# Haunted Carnival-Halloween Party 2011



## cmcrump

Hello!! I am kind of new here...to be posting anyway, but I have thoroughly enjoyed reading many of your posts, viewing your photos of your haunts/parties, etc. Thought I would share a little bit about my haunt/party theme this year. I have done a Halloween party every year since 2008. Every year I say I'm not doing it again because I hadn't had much of a turnout, but last year was a fairly good success and we had several guests, all wanting to come this year and see what was done and how the party had become bigger and better. Last year was a vampire theme done in my huge basement storage room and 1-car garage. 

So, this year I decided to expand from the storage room and garage, which is normally used to nearly the entire house. This year's theme will be The Carnival of Lost Souls (yes, I stole my name from Nox Arcana..sorry bout that, may change it later, but I REALLY liked that name). Anyway, so my idea is to use my front porch and house facade, a handicapped-wheelchair ramp that my husband built for my father-in-law last year who had terminal cancer and was living with us (he has since passed on, God rest his soul, but the ramp is still up and in use), my living room, computer room, guest bathroom, kitchen, and then the basement storage room as the actual adult party area.

For my "tent" I plan to use either red and white gossamer or tulle material (crepe paper if money gets exceptionally tight) draped from the front porch and eaves/guttering of the front of the house ALL the way across, wrapping the material around the front porch columns, and draping it from the edges of the porch roof to the light fixture, creating a type of "tent" like atmosphere. Am also thinking of hanging black material, plastic or something of that sort INSIDE of all this tulle/gossamer on the front porch area and making a dot room to enter the house through. I saw someone's link and photos of a skeleton walking a tightrope, so decided to try that in the front yard along with someone's idea of "climbing skeletons" using the ground-breaker skeletons, but having them dressed up as acrobats, and having them in the front yard as well. For my wheelchair ramp, I thought it would be an awesome idea of turning into something that looked like a roller coaster incline and having a cart look like it wrecked and fell off of the track off to the side. I have plenty boxes to make this with and thought of using old lawnmower wheels to make the cart's wheels. They're pretty old and rough looking and taking up space in my garage, so I thought that would be perfect. 

Inside I'm thinking of dividing up my living room, which is pretty big, and making one side a chamber of curiosities and having the other entire half look like a cage that houses all of the bezerk clowns. My computer room will be set up as a fortune telling room, and my guest bathroom will be a reptile room full of swampy looking plants, reptiles everywhere and hopefully some green fog from a hidden fog machine. I have a bar that separates my kitchen and living room, and am wanting to incorporate that somehow, but not sure exactly how to do that other than just lining it with some carnival munchies such as "rotten candy," bloody boxes of popcorn, caramel apple severed heads, etc. Not sure what to do with the rest of my kitchen, so any ideas about that would be greatly appreciated. I have two more bedrooms and a master bath upstairs in the house that I think I will keep closed off. The small hallway between the computer room and guest room will be my hall of mirrors, that will be totally lined in mylar. (It's really small and wouldn't take much of the stuff I don't think.) I also plan to make some carnival advertising posters to hang outside on my roller coaster ramp, forgot to add that. The basement storage room will be my adult costume party area, with a dance area and bar, etc. 

On the other side of my porch and facade, I will set up the game area with some games like a balloon dart game, with the balloons filled with red Kool-Aid instead of water (thanks to my friend's wonderful idea!!), and some others that I haven't yet come up with. Anybody with any additional ideas on this theme, I would GREATLY appreciate them!!! THANKS in advance for any input!


----------



## gypsybandit

Wow. Those are some really great ideas. It sounds like it's going to be a awesome party. I especially like the Kool-Aid in the balloons idea.


----------



## cmcrump

Thank you! I liked the Kool-Aid idea too. It sure is nice to have twisted friends. LOL


----------



## kallie

Ooo, can i come??


----------



## cmcrump

Of course kallie! Come right on! Will be in Mt. Sterling, KY.


----------



## offmymeds

Me too Me too! 

Sounds like lots of good ideas. I'll be watching this thread closely as this is my theme for next year. Wish I had as much room as you have!


----------



## gypsybandit

cmcrump said:


> Of course kallie! Come right on! Will be in Mt. Sterling, KY.


