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[MistressM]

We finally have a house with enough space to really go big on Halloween. However, I am stumped on ideas. Our inside is easy and done and looks beautiful. We are going for kind of a Haunted Mansion, Addams Family kind of thing. Mainly we want to make it look like this if just how our house is all the time, not just on Halloween. I wanted to do the large foam columns that I have seen a lot of people do and make a large "stone" gate way (something like this)

But we just can't figure out where to put it. We have a three car garage so our driveway is huge so we thought it would look odd and we are afraid to put it on our lawn since it will kill the grass under it and possibly get ruined by the sprinklers. Ideas?

Also any other ideas for what we can do? We have a couple tombstones and, of course, spiderwebs. Otherwise, we are having a creativity blockage.

Here are photos of the front of our house.

Thanks!

[Murfreesboro]

Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your lovely new home! I don't do a huge, themed yard haunt the way many people on this forum do. Instead I string lights in trees (bats and spiders), exhibit a number of jack-o-lanterns (both real and foam), and display the "ghost lights" or "spirit jugs" (made out of gallon milk jugs) that I have discussed on other threads. I also have something I call a "ghost dance," where I arrange a circle of dowel rods dressed like ghosts, as if they are dancing together in a circle. And of course I myself costume, usually as a witch, to distribute the candy. I have never had a lot of money to sink into the decorations, so my mantra is making things that are cute, clever, and inexpensive. (Most of the store-bought decorations I have picked up on sale after Halloween.)

We do have a street nearby where the neighbors compete with each other on yard haunts. One of them does a terrific graveyard, complete with a (living) corpse in a coffin, and another has a labyrinth which is a little different every year. Always there is at least one seemingly inanimate monster which will randomly come to life (it is actually a family member in costume). There is also one house that does a mad scientist's laboratory, where the TOTers come up to a table and put their hands into stuff, or see weird stuff in jars, etc. And another where the kids get chased by a mad man with a (non-working) chain saw.

So I have seen a lot, and have enjoyed all of it, but I have never gone all out myself to try to make one, coherent yard haunt, with a recognizably unique theme. If you want to go Addams Family or Haunted Mansion, you will have the issue that your house isn't Gothic at all in style. However, for me, the Addams Family is more about the characters than the house, so I guess I'd try to make sure all my family members looked their parts. If you are aiming for Haunted Mansion, I recall that movie had some singing "busts," barbershop quartet style, so maybe you could find a prop like that in one of the Halloween stores.

Since TOT happens in the dark (at least around here), you can probably create the illusion of a spookier environment by putting cut-outs of scary figures in your windows, or having artificial bats hanging in the trees or off the eaves, that sort of thing. Sound effects can help out, too.

You do have a big space there in your carport area, so I guess that is where you will wish to focus the haunt? You can treat that area like a stage and create pretty much any kind of environment you want there.

[Spookymufu]

afraid to kill the grass under your decorations??? You're not committed enough!

[Andybev01]

afraid to kill the grass under your decorations??? You're not committed enough!

Whereas some people need to be committed .

If that is your project car on the left in that photo you could put a zombie dummy or skeleton in the drivers seat with the window rolled down and its arm hanging out. A small battery powered strobe light hidden inside to draw attention to it.

[MistressM]

I am fine with killing the grass. It does grow back. My wife is the one with the issue. Maybe a bit more pleading is in order.

I love the idea of putting something in our old Dodge. Hadn't thought of that. It is also already full of spider webs to help add to the spook.

We have been trying to figure out how to do the singing busts from the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. Have just enlisted a friend to help with the programming. Hoping it can happen this year.

Thanks so much for the suggestions.

[witchy]

We finally have a house with enough space to really go big on Halloween. However, I am stumped on ideas. Our inside is easy and done and looks beautiful. We are going for kind of a Haunted Mansion, Addams Family kind of thing. Mainly we want to make it look like this if just how our house is all the time, not just on Halloween. I wanted to do the large foam columns that I have seen a lot of people do and make a large "stone" gate way (something like this)

But we just can't figure out where to put it. We have a three car garage so our driveway is huge so we thought it would look odd and we are afraid to put it on our lawn since it will kill the grass under it and possibly get ruined by the sprinklers. Ideas?

Also any other ideas for what we can do? We have a couple tombstones and, of course, spiderwebs. Otherwise, we are having a creativity blockage.

Here are photos of the front of our house.

Thanks!

Congrats on your new home, it's beautiful!!
I would make the stone columns out of styrofoam and the gate with PVC, you don't have to put it on the driveway, it can go on front of your porch, just down size it. I luv the idea of decorating the old car too!! You could do a projection on the garage, that would be really cool too.

[NeverMore]

I was gonna suggest projecting onto the door but Witchy beat me to it. She must be casting mind reading spells again. 3 car garage? You do realize the section to the left must be turned into a workshop or mancave. It's an imperative!

Your drive is pretty short so that sort of rules out putting the columns there. You can't put them on the sidewalk so the grass and sidedrive is your only option. Also, your drive is really wide so you would probably have to make the columns pretty darn sturdy to support the weight of the gates. Wheels on the gate centers might help with opening and closing them, but then you'll probably want to add an automatic opener since getting in and out to open gates gets old quick. Big project for a permanent installation. If you do it temporary you could probably get away with styrofoam and maybe balsa wood or some other lightweight material for the gates. Redirect or deflect the sprinklers while it's up.

If you need ideas for decorating check out my Pinterest. I haven't added much this year since I've been so busy but there are a lot of great ideas. If you click through the pictures most of them take you to how-to-do-its.