# 2020 Back to the 80s Party



## dawnski (Jun 16, 2012)

Hi all, Dawnski here. For longtime followers you know the hubby restricts me to a Halloween party every other year. I go way overboard and my family hates living in a haunted house for several months. I am unleashed for 2020! We have moved to a bigger home and I am excited to see where these rooms take me in regards to whole house Halloween decorating.

This thread is my prop building diary. I'll share what I'm working on and you can follow along and tell me how I'm doing. Today I want to share my ideas. If you saw the movie Ready Player One, that's kind of how I want to do our house. Everywhere you go will be some kind of 80s movie/pop culture reference.

Living Room - *Beetlejuice* waiting room with the magician's assistant and probably the shrunken head guy
2nd Living Room (we've turned our dining room into a separate entertaining area) - *Ghostbusters* with Slimer in our chandelier and some ghosts
Kitchen/Sunroom - *Goonies and Indiana Jones*, hoping to have One Eyed Willie and the fertility idol in these rooms
Family Room - This is a big open area with arches all around it. I want to seal up the room in black tarp and turn this into a homage to 80s horror including *Friday the 13th, Evil Dead, Hellraiser and Nightmare on Elm Street*. Kind of an in-house haunt. I've done this type of set up in our garage previously so it will be a luxury to have it inside the house. But maybe not so much for the family, bwahaha!
Powder Room - *Take on Me* music video
Basement - *Caddyshack* bar and 80s sci-fi and sci-fi horror. I plan to have areas dedicated to John Carpenter's *The Thing and Halloween*. I want to recreate the couch scene with the petri dishes. I also have other areas for *Back to the Future, Terminator, Aliens and Blade Runner*. 
Not sure yet but I also might tie in *Stranger Things and It* as they were based on the 80s. I feel the Demogorgon is at home in the same world as the xenomorph and Thing creature. Scattered throughout will be Stephen King references of *The Shining, Salem's Lot and Creepshow*. Tons more smaller references if I can fit them in. Thanks in advance for your support and advice!


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## Gweede (Jun 20, 2015)

Wow, what a fantastic list of ideas, Dawnski! Please keep us posted on your projects with photos or videos. I would love to see everything. Congrats on your new house!


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## dawnski (Jun 16, 2012)

Turning a little hanging vampire into one of the Glick boys from Salem's Lot. You know the scene I'm talking about. The little vampire boy who floats up to his brother's window and wants to be let in. I have French doors in my office and I want to put him there. It would be cool if I could give him some movement but I'm not sure how to achieve that. Not mechanically inclined for prop motors. I'll have black material blocking the view of the office from behind. This is my only '70s (1979) reference at my party but only cause it has scarred for life any kid who grew up in the 80s.


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## MorganaMourning (Jun 10, 2014)

I am following this thread. What awesome ideas you have. Can't wait to see what else you come up with.


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## Saki.Girl (Aug 22, 2012)

Look forward to seeing what you do. No party for me this year so be fun to see what you create


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## pumpkinpie (Jul 9, 2011)

Love it!!! Can’t wait to follow along  And congratulations on the new house!!!!


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## 66539 (Feb 20, 2016)

dawnski said:


> Turning a little hanging vampire into one of the Glick boys from Salem's Lot. You know the scene I'm talking about. The little vampire boy who floats up to his brother's window and wants to be let in. I have French doors in my office and I want to put him there. It would be cool if I could give him some movement but I'm not sure how to achieve that. Not mechanically inclined for prop motors.


You have a few months before the big party, so maybe taking a look at flying crank ghosts, or FCGs, might be worth your while. Depending on your budget, you can spend quite a bit and get the whole prop ready to put together, or you can make it yourself. They really are amazing little creations, and your prop looks as if it's light weight enough to be converted quite easily into a FCG. It would really amp up the effect exponentially.

Here's a few examples of what others have done. I bypassed the instructional aspects of the video just to let you see how great they look. Just think what your little vampire would look like floating in air like these ghosts. (Need help? Check out your local area to see if they have a haunter's association. There are people out there who are eager to help folks just dipping their toes into the haunting waters for the first time.)


