# Question from the other side�.of the globe...



## DarkhavenManor

I make sure all of our decorations are up and running for October 1st so whoever happens to drive by can hopefully enjoy it. That being said, fog effects and certain lights/props can't be put out seeing as I live in a region where rain is all too common, so those go out the day of. I've actually found that I kind of enjoy my display more around daytime/dusk seeing as once it's night our TOT's get few and far between, plus, you get to see more detail and all the work I've put into the display


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## UnOrthodOx

Hope you're having a pleasant eavening all the way on the other side of the world, there tonight. (it's 6 AM here, IIRC that's like 9PM there, I used to regularly chat with folks from Australia and NZ) 

You're going to find both answers on here. Some like to decorate their yard October 1, and have it up all month. TYPICALLY, these people are "display" type haunters, meaning they have a yard display for Halloween for people to walk or drive by and view. Then there are going to be those that only have things out a day or two early, or even only Halloween night. Reasons range from person to person, and include concerns about weather ruining props, theft, vandalism, and those of us who do a WALK THROUGH, meaning our guests walk through an interactive maze with actors and props. This typically takes a little more effort and organization, thus can't usually be done month long. 

There are various combinations of display vs walkthrough as well. 


Now, as for me, personally, my answer is yes. 

I have some things that are actually up YEAR ROUND. Come October, I'll add little things here and there, and have been known to put up a scene or two that have absolutely nothing to do with what I'm doing for Halloween that year. We have the countdown sign at the center in October, and many people come by just to check on the sign. 

That said, I take the week leading to Halloween off, and begin building 'for real'. The night before Halloween, we have an open house party. All the lights are on, and the neighbors come over and help us carve a crapload of pumpkins for the yard, eat, and enjoy everything with no scaring or actors. This is a great time for little kids to see everything. Now, Halloween NIGHT, the music is on and the actors are in costume and many kids, though they've seen everything the night before, are still awful scared Halloween night. 

Now, in your case, I'd almost recommend attempting an indoor walkthrough so you can control lighting. A garage, carport, etc can be relatively easily converted. I've managed to make a reasonable show out of EMT conduit, fittings, and tarps to create an indoor space in the past as well.


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## AussieHaunt

As another Aussie who is extremely frustrated by the fact that daylight saving means most of my TOTS arrive in daylight (I could do so much more in the dark!!!!), I tend to setup a day or two before Halloween, with the fog machine coming out around 5pm. I've worked hard to build a reputation for Halloween so that now people are coming from further afield just to see the crazy man with tombstones and a fog machine on his lawn, but I think it would take a huge effort to get people coming around in any numbers in my area anytime before Halloween evening.

Grant


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## LairMistress

I set up some things early, to set the mood. I can't leave everything outside all month, though. Things would surely be stolen if I did. Our neighborhood is fair, but there is one a few blocks away that isn't nice at all. People from there walk through our neighborhood, often taking whatever they like, that is left in yards and on porches.

We are allowed two nights of ToTs in the town that I live in, the 30th and 31st. Because of that, we do get to "show off" a little more than when I've lived in places that only have one night.


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## Pumpkin5

Welcome to the forum! I try to have my decorations up by the first of October. I don't have a walk through, more of a yard display. This year I am increasing my graveyard and lots and lots of ghostly beings.  Congratulations on becoming "The Halloween House". It's an auspicious title to have.


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## WitchyKitty

I get all my Halloween stuff up the last weekend of September. I have a graveyard display. There are a few things that I only put up for ToT, though, like my posable skelly. He stays in the house doing things around the house all month and only goes outside on Halloween just to greet the ToTers, lol.
I actually have a similar issue with lighting, because our ToT around here starts at 5pm and last til 7pm. Blah. I hate it. Most of the neighborhood kids come right at 5, so no ToTers really get to see my display in the dark. Having my display up the whole month gives people a chance to see the lights, at least. I don't get too many ToTers here, anyway, so between that and it still being light out during ToT, I don't get too carried away with lighting and such.


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## ooojen

I can certainly understand the frustration of a Australian spring-time Halloween- from long daylight hours to a lack of fresh pumpkins.

I'm not an urbanite, and ToT's here are few. Our big event is a party with adult friends and neighbors on the weekend before Halloween (leaving the Big Day open for people to take the kids out, be home to hand out treats, or whatever else they please.) 
I only used to do a few things outside, but I got such a good response that I was encouraged to kick it up a notch. I put things up a little at a time, which is nice for me, too-- not so stressful. Starting in early Oct., I use nice days to decorate outdoors, and rainy days to get the house ready. People going by on the road look to see what's new and different each day. For neighborhood folks, it builds the excitement leading to the party.
It's a small community, and I don't worry about props being damaged or stolen. (Doesn't hurt that we have a large protective dog, either  )

I agree with UnOrthodOx about having at least some dark spaces if you can. A garage or large party tent walk through can really add to the atmosphere, if you don't want a bunch of little ankle-biters running through your house. (We had some kids go through in the next day or two after the party, but we knew them.)


