October 17, 20187 yr So with my kids getting to the age they really like Halloween, I think I want to take the decorations to the next level. I know there were a few shagsters that went all out, but not sure they made the jump. Where should I be looking for life size quality stuff that will last me for 5-10 years? Is there a big discount on stuff right after Halloween that I could buy and store for next year?
October 17, 20187 yr On a side note: can't wait for the new Surly tradition to (re)start at Christmas... "Look over thurrrr kids!"
October 17, 20187 yr Yeah Ldogg went all out with coffins and iirc some kind of haunted buggy, etc. I have been buying the shit out of stuff the past couple of years. We are up to 4 lifesize animatronics, all of the Home Depot variety. We have the witch with the crystal ball, a reaper, the Angel of Death, and the ridiculous 6 ft werewolf on all fours. They may last 5 years. I don't think they're junky but I wouldn't call them high quality, either. If you don't need them to be animated and want to put a little effort into it, I'd make them yourself. Guy in my hood has done that - has a Michael Myers, a Chucky, Freddy Kruger, etc and they look pretty good. Once I get my fog machine installed in a few days I was going to do a video or some pictures. I'll post it. As for discounts after Halloween - most certainly not. You might get lucky if you can find floor models. But those big box stores just keep the inventory until the next year. I've found smaller stuff at CVS for example on sale, but never the good stuff.
October 18, 20187 yr Author Yeah Ldogg went all out with coffins and iirc some kind of haunted buggy, etc. I have been buying the shit out of stuff the past couple of years. We are up to 4 lifesize animatronics, all of the Home Depot variety. We have the witch with the crystal ball, a reaper, the Angel of Death, and the ridiculous 6 ft werewolf on all fours. They may last 5 years. I don't think they're junky but I wouldn't call them high quality, either. If you don't need them to be animated and want to put a little effort into it, I'd make them yourself. Guy in my hood has done that - has a Michael Myers, a Chucky, Freddy Kruger, etc and they look pretty good. Once I get my fog machine installed in a few days I was going to do a video or some pictures. I'll post it. As for discounts after Halloween - most certainly not. You might get lucky if you can find floor models. But those big box stores just keep the inventory until the next year. I've found smaller stuff at CVS for example on sale, but never the good stuff. Good to know. I was leaning the HD route if for no other reason than I can see what I’m getting in person before I buy it, and don’t have to bother with return shipping
October 18, 20187 yr You better hurry, the Halloween inventory is running low and Christmas is moving in. No shit, I was there on Tuesday.
October 19, 20187 yr On 10/17/2018 at 12:08 PM, RamjetFDO said: On a side note: can't wait for the new Surly tradition to (re)start at Christmas... "Look over thurrrr kids!" Ok den, let's get our roll on!
October 20, 20187 yr Build your own. Come up with a design and start working on it in May. There are plenty of tutorials and you can get creative yourself. Go register at halloweenforum.com and browse and learn. As for buying stuff. I never did buy much. You can get 20% off at Spirit Halloween pretty much whenever. Go on Nov 1 and most of the stuff is 50% off. If it isn’t find the manager and strike a deal. Check Craigslist all year long. When I sold my last house I had to sell most all of my stuff. A guy in Houston bought a vast majority of my cool shit for $1200. Including the custom hearse I built. Feel free to PM me for more details. And if you’re in Houston and want to build shit I’ll totally help out. I miss doing that.
October 21, 20187 yr ldogg, how did you do the fog? I bought a fog machine that is supposed to release fog on intervals on its own but I'm skeptical. Setting it up tomorrow if the weather is ok.
October 21, 20187 yr ldogg, how did you do the fog? I bought a fog machine that is supposed to release fog on intervals on its own but I'm skeptical. Setting it up tomorrow if the weather is ok. I had 4 fog machines. 2 were the cheap $20 ones with I think 400 watt output. The control on them has them flip on automatically every couple of minutes. Then I also had 2 of the 1000 watt units. These had a more robust control mechanism. You could set the duration of fog and the frequency. I used those 2 for pumping fog through my fog chillers that I built. Word of warning. The first time you run your fog machines go out there and check them regularly. If a machine runs out of juice it will burn the motor up quick. Keep them full. Also, the fog juice you get at the Halloween stores sucks ass. Look up Froggy’s Fog Juice. They make some top notch stuff. And if you ever build a chiller like I did then you specifically get the juice for that.
October 22, 20187 yr I'm kinda cheap. Might just chalk a giant pentagram in the driveway, light candles, dance around it nekkid, see whether elder demons or cops show up first.