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## dawnski (Jun 16, 2012)

Wow, that is exactly what I'm looking for. I'll investigate further, thanks!


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## dawnski (Jun 16, 2012)

Very minor prop today. I bought two winged angels at a thrift store that were missing their trumpets. Thought it would be funny to use cigarettes and then that reminded me of Van Halen's 1984 LP. Not sure where this will go yet. Liked the little fellas so much they are permanent on our fireplace next to some antique books.


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## dawnski (Jun 16, 2012)

I want Lydia from Beetlejuice to hang off our staircase. Created this cut out. Had planned to purchase a thrift store outfit but this is on hold cause, you know, coronavirus. My family said this looks like Mary Poppins so if I ever want a Disney themed party, I'm golden!


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## dawnski (Jun 16, 2012)

I splurged on a prop all the way from Malaysia. It's a 2'x3' wall breaker of the Xenomorph. The Etsy piece is mostly black. Alien vs Predator\Alien Wall Art\Wall Hanging\Life size Movie Art I wanted to highlight some of the detailing so I asked for a custom paint job similar to this art from Gary Chan. The artist did a good job on the color. Only issue was that the box was crushed on transport. I had to flatten it out. The paint has come off some of the teeth so I need to touch that up. Otherwise, looks great. My plan is to make futuristic doors on either side and some lighting coming through behind it. First pic is the illustration I found and the others are the actual prop.

The Etsy artist suggests adhering to a piece of plywood for hanging. I'm wondering if any of you have alternative suggestions that would be lighter in weight. She also suggests an adhesive glue tag to attach directly to the wall but not sure what that is. This item has a bit of weight to it already so I can imagine any temporary adhesive would not work for this item.


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## dawnski (Jun 16, 2012)

Set up a rough layout of my Aliens movie area. I plan to make spaceship door in the center with the Xenomorph prop coming through the opening. Lighting inside the box for a glow look. Imagine this all white or grey with design accents. I won't be too worried about the actual look of this piece. Plan to do red beacon lighting and possibly paint this with black light paint. Including idea pic


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## dmosher626 (Oct 22, 2012)

dawnski said:


> The Etsy artist suggests adhering to a piece of plywood for hanging. I'm wondering if any of you have alternative suggestions that would be lighter in weight. She also suggests an adhesive glue tag to attach directly to the wall but not sure what that is. This item has a bit of weight to it already so I can imagine any temporary adhesive would not work for this item.


If you are worried about weight, you can try contact cementing it to a couple layers of foamcore. That would allow you room to add keyholes of you want to try to drop it on a screw or a temporary 3m hanger, etc. Otherwise, when you build up the side walls, add some foam strips across and mount it all as one long piece.

Just a few thoughts.
D


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## dawnski (Jun 16, 2012)

Ugh guys, my Halloween heart is heavy to say I'm canceling this party. As I feared at the start of the COVID-19, there is no way that I can responsibly bring 60+ people together for a party--at least for this year. I'm finding it difficult to motivate myself to work on Halloween projects at this time but I'll post here if I do. 

On a side note, my sister is having a baby in May and Auntie Dawnski gets to have a sweet little toddler to take care of during that time. Going to use my crafting skills to make her time at our home extra fun.


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## Paul Melniczek (Jun 5, 2009)

That's a shame, you had some incredible ideas here. The Alien props are something... You said your family is against you haunting your house? Man, that's too bad, it's all fun and imagination. Not sure what the fall will look like, but it might be a lot closer to normal than many think. I know countless people are trying their best to make the return to normalcy, albeit safely and gradually.


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## Becciboo1822 (Sep 8, 2019)

dawnski said:


> Turning a little hanging vampire into one of the Glick boys from Salem's Lot. You know the scene I'm talking about. The little vampire boy who floats up to his brother's window and wants to be let in. I have French doors in my office and I want to put him there. It would be cool if I could give him some movement but I'm not sure how to achieve that. Not mechanically inclined for prop motors. I'll have black material blocking the view of the office from behind. This is my only '70s (1979) reference at my party but only cause it has scarred for life any kid who grew up in the 80s.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This reminds me of the lost boys!


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