Why I keep doing halloween....

[lazz]

With luck this is close to the intended topic for this forum....

I do halloween for the kids and to show off a little to myself....no gore... no blood... no gross stuff... just plain surprises... I try to target about 500 kids a year.... some years I do close to that other years I go over.... I never know... and it is only the one night... and only for about 5 or so hours....

over the last 10 or so years I have created a list of memories that make it seem worth while for me... so while Im ranting Ill share a couple of those memories with who ever wants to read along....

the first prop I started with is called a trash can trauma ... I have city issued trash cans.. it is a plastic can about 4 feet tall with attached lid... I put an air cylinder and linkage in the can so I can press a button and make the lid open with a mask tied to the underside of the lid.... there is a quartz light in the bottom pointing up.. and an air horn... so you press the button....the lid pops up... the light shines on the mask and an air horn blasts....
this is good for wet pants every year.... one of the first years my daughter was at the controls and here comes a ol blue haired grannie.... I saw my daughter watching the poor ol lady... and it hit me she was going to scare her.... OHHH NO... I didnt want the poor ol lady to hurt herself... or to sue me.... Arggggggg.... before I could do anything about it my daughter triggered the prop... and it worked just like it should....
so the poor ol lady threw her arms in the air..... her purse went sailing into the street and burst open with stuff going everwhere.... she jumped into the air... and landed on her back side with a thump I can still hear....
I ran to help her up.. then I scooped the contents of her purse in a pile and gave it to her.... I apologized and she told me it was fine.... for the next 3 hours she stood across the street and directed kids to go by the trash can... she set them up in a way I could never dream of.... if an ol blue haired lady told you to go over there to get the good candy would you dream she was doing it to scare you? last year was the first year she has missed in nearly 10 years... I dont know her name.... but she comes early bringing someone new to scare... and she spends an hour or 2 here ... what a cool ol grannie....

maybe the second or third year I used the trash cans a little guy got scared by the can.... he was maybe 6 or 7.... and it scared him real bad.... I mean REAL bad.... he threw his candy and ran to his mommies car screaming all the way.... I followed him to the car to make sure he was okay... his mommie asked what happened... I tried to splained the can.. and she just didnt get it.... so she drove her car over by the can... I activated the can it did it's thing... and then from the back seat the little guy locked the door... since that moment I have believed a car door lock will keep out the boogy man.....

the past 5 or 6 years I have put traffic cones on the street to keep folks from parking in front of the house.... so this is the adults watching their kids area.... there is usually a crowd there ... maybe 30 to 50 folks most of the night .... I hang out there thats where the best show is... I carry a radio control to activate props.. it is fun.. I get to heckle kids and life is good.... so 4 or 5 years ago there was a crowd in front of the house... and a teenage 16,17 something girl got her candy and was leaving when she started walking directly away from the trashcans... I told her the neighbors had good candy and she confronted me with a teenage fury.... she was not going near those trash cans... I made her wet her pants last year.... after she made the wet pants statement she understood what she had said in front of a crowd of listeners.... the look on her face was priceless.... the laugh from the crowd was almost cruel.... but real funny....

last year the guy running my magic mirror was pure genius.... with luck he will do it this year also... the line runs down the front walk into the street 10 kids in line is a short line.... 30 is more normal.... so last year one mother was chatting to me as her 10ish year old daughter stood in line.... the mom asked me what the mirror did... I told her there was a guy behind it talkin to the kids .... the mom got an evil look in her eye.... I took her to the back side of the mirror.... when her daughter got to talk to the mirror... the mom told the guy the girl couldnt have any candy till she promised to clean her room... then the mom made several other conditions ... it was a good one... the mom and I went around the crowd and back out front... the daughter caught up to us... and told us how smart the mirror was.... how it knew her name... and all about her dog... all that stufff.... but not one word about the clean room.... funny how some things just get forgotten..... the mom said she will be back this year....

these are a small set of the memories I have of halloween....


oops I moved the pics
http://diyhalloween.net/pics_05/

[Macrosill]

Lazz,

Those are some great stories. Thanks for sharing them with us.

I am lucky if I get 10 kids to the door on Halloween. I have dreamed of doing a big Halloween show that was somewhat interactive and "scary" but I just don't get the foot traffic. So last year I did a small pupmkin based light show. You can see it on my site, nothing big but it was fun. It was the 1st light show I ever did.

[alwysrit2]

First, I want to say that I was afraid I would be the only one on a xmas forum doing halloween. I am glad there are others here.
I decorate for halloween to see what I can do. I am a huge Disney fan and Halloween gives me an excuse to see how close I can get to what they do. I don't do gore, I only do a little freight. I am more into telling a story and impressing all ages. I love it when I open the door and there are adults, without kids, watching all that is going on.
I love the freedom Halloween gives. This will be the 3rd year for doing pirates and next year the theme will be Star Wars.
Here is a video from last year. This year will be better
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k63Lq19r4uQ
-Don

[lazz]

the air cannon and fog machines are a nice effect....
it looks good....

[teberle]

Lazz,

I am right there with you. I like Halloween because it is priceless to see the look on adults faces when they get scared. I have a similar trash can that has a pumpkin that jumps out, I have a grave jumper and a skeleton that comes out of the coffin.

I probably get more adults then I do kids with the trash can. The best part is when some kid says that you can't scare them and when they walk by the hidden trash can they jump out of their shoes.

[zeenon]

Well, I love Halloween and have a couple props that I'll have out this Halloween. I'm hoping to switch a couple over to the vixen software once a driver becomes available for the Parallax Servo controller. But until then here are the current props I'm working on: www.deadmansinne.com

Z

[tconley]

Very cool site. I am a long way from there but I am working my way there to my wife's dismay.

[KC]

I'm hoping to switch a couple over to the vixen software once a driver becomes available for the Parallax Servo controller.

I'm expecting a PSC to show up here next week sometime. Then I can begin testing. So...shortly!

[wjohn]

Guys,

So great stories and some wonderful ideas.

Like Brian, I only get a small number of visitors to our door on Halloween. THe holiday is not really that big is OZ, but is becoming more so.

I thought that I would use Halloween as a test of my controllers and do some singing pumkins and some dimming for floods and effects with some strobes thrown in.

The idea of a pressure mat to trigger events would be great, just need to work out an interface and have KC come up with a plug in ;-)

[joeberg]

Great Stories Lazz. I did a Halloween display last year during testing while getting ready for Christmas. Basically just Singing pumpkins, but I would love to do more this year. I would love to see more ideas for this year. You can see the videos at http://www.holidayautomation.com/videos.php. They were my first captures, so they are kinda crappy, but you get the idea.

Joe