October 23, 20187 yr Try the thrift stores. Goodwill, savers, etc. Usually find a bunch of 1% deco year to year
October 26, 20187 yr Author Didn't have time to do much shopping, but had to run to HD at lunch to get something, and noticed all their stuff was on sale for 1/2 off. Will head back later today/tonight to figure out what I should get. Some of their animatronic stuff looked pretty good, but I have no idea if it was just the floor sample stuff on sale or what.
October 26, 20187 yr Thanks for the heads up. Wish I would have waited a few weeks. I added another one to the collection.
October 27, 20187 yr There were a couple that looked cool that I didn't already have. I wound up buying the 6 ft tall pumpkin head guy animatronic because it was only $48 or something. Turns out it was a massive piece of shit. A lot of the heads have kind of a hard plastic "ribbon" on them that acts as the neck, so you stick them into the plug from the upper abdomen and the gravity/weight I guess is supposed to weigh the thing down and put the neck/face posture even and level. Didn't work with this guy. He was staring up into space. I tried to force the bend a bit and his fucking neck snapped. I put a hole in the bottom of his skull and shoved it down onto the neck brace. Not happy but meh, it was $48. Don't doxx me bro, here's my yard at present. Thriller is merely on rotation, but it's definitely my favorite rotation. https://photos.app.goo.gl/3hC4ZDzzY5VMYyuW8
October 27, 20187 yr The Spirit Halloween store has some pretty awesome looking dead zombie babies for the yard. My girlfriend nixed it because dead babies. She doesn’t know it yet but she’s going to walk into the bedroom and find one of those creepy bastards under the bed covers very soon. https://goo.gl/images/3W1n8Y
October 27, 20187 yr I am a huge Halloween & Halloween decorating nerd. One thing I would suggest if anyone is looking to decorate for Halloween or step up their current decorations is lighting. Spirit Halloween stores have some really cool lights called Fire and Ice in different colors. Looks very good projected onto a house or even yard. I had also seen some good and very bright black lights projected onto houses that look great.
October 29, 20187 yr Author Fuck I can see myself getting in deep on this. Especially since my wife doesn't like a ton of Christmas decorations other than basic white lights and maybe one inflatable thing for the kids. Saturday I picked up a 5' tall crouched over werewolf thing, two more skeletons and a door knocker thing that talks. I also ordered a strobe light that will be here today so that I don't have to have the porch lights on. Now it looks like I'm stopping by Spirit of Halloween on my way home for more maybe. Today after work, lil JSB will be helping me finish up decorating and doing the golf cart as well. After we're done, I'll post some pics or a video. It's a little hard to justify because we really don't get a ton of kids (they mostly stay on the other side of the neighborhood where there are more houses) but it is fun. This morning I was on the phone with my wife as she was pulling out of the drive way, and she screamed because she had forgotten about the werewolf on the porch
October 30, 20187 yr Author Damn, I’ve got a ways to go to get on Baboon’s or Ldogg’s level. Next step for sure though will be more lighting. Not even worth posting the porch, but here is the golf cart my son helped decorate tonight and the pumpkin that I think turned out pretty well. More was added around the pumpkin after this pic. The webbing looks really cool with the lights reflecting off of it. I just hope they don’t blow off as soon as I speed up. Also, that crouching werewolf Baboon has is the same one I’ve got.
October 30, 20187 yr Looks like a good father/son project. I wish that skeleton was throwin' the horns up, though.
October 30, 20187 yr We're really into Halloween and usually decorate a lot. Each year I try to add something. I haven't done anything as grand as building a hearse buggy, yet, but I'm getting there. Of course, the time I had to decorate was during the endless rain, and once it stopped I've been busy elsewhere. So, we went light on decorations this year. I basically divide the yard up into 6 zones that are each illuminated by its own spotlight (various colors), and the focal point of each area is a macro decoration of some sort. Here are 5 of the 6 I'm running this year (shots are during daytime - night time pics sucked). Street level Keeper and the graveyard Love this one for some reason - ghoul peaking around the tree. Looks creepy at night in blue light Campfire with guitar, marshmallows, and booze The Pirate (not Leach, but coincidentally TTU colors) warning you to keep out The creepy killer clown. This one faces trick-or-treaters when they come to the door. I illuminate with a low wattage white light so you can see the colors, and it casts a wicked shadow up the front of the house. Yeah, yeah, yard looks like shit between the attack of the moles and erosion from all the rain. We're gonna xeriscape it next year, anyway.
December 8, 20187 yr Anyone by chance cop the headless horseman from Home Depot? I need one badly for a Christmas present. Long story. The only one I can find anywhere is $375 on eBay and local pickup in PA. It was marked down to $62 before it went discontinued at HD. Link below. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Home-Accents-Holiday-86-6-in-Headless-Horseman-5124513/304942912
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