Aww. I wanna come too! My husband is from Winchester and has relatives that live in Mt. Sterling. He could go visit the inlaws and I could go to a killer Halloween party.


----------



## cmcrump

You all are welcome. Or since I'm from central/eastern Kentucky, should I say, y'all are welcome??


----------



## halloween71

Great plans!!!


----------



## MissMandy

Check out Oriental Trading. They have some carnival stuff like the popcorn containers and such. Maybe also serve corn dogs and have green tinted mustard and/or cheese sauce for dipping


----------



## cmcrump

MissMandy, thanks for the great ideas!! Never thought about the corn dogs!! Great thinking with the mustard!! I absolutely love Orienral Trading!! I get all sorts of things from them.


----------



## MissMandy

You could play whack a ghoul instead of whack a mole lol. That just popped into my brain.


----------



## sweetbfolkart

what about using black and white stripe instead of the red/white? - you could accent with orange pennants made from paper (totally easy to do). Perhaps striped sheets could be hung to create a tent/carnival type entrance. What about a giant foamcore "scary clown" entrance - with people walking through the mouth to get into the party.

Instead of a coconut knock-down - you could use pumpkins - or a pumpkin ring toss?

great theme - tons of potential ... I created a carnival wheel last year for Halloween - you could have people spin then have to do scary things - like put their hand into a box full of "brains" - if you want to see my carnival wheel - visit my blog and look back through august and september of last year - it was easy to make.


----------



## cmcrump

sweet, GREAT ideas!!! I loved the black and white suggestion. Different. Would love to do the facade as a huge clown mouth. My 20 year old cousin is deathly afraid of clowns. Would be interesting to see how she would react to being "eaten" by one!


----------



## sweetbfolkart

Don't forget about photo ops - perhaps a "freak show" banner above and the guests stand below for the photo? - are you going to ask them to come as their favorite carnival character?


----------



## MissMandy

Ya gotta have something like this playing lol
http://youtu.be/zjedLeVGcfE


----------



## sweetbfolkart

don't stop at corn dogs - serve all of your food "on a stick" . There is a resturant in San Francisco called "straw" - google it and you will see a whole menu of carnival fusion - very cool and I bet you could make some versions of the food for your party.

B


----------



## pumpkinpie

*Cheap Tent Material*

Dollar Tree has tablecloths of all colors...you could cut them and tape them back together for the stripes....I'm actually using several of them to create rooms/sectioned off areas in my backyard for our party. Good luck...your ideas are awesome. 

As for games...you could have several jars filled with red water and have people throw eyeballs or you could do the duck game with bloody water last but not least you could mount some cheap toy basketball nets/baskets (scary them up a bit) and then buy cheap baby dolls (remove the heads and paint them to mimic zombie babies or severed heads) just make sure the heads will fit in the basketball net.


----------



## cmcrump

Thanks be to all you guys for your fabulous ideas!!! sweet, that photo op idea is great!! I would LOVE it if the guests would come in carnival dress, but unfortunately most of them would be party poopers and not go it.  The S.F restaurant also sounds very cool with the food on a stick ideas..will definitely have to check them out. Thanks!

pumpkinpie, thanks for the dollar tree info. I might have to go see what they have. That's a very good idea, to use the tablecloths for stripes. I never would have thought of that!! And your baby head basketball game idea...OMG, that was TOO funny!!


----------



## Addicted2Boo

Several years ago I had a carnival theme for my kids bday and under my patio cover I used the plastic tablecloth on a roll from a party place to make the tenting. It worked great. I think it was about $20 or less for the whole roll. I got two different colors and then just fastened it to the middle and then alternated the two colors to make the stripes and tacked it at the end. Everyone loved it! I have a 22x22 cover and didnt even use all of the tablecloth.

Two years ago we did a sinister circus theme for halloween. I found pics online and then had costco make the poster size prints for about $6 each. Then I used spray adhesive to attach it to the $1 foamboard from dollar tree. Several of them were just hung for looks and one I used to do "Pin the beard on the Lady." I cut out "beards" and the guest was blindfolded, had to take a shot, spun and then had to try to pin it on the poster! It was funny.