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## AussieBoo

Wow great reply from everyone. Thank you all for your detailed information. I now understand that there are a number of factors to consider in deciding when the decorations go up and it's an individuals choice. 

I guess if I'm going to be known as the halloween house in the area, more and more people will come each year. 

To answer many of the posts on here, I usually decorate the front yard and last year I stepped it up by placing creepy characters in the front window with creepy music and added a smoke machine to the graveyard (I'll post some pics of last years decorations). This year I plan to incorporate my front lounge room as well so I will be doing a walk through which will be dark. This room will have most of the lighting for effect so I'm quite excited about that. I live in a wonderful community where I can place decorations outside without fear of them being stolen or vandalised so I'm thinking I'll spend the month of October setting up bits and pieces outside and working mostly on the lounge room and then the week of I will work on outside and have it completed a couple of days before. We get heaps of ToTs so I'm sure word will spread and each year I will get more and more people coming to view my house


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## Gym Whourlfeld

"Must be a lot of work take down your Halloween decorations!" He said as he is looking at a 12 foot high skull welded together out of heavy steel,whose mouth opens allowing exit from my house ,several car bodies smashed into the outside of my 1870 house,another car body rests on the roof of the cupola almost 40 feet above the ground.. no I don't take my decorations" down" or" in", "Duh?" hahaha!
According to other haunters (Pro) I have "The world's worst Location for a haunted house,in the middle of pretty much no where miles from any where. 
I have been doing this now right here for 28 years.
Just today a man and his small kids were looking at the house and I told them if anyone in their group might be a little nervous to be in the house to bring them back on a Sat.or Sun, afternoon.
We will cater to children,promising them what we will Not be doing to them,we turn on more lights if needed,we bring out a puppy or a kitty for them to see, pet,we make them part of the show in the first room, we allow them to push some buttons to activate some props,which often then get quite a reaction from the rest of the child's family! (And THEN they LIKE Being here!) Odd how this works..... hahah!
How many small children get to safely Scare the rest of their own family?
We offer FUN not Fear-so much.


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## thenightmarefamily

I run a walkthrough haunt but it's only open on Halloween night. I start construction every year around June and it usually takes up until the last day to finish everything, but my walkthrough is massive compared to most. I do however put a graveyard out front with my light up Nightmare on Barberry sign out front in the first week of October. Crime isn't really an issue in my neighborhood, and even if some teenagers got bored, i build and make all my own props anyway so i caould alway's replace it. My whole walkthrough is in my back yard behind a locked gate and fence, and i don't open the gates till around 7pm or so, by that time i have a huge line to the street of patrons waiting to get in. The secret to my success is i live in a town in California's mojave desert and i'm like the only actual haunted house here so everyone comes to my house. If you get as much people as you say you do, and your the onlyone in your area, i would recomend trying a inclosed walkthrough, so it will be dark even if it's spring outside. Good Luck and happy haunting for 2015.


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## BlueFrog

U.S. haunter checking in. My yard display goes up and back down the night of, which means in practical terms it's a daytime only haunt. (City requires ToTing to end at 8p.m., and leaving any valuable props outside overnight would pretty well ensure I wouldn't have them by the following morning). I've turned the daylight situation into an asset, by using the light to show off all the little details I treasure. I'm able to indulge my passion for fiddly little enhancements that probably wouldn't be visible at night.


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## AussieBoo

All this information is wonderful and has given me great ideas and an understanding too. Thanks for all the tips  It seams many factors are considered when decorating for Halloween. I'm definitely going to be using my lounge room this year for the "night" time atmosphere and will continue to use outside too. i'm so excited about this one.


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## AussieBoo

thenightmarefamily said:


> I run a walkthrough haunt but it's only open on Halloween night. I start construction every year around June and it usually takes up until the last day to finish everything, but my walkthrough is massive compared to most. I do however put a graveyard out front with my light up Nightmare on Barberry sign out front in the first week of October. Crime isn't really an issue in my neighborhood, and even if some teenagers got bored, i build and make all my own props anyway so i caould alway's replace it. My whole walkthrough is in my back yard behind a locked gate and fence, and i don't open the gates till around 7pm or so, by that time i have a huge line to the street of patrons waiting to get in. The secret to my success is i live in a town in California's mojave desert and i'm like the only actual haunted house here so everyone comes to my house. If you get as much people as you say you do, and your the onlyone in your area, i would recomend trying a inclosed walkthrough, so it will be dark even if it's spring outside. Good Luck and happy haunting for 2015.


i would love to use my side/backyard as a walkthrough….hubby - not so much. lol. Although last year he was shaking his head at what I had done to the front of the house but after a successful evening with so many ToTs coming past with their families, he announced that this year we would have a barbie at the front and invite friends over for drinks so i might be able to get him to come around to a big walkthrough eventually. Hehe.


