10.31.2006

2006 Halloween Night

Costume Quantity Percentage
Army Dudes 2 1%
Baseball Player 1 1%
Basketball Player 1 1%
Batman 2 1%
Bear 1 1%
Bunny 1 1%
Care Bear 1 1%
Cat 1 1%
Cheerleader 4 2%
Chicken 1 1%
Clown 1 1%
Cowboy 1 1%
Cowgirl 1 1%
Dinosaur 5 3%
Doctor 1 1%
Dog 1 1%
Fairy 1 1%
Fantastic Four 1 1%
Fat Matthew 1 1%
Football Player 2 1%
Ghost 1 1%
Ghouls 2 1%
Goth 1 1%
Grim Reaper 12 7%
Hamburger 1 1%
Hippo 1 1%
Indian 1 1%
Inmate 1 1%
Jason 1 1%
Jester 1 1%
Ketchup Bottle 1 1%
Ladybug 1 1%
Mickey Mouse 1 1%
Misc 40 23%
Mustard Bottle 1 1%
Nascar Driver 1 1%
Ninja 3 2%
ninja turtle 2 1%
Nurse 1 1%
Parrot 1 1%
Pimp 2 1%
Pirate 1 1%
Power Rangers 2 1%
Princess 15 9%
Pumpkin 1 1%
punk rocker 1 1%
Redneck 1 1%
Skateboarder 3 2%
Skeleton 2 1%
Snowboarder 1 1%
Spiderman 4 2%
Superman 1 1%
Transgender 4 2%
Vampire 1 1%
Winnie the Poo 1 1%
Witch 21 12%
Witch Doctors 2 1%
Wolverine 1 1%
Zombie 3 2%



Total 171

2006 Video Tour

Here's a quick video tour I made for the 2006 display.

2006 Night Photos

Here are the night photos. Since camera flashes effectively ruin nighttime photography, look for a video which will be posted soon.



2006 Day Photos Part 3

Last set of day/dusk photos.

2006 Day Photos Part 2

More day/dusk photos.

2006 Day Photos

At long last we get to the photos. Here's the first batch of day/dusk shots.

2006 Day 3

It's Monday, October 30th and we are having a Halloween Party. The party is a dress rehearsal so to speak. I have completed the setup but noticed some additional lighting would make things perfect. I revamped my fog chiller design which definitely made an improvement but the wind was also being a little uncooperative. A family member noticed someone filming my props during the party, a bit odd I suppose. I'll post more pics soon, here are a few.

2006 Day 2

It's Saturday, October 28th and I'm just now getting around to setting up the yard. I went with a new layout this year which I'm really happy with. The idea is to expand the graveyard scene to the whole of the front yard. I left the old man and battling pirates in their original spots. New is the cobweb in the arch which also houses a blue flood light for extra ambience. Here's some initial pics.

10.30.2006

Haunted Tree

A new prop for this year is a 'haunted tree' (for lack of a better term). While discussing themes this year, one of the things that popped in my head for the cemetary was some sort of scary tree similar to the one found in the movie Sleepy Hollow. I wasn't sure where to start with this thing, but thankfully my wife had some good ideas to get the ball rolling. At the base of the tree is an old unused Christmas tree stand. The structure of the tree was made using cardboard concrete forms (12" and 8"), a lot of tape, some PVC, chicken wire and Monster Mud. What is Monster Mud you say? It is essentially a 5 parts joint compound to 1 part exterior latex paint mixture. We 'paper-mache'd' the tree using a drop cloth that was cut into strips and dipped into the Monster Mud. The tree measures about 7ft tall and about 6.5ft wide. It was an interesting (and messy) project and took around 10-12 hours to make. I have no idea where I will be storing this.

9.17.2006

2006 Day 1

First post of the next year. This year I'm considering a new layout and theme for the yard haunt. I'm thinking that past years have been a mash of too many different ideas. I think for this year I'll focus on one theme and work to bring in more quality. If I proceed with this route, I'll have to start simple this year and work my way up in future years. Two themes have come into my mind - convert the entire yard to an interactive haunted cemetary OR expand on the pirate theme. There are advantages to both, I think once I go shopping for items I'll have a better idea of which route is more feasible, cost effective and net the coolest result. Stay tuned.