We did have several guests come dressed in theme. I was the evil ringmaster. My sister was the bearded lady, someone came as a sideshow freak, and the tattooed lady were a few.

Food wise I did the corn dogs and a popcorn mix, lots of candy at the "twisted candy bar." among other non-themed foods. 

We did tempt your fate as well and with the balloons with fates inside. It worked great with the theme with the balloons. I just walked around periodically and offered them to the guests. Always fun!

Hope this helps!


----------



## cmcrump

Addicted, those are some great ideas as well! I love that "tempt your fate" idea. Might have to steal that one.


----------



## bouncerbudz

cmcrump said:


> Thanks be to all you guys for your fabulous ideas!!! sweet, that photo op idea is great!! I would LOVE it if the guests would come in carnival dress, but unfortunately most of them would be party poopers and not go it.  The S.F restaurant also sounds very cool with the food on a stick ideas..will definitely have to check them out. Thanks!
> 
> pumpkinpie, thanks for the dollar tree info. I might have to go see what they have. That's a very good idea, to use the tablecloths for stripes. I never would have thought of that!! And your baby head basketball game idea...OMG, that was TOO funny!!











this is the idea that Im shooting for. I have it started out of pink insulation foam.


----------



## bouncerbudz

Sorry If i double posted


----------



## johnshenry

Great theme idea, like the tent/porch idea. Should be one of those easy to pull off things, but look great too.

My suggestion would be to start combing eBay, craigslist and yard sales for stuff. I bought a lot of cheese cloth on eBay last year and dyed and hung it all over the place. Try to find old rusty broken stuff, toys tricycles, etc. Old chandeliers, light fixtures, etc. You can get it at yard sales for peanuts often.

Might be hard to find but an old popcorn machine with some popcorn and dead rats inside would be cool. Maybe you could make one.

Look forward to seeing this progress, looks like you have a good solid theme, ideas,a and at least right now, enough time to pull it off...!


----------



## SPOOK-ELLA

Love this thread. I am also doing a carnival theme. Just the other day at Hobby Lobby found some popcorn holders and other cool stuff for carnivals. You might want to look around the forum one lady had posted a picture of her ceiling where she had made it look like a tent. Might me under the prop section. Sorry cant remember exactly where. Love all the ideas. I might have to steal some.


----------



## pumpkinpie

Dollar Tree has popcorn buckets...Large pail for $1 or 2 smaller ones for $1...they also have raffle/ride tickets


----------



## HallowSusieBoo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/williamli1983/5928732329/in/set-72157627050921223/

*Here is a photo of a public festival in Hong Kong. Talk about a scary carnival entrance!*


----------



## MissMandy

Oh hell no....I wouldn't step foot in there!


----------



## AmFatallyYours

Love all your ideas! Sounds like it's gonna be a great party. I did a circus theme last year. Dollar tree was great for me. They have pennant banners, balloons of all kinds, streamers, table cloths (others mentioned good uses for them), and i got several bags of cotton candy from there. Also, i got a lot of clown costume stuff (wigs, noses, bow ties, etc.) and those creepy see through, plastic face masks when they put out their halloween merchandise.

I had mini corndogs (you can buy big boxes of them from walmart or sams) and pizza rolls as part of the food.


----------



## SPOOK-ELLA

Amfatallyyours, thanx so much i will defiantly have to go hit up the dollar store. I wanted to hand out clown noses in the goody bags.


----------



## ShannoninPa

Great idea! I was driving around yesterday and saw a dunking booth! It didn't look all that hard to make for a prop. 

Also, if you find the paper that looks like a mirror, hang those around the house!


----------



## cmcrump

Thanks again to all for the additional creative ideas! Sorry it's been a while since last posting, but have been busy, busy working on paper mache pumpkins & the like. Have had some issues with the last one about my clay wanting to tear apart in places after drying!!  Grrr!! Not sure what is going on with it, but hopefully will get it fixed soon. Am thinking of doing a cornfield/pumpkin patch maze thingie from the front yard to the garage in back along with the carny theme. Maybe.. lol


----------



## cmcrump

OK, crafty, creative and creepy (  ) folks, need your input on something. As I stated earlier, I will be doing a fortune telling room for part of my haunt/party this year. I want to hang/drape some fabric from the ceiling to the floor of the room to hide the wall coverings, computer, etc. and give it a sort of tent like atmosphere anyway. So, my question is this: which do you think would look better for this, black, dark blue, or purple? Thanks!!


