout the yard making for a 3D cartoon look (fingers crossed).


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## Sickie Ickie

Lookin' great!


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## Lilly

Fantastic Cassie..
the ToT's wil love it
the 3-D look is great


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## Bloodhound

Perfect !!!


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## Cassie7

Linus and Sally are finished. I'm just finishing up a few of the pumpkin and vine boards now that will be scattered around the yard to add to the 3Dcartoon effect.

Four of the pumpkin and vine boards...






The back of the boards are painted black and I hot-glued PVC tubes to them. Rebar will be hammered into the ground and the PVC tubes will be slid on them for support.


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## Sickie Ickie

I love the shading you've done! Is that three paint colors or 2 on the leaves?


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## Cassie7

Three (not including the black outlines).


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## Sickie Ickie

thought so. I could really pick up some nice tips studying these photos.


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## Cassie7

I basically painted a section of the leaf a dark green and the rest in a medium green color. Where the two colors meet, I drybrushed the medium over the dark a little to make it look like a smoother blend. Then I just drybrushed strips of light green to highlight here and there.

And finishing up with clean black outlines really set it off (IMHO).


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## Moon Dog

Really great work Cassie7! Great idea!


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## Daphne

Cassie, this is absolutely wonderful! You did a phenomenal job! 

Please oh please make a video on Halloween for us!

You have got me thinking about copying you now. I have a corner yard and all my display is in the cul-de-sac except for the giant inflatable Frankenstein ha, ha. Your peanuts characters would be sweet up there on that long stretch of street....


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## Daphne

Cassie, just out of curiousity, why did you use particle board instead of stryofoam? Cost? 
The wood would definitely be less likely to get broken/gouged but would be heavier. It's too bad plexiglass is so expensive, that would be light and durable although it would be a complete pain to cut... I think your idea and implementation was wonderful, I'm just curious.


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## Hawks Hill Haunter

WOW, Cassie - very well done! Hats off to you!!! Can't wait to see all the pieces together.


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## Cassie7

Daphne, the particle board choice was strictly about cost. It was less than $5 a sheet and I got an average of 3 characters per sheet. I also got a few splinters too LOL


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## Cassie7

All the Great Pumpkin/Peanuts boards are finished and tucked away in storage now. I'm really pleased with how they came out and I think the neighborhood will absolutely love it when we set them up. I can't wait


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## Daphne

Congrats Cassie! I bet I"ll hear the happy squeals all the way in Atlanta when you put them out!


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## Aelwyn

Awesomeness times infinity! Really!!! I love it.  I'm sure the little ones will thoroughly enjoy it, too!


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## Nancj

Very profesional!! they are absolutely beautiful!!
You should be very proud!


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