I read this post a while ago and have been trying to figure out what was my favorite theme?

It is probably whatever I am doing that year.

I still get told by guests that they liked 'Space Oddissy 2001'

We had a Crash site, Alien Abductions (The Head Alien told abducties that they needed to find what the aliens needed to get back to their planet, .. 'tetrahydrozoline' .....the active ingredent in Visine), Alien Autopsy Etc.

There have been good things about all of the themes we did, and I would recommend them to others.

Past Years:

Charlie Haze - Headless Train Wreck Victim
Addams Family
Gnomes & Trolls
Psycotic Circus
Hollywood
Murder Mystery

This year we are doing 'Face Your Fears'

__________________
Man cannot live on bread alone.... (unless he is in a cage and that is all you feed him.)

Thanks for the welcome MHooch, I'm finding everyone one this site helpful and pleasant!

TheWorstWitch; for my tour of our neighborhood, I would recommend looking for anything quirky in your neighborhood because at night you need to do little at creeping people out. I created a myth about an old farm house that happens to be by an old cemetery. The people who live there like to grow flowers and then put them out in a cup on an old rickity wooden stand that has a faded painting of a lady in white with flowers in her hair. They have a sign that says $.10 cents a flower so I just incorporated it into my little fable. I didn't have to do anything but bring my guests by the little stand and let the moonlight cast shadows over the flowers and the "white lady's" face. I told them details of the family that settled the farm and that the white lady still haunts the house today. The only way the family can appease her is by offering flowers to passers-by who purchase a flower to bring to the white lady's grave, in memory of the woman who settled the land. They were told some personal details about the white lady and that she herself was a botonist who loved trees and planted many in the cemetery that was once her farm land. I then took the guests into the cemetery(I made sure it was ok first) and made them identify the three old trees that the "white lady" herself had planted near her stone. They used flashlights to find her grave and offer a flower to her.
(I picked the name on a very old grave that looked unkempt so as not to offend anyone who might visit (and then after the tour I removed the flower) but the guests didn't see because they were too busy looking for catalpa, birch and oak tree leaves to finish their task in the cemetary. When we were on the tour, people were looking at me like little kids who believe what they're being told even though it scares them. And when were were done with the rest of the tour they all commented on how much fun they had and talked about the characters i told them about as if they were real.
No one ever questioned if it was real until we were back to the house and some people were freaking out about the white lady following us home.(Amazing what your own imagination can trick you into seeing, as I didn't have anyone in costume to follow us home, though you could if you wanted to) I let them freak a little while and then told them the deal I've just told you. Oh and at the end of the tour we ended up at our local neighborhood bar where they had to go in and ask about the bartender named angelo who really is in the guinness book of world record 's as the current bartender who's been tending longest. Because our party theme was superstitions they had to ask for Angelo and ask him if he believed in superstitions and if so did he have any good luck charms that helped him tend bar longest. The guests got a rise out of walking into a bar in costume and meeting a world record holder. After they were done with the tour, their reward was to grab a drink, shoot some pool and then head back to our house for the rest of the party.

So my advice is do a little research in your neighborhood, everyone has a story to tell and is interesting in some way. Look for something quirky and tell some fables, but then also find something interesting and true so then they won't know what is real and what isn't...to me uncertainty is the best way to scare adults. We all like to think we have everything figured out...wah ha ha!

I agree with Yellow moon our Charlie Haze year we got the story from the old rail road tracks that run under a berm at the edge of our property.

One time my Husband asked me a question about a date in history and I gave my answer with the "proof" being that was the 'end' date on Charlie Haze's tombstone. He looked at me like I was Crazy and said "You remember that Charlie was not real" My answer was "That does not mean that he wasn't Historicly correct"

__________________
Man cannot live on bread alone.... (unless he is in a cage and that is all you feed him.)

My fave themes have been Edwardian Sideshow and New Orleans Voodoo.

__________________
Get the Bloody Salt Yourself!

Beware the Pom of Purgatory

Ooohh a "Face your Fears" theme sounds interesting Natascha. What kind of ideas are you going to incorporate for decorations?

Ryadread,

That is one thing that I like about this theme, I can use lots of stuff from past years.

My plan is to have on our trail different areas with fears such as: Spiders, Rats, Ghosts/Cemetary, creepy Dolls, Snakes, Bees (good one for a sound effect), Frogs, Birds, dog igloo house with glowing eyes, Aliens, bottomless pit with cockroaches in it, Clowns (Coulrophobia) and in the house Dentist tools, Ants, etc and have the areas marked with a number and have a sheet of paper with the actual word for the fear and have people match them up.

Then our other activity is Halloween Family Fued, Fear is public speaking, working with people you don't know Etc. One of the prizes I am going to get is Edible Larva.

I have part of my costume, a Coffin, my fear is being buried alive, the second part of my costume I am still working on, maybe a mountian climber, fear of heights, or an IRS agent, for when I have to take off the coffin because it is cumbersome.

__________________
Man cannot live on bread alone.... (unless he is in a cage and that is all you feed him.)

Lots of good ideas here. It wasn't until I came to this group that I picked up "the theme" idea.
I pulled together what I knew.......my maiden name was Collins, my candy business is called"Collins Chocolates" & when I was in grammer school...it was all about "Dark Shadows" & the Collins Family of Vampires. Thats how I started writing my story on my web site. Some fact some fiction>>>>objective??>>>>>to confuse the hell out of my Tot's!!! I want them to wonder what is real & what isn't!

Yellow_Moon....I love your story & how you went about doing your little tour! How creative are you girl!

Lately I did a search on this area I live in and found a whole section on the local ghosts.......believe me my friends....the wheels are turning!!

the Muffster

__________________




Picturetrail Photo Albums
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/....y=0&Submit=Go

Well I've only hosted 2 parties and neither of them had a theme. I not sure if I want to theme my party this year though. However, if I come across an interesting and fun theme I just might host my first themed Halloween party! So far there are a lot of great ideas in this thread such as the "Face Your Fears."

Yellow_Moon... I too am blown away by your creativity! This gives me ideas for my party this year, especially since I just found out that just a few streets away is home to a ghost of a woman who was killed in the 1980s while riding her bike at night. Legend has it that she appears after midnight. Hmm... now its time to get to thinking!

I've always like the undead pirate theme or the traditional haunted mansion theme with the traditional icons such as skeletons, ghosts, withes, bats, cats, pumkins, scarecrows etc. Never really liked the mental asylum serial killer, mad scientist lab or sci-fi themes that much.

__________________
Life is too short to wear matching socks!


http://www.myspace.com/houseofshadows_longview