----------



## obcessedwithit

Fortune teller room would look good in purple or get some fabric with shiny stars on it.

View attachment 17486


----------



## cmcrump

Others have said purple as well, so I think purple it shall be!!!


----------



## Tippy

I love the carnival idea. We had a carnival themed party one year. My hubby was a midget ring master and I was Tina the target. My son in law was the bearded lady and my daughter was a fortune teller. I wish I had your vision, I could not figure out what to do with my house. I may have to steal your ideas for our party next year as this years party theme is already in the works. Check out my pictures on my profile to see my hubby as the midget ring master. He was hilarious!


----------



## Tippy

cmcrump we always put our fortune teller in the back yard. I use an ez up and hang fabric all around the sides. I put a round table on the inside with lots of candles and a tip jar. I have a friend that is an actual psychic so she does readings at my parties every year. All my party guests really look forward to it. I make a path to her tent with candles. I have had to lead some of my guest to the tent becuase they are too scared to go alone. Lol


----------



## printersdevil

You might also check out places like Oriental Trading or teacher/school supply stores. You can probably find the blue bulletin board paper with stars on it. Another great carnival supplies site is U.S. Toys. They have a website and catalog. For anyone in the DFW area, they have a store in Carollton. I used to buy a lot of carnival things there for school carnivals. They also have a teachers store attached in same building.


----------



## The Halloween Lady

I can't wait to see your pics. I did "Carnevil" last year and it was a lot of fun! Your plans sound spot on. Good luck


----------



## cmcrump

MissMandy said:


> Ya gotta have something like this playing lol
> http://youtu.be/zjedLeVGcfE


LOL MissMandy, that's kinda creepy. I love it. But I think I will use the Nox Arcana music. I got it just the other day and loved it. Sounds perfect, so I think that will be used.

As crazy as it sounds, I think I will start getting a couple of my rooms set up this weekend. I'm getting ready to start school in a couple of weeks, and I will be taking 6 classes, which is the equivalent of 18 credit hours, PLUS working 20 hours per week here at school, so I'm thinking I'm going to have less and less time to get this ball rolling. Naturally, the earlier I start the more I can get done, so no time like the present, as they say. Plus, I do it ALL myself. The hubby doesn't help with the decorating, set-up or anything because he works third shift and works a lot of days overtime and is so tired when he IS at home he doesn't feel like helping. So, it will be ALL me.  I think this weekend I will try to start clearing out the computer room/office and getting my fortune teller's room set up, plus getting the storage area in the basement cleaned up and start getting it geared toward set up. I am getting so excited. I am wanting Fall to hurry the HECK up and get here!!! We have had SUCH hot weather with a bunch of days in the 90 plus degree range, and I'm so tired of the dang heat!! Plus it's been dry, so a lot of the leaves are falling off the trees, making it LOOK like Fall, so I'm getting the bug....


----------



## ELH(Erin Loves Halloween)

If you are doing a booth with EYESCREAM here is a quick project I did this weekend. I bought three waffle ceramic holders off ebay. Then filled it with great stuff foam. I painted it in Neapolitan Colors and added Eyeballs . Then I went back and added a bit of blood for the final touch. Wanted to share so it could give you ideas for a "booth"


----------



## cmcrump

awesome! Thanks Erin!!


----------



## AmFatallyYours

Very cool! Looks great.


----------



## ELH(Erin Loves Halloween)

Cheap and easy party game...I got the brains from the dollar tree. Put them in a jar and Guess how many Brains are in a jar....I have 22 in there!


----------



## cmcrump

ELH(Erin Loves Halloween) said:


> Cheap and easy party game...I got the brains from the dollar tree. Put them in a jar and Guess how many Brains are in a jar....I have 22 in there!


Awesome!!


----------



## cmcrump

Not sure if any of these links will show up and/or work on here but here goes. 