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## AussieBoo

Here are my photos from last year…








































































And some night shots…


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## Countess No

Great job! I was going to post that you should put props in windows so they could be up at night when it became truly dark, but you already do that.

I don't put alot if stuff up until the week before halloween. We have high winds and rain often in October.

I do put up my fence and graveyard earlier. It has grat impact and very sturdy.

I am so happy Australians are getting into halloween!

Question: Is "estate" a word Australians use to indicate their housing area? It seems very regal!


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## BlueFrog

Aussieboo, I don't want to divert this thread, but I'm also dying of curiosity: how much awareness of Halloween is there in your area (or any other area with which you are familiar)? Are the neighbors raising their eyebrows in shock when the tombstones, ghouls, and creepy dolls come out to play in your yard? I imagine they would be quite startling to anyone who didn't understand why your estate has taken a turn for the macabre!


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## AussieBoo

Countess No said:


> Great job! I was going to post that you should put props in windows so they could be up at night when it became truly dark, but you already do that.
> 
> I don't put alot if stuff up until the week before halloween. We have high winds and rain often in October.
> 
> I do put up my fence and graveyard earlier. It has grat impact and very sturdy.
> 
> I am so happy Australians are getting into halloween!
> 
> Question: Is "estate" a word Australians use to indicate their housing area? It seems very regal!


Thanks for your kind words Countess. Melbourne is known to have 4 seasons in one day so every year in October can be very different weather wise. Last year we had wonderful warm weather but this year we could have rain, winds or even hail. lol. I guess I won't know until the week of Halloween with how the weather will behave so I wouldn't be able to set anything up outside until a few days before.

Lol yes estate is our housing area. We have the suburb that we live in and then within that suburb are different housing areas with estate names so I live in the suburb of Doreen but in the Laurimar estate. 

Trust me, I am so happy that we are getting into Halloween too. hehe. But you will still find Aussies on FB complaining about it and a debate every year about why we are taking on an American tradition…not me…I LOVE IT! lol.


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## AussieBoo

BlueFrog said:


> Aussieboo, I don't want to divert this thread, but I'm also dying of curiosity: how much awareness of Halloween is there in your area (or any other area with which you are familiar)? Are the neighbors raising their eyebrows in shock when the tombstones, ghouls, and creepy dolls come out to play in your yard? I imagine they would be quite startling to anyone who didn't understand why your estate has taken a turn for the macabre!



Hey Bluefrog. It depends where you live in Oz. Our suburb is full of young families and teens so they're really into it and get dressed up including most adults however there aren't that many houses that would go full on with decorating like I do (I've only counted 2 other houses in the suburb next to us that has) but houses still decorate with a few things around their garden or front of their house. Those who don't decorate still get into the ToTing by handing out lollies to the kids that come by so that's great. Last year we had heaps of ToTers come by because I had a sign at the end of the street pointing them in my direction….my house is in a street that comes off the main street so ToTers can miss our place as there are no other streets that come off our street so the sign worked brilliantly last year. When they did come past, they were all amazed by my decorations (to me it wasn't enough but still a lot more than other houses). They would ask me lots of questions about where I got my decorations from, how long it took me to set it up….they just loved it. It is getting bigger each year and I'm sure more and more houses in my area will really get into it each year as well as other parts of the country BUT I will make sure that MY house will be the best Halloween House. lol.

Funny thing is the street behind our street is known for their Xmas decorations…they go FULL ON with it and for a whole month people travel all over to view their decorations…they have performers and food trucks etc. Every year our street has a xmas street party and then when it gets dark, we take our kids for walk to that street. one of the neighbours told me she will kill me if I went full on with my xmas decorations because of the amount of people that go through that street…I laughed and told her I wouldn't do that to our street. Haha. They know how much I get into Halloween and that's fine because it's only for one night but I'm not about to disturb our usually quiet street with a months worth of xmas decorations. lol.


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## printersdevil

We love you for taking on this tradition, too. Nice job!


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## AussieBoo

printersdevil said:


> We love you for taking on this tradition, too. Nice job!


Thank you…I love this forum!


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