I purchased the following items from Oriental Trading a couple days ago for anyone who is interested in doing this same theme:

http://http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/processRequest.do?requestURI=processProductsCatalog&sku=25/5763

http://http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/processRequest.do?requestURI=processProductsCatalog&sku=25/2512

http://http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/processRequest.do?requestURI=processProductsCatalog&sku=25/5994

I'm going to modify them somewhat. The wheel is going to one of my Tempt Your Fate games, and where there are numbers, I'm just going to make portions that are labeled "Fate" or "Prize", and players will either get to win a small prize (probably a treat bag of candy or something like that) or will have to do a Fate, similar to Truth or Dare. I'll have to evil the Spider Ring Toss up somehow and the cans as well. These games were pretty cheap--probably a lot cheaper than ones I could have made myself actually, and with a few minor modifications they will work really well. I also have some cheap toys and novelties to give out as prizes too. I think these should be a lot of fun!


----------



## GiggleFairy

First and foremost, as a stain freak I've got to get this off my chest - CREPE PAPER AND KOOL-AID STAIN! I freaked out when I read about those materials. I'd hate for your house to get stained if it rained. And as much as I love Kool-Aid, ESPECIALLY red kool-aid, I'm like a natzi drill sergeant micro-managing demon when ANYONE drinks it in my house.

I'm also adding a Psycho-Circus part to my haunt this year. One of my games is a guess how many game, only I'm using red clown noses. I've stalked AmFatallyYours's and The Halloween Lady's albums to get inspiration so far. 

Sorry I don't have time to post my ideas at the moment; I'm about to head out on a shopping trip. Like you I also have a wheelchair ramp at my home and PRAISE GOD I'm no longer using it because I'm out of my wheelchair!!! Love your idea of a crashed rollercoaster car! You've given me some brainstorming to do.

Real quick before I leave, I wanted to share this with you. I have an album called "My Wish List" and I have a few clown props pictured. One that comes to mind if you want a quick entrance sign is this one:











I promise I'll post more when I return!


----------



## cmcrump

GiggleFairy said:


> First and foremost, as a stain freak I've got to get this off my chest - CREPE PAPER AND KOOL-AID STAIN! I freaked out when I read about those materials. I'd hate for your house to get stained if it rained. And as much as I love Kool-Aid, ESPECIALLY red kool-aid, I'm like a natzi drill sergeant micro-managing demon when ANYONE drinks it in my house.
> 
> I'm also adding a Psycho-Circus part to my haunt this year. One of my games is a guess how many game, only I'm using red clown noses. I've stalked AmFatallyYours's and The Halloween Lady's albums to get inspiration so far.
> 
> Sorry I don't have time to post my ideas at the moment; I'm about to head out on a shopping trip. Like you I also have a wheelchair ramp at my home and PRAISE GOD I'm no longer using it because I'm out of my wheelchair!!! Love your idea of a crashed rollercoaster car! You've given me some brainstorming to do.
> 
> Real quick before I leave, I wanted to share this with you. I have an album called "My Wish List" and I have a few clown props pictured. One that comes to mind if you want a quick entrance sign is this one:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I promise I'll post more when I return!


GF, that sign is FANTASTIC!! My cousin would freak; he hates clowns and I love tormenting her. LOL!!! As far as the staining materials go, I totally understand your concerns and fears. Trust me though, if it rains, the Kool Aid and all the outside stuff just won't be happening, or if nothing else, I can make some room in my garage and do them in there. I think I actually decided a No-Go on crepe paper. Number one, the reason you stated; it stains if it gets wet and that's definitely not what I want. And number two, if I do the striped tent facade, it would just take SOO much of it. I really like just the vinyl tablecloth roll ideas. As for the Kool Aid, so long as it isn't tracked into my house on my carpet, I'm not gonna care where it goes. If people get it on their clothes, well then, they should know not to wear really nice things to a Halloween party anyway. LOLOL!!!


----------



## cmcrump

GiggleFairy said:


> First and foremost, as a stain freak I've got to get this off my chest - CREPE PAPER AND KOOL-AID STAIN! I freaked out when I read about those materials. I'd hate for your house to get stained if it rained. And as much as I love Kool-Aid, ESPECIALLY red kool-aid, I'm like a natzi drill sergeant micro-managing demon when ANYONE drinks it in my house.
> 
> I'm also adding a Psycho-Circus part to my haunt this year. One of my games is a guess how many game, only I'm using red clown noses. I've stalked AmFatallyYours's and The Halloween Lady's albums to get inspiration so far.
> 
> Sorry I don't have time to post my ideas at the moment; I'm about to head out on a shopping trip. Like you I also have a wheelchair ramp at my home and PRAISE GOD I'm no longer using it because I'm out of my wheelchair!!! Love your idea of a crashed rollercoaster car! You've given me some brainstorming to do.
> 
> Real quick before I leave, I wanted to share this with you. I have an album called "My Wish List" and I have a few clown props pictured. One that comes to mind if you want a quick entrance sign is this one:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I promise I'll post more when I return!


Really excited to see and hear your ideas too!! Forgot to add that! LOL And YAY for being out of a wheelchair!! That's wonderful!!


----------



## cmcrump

cmcrump said:


> GF, that sign is FANTASTIC!! My cousin would freak; he hates clowns and I love tormenting her. LOL!!! As far as the staining materials go, I totally understand your concerns and fears. Trust me though, if it rains, the Kool Aid and all the outside stuff just won't be happening, or if nothing else, I can make some room in my garage and do them in there. I think I actually decided a No-Go on crepe paper. Number one, the reason you stated; it stains if it gets wet and that's definitely not what I want. And number two, if I do the striped tent facade, it would just take SOO much of it. I really like just the vinyl tablecloth roll ideas. As for the Kool Aid, so long as it isn't tracked into my house on my carpet, I'm not gonna care where it goes. If people get it on their clothes, well then, they should know not to wear really nice things to a Halloween party anyway. LOLOL!!!


And btw, this should say "she hates clowns" about my cousin...stupid freakin' junky keyboard at work!!


----------



## printersdevil

Gives a whole new twist to have it your way.


----------



## cmcrump

You all may think I'm nuts....what am I talking about??? This is the greatest forum on earth! Of course you don't think I'm nuts!!  Anyway, have started to put up some of my Halloween party/haunt stuff. The way I figure it, I've got approx 8 weeks to get everything done. If I just work on weekend, that's 16 days...a little over 2 weeks!! Even at 8 weeks, that's not much time to get everything done that I want! Wish me luck!!


----------



## printersdevil

I want to get started --at least pulling things out, but it is too hot even for that. It is averaging 105 here and inside my shed I cant imagine how much hotter. So, I am just waiting for cooler weather.


----------



## cmcrump

Printersdevil, I don't blame you! Sheew!! That is MUCH too hot!! Are you out west? I saw on the Weather Channel while watching footage of Irene that place like Vegas & Phoenix were getting ump to like 115 degrees!! :O Too much heat for me!! We have been pretty lucky here in KY. The last few days have just barely been above 80. I think it was 57 this morning. Felt very much like fall!! SOOO nice!! I was excited!


----------



## cmcrump

I think I am going to have to scale back some on the shindig this year. Not a LOT, but somewhat, due to budgetary issues. Just don't think I'm going to have the $$$ to purchase all the big ticket things, like lots of material to make the tent facade and indoor rooms, things like that. I have looked at the Dollar Tree here in our hometown, but frankly, I couldn't find much useful stuff there. I've got a few games and the prizes lined up, so that's not a problem, and I will probably go all out for the food, and just a big on decor, and then that will be it. I know, being broke sucks, but I think we can still have a great time!


----------



## offmymeds

Why don't you use dollar tree tablecloths? Use red & white, cut them into strips, tie all the ends up in a bunch and hang from the ceiling and drape them out. Still gives you the whole "tent" feeling??


----------



## Mr. Hyde

Great idea! I'm also having a circus / carnival theme and was trying to figure out a way to get carnival tent looking fabric involved. Thanks.


----------



## cmcrump

meds, I did lok at Dollar Tree & believe it or not, the one here in our town didn't even have these tablecloths. It is a really small store, so it's hard to find things at times. Rumor has it we're going to have a new, bigger DT built soon, so hopefully that will take care of that problem. In the meantime, I WAS able to get a couple tablecloth rolls from Oriental Trading, and a roll of gossamer material from Shindigz relatively cheap, so I was happy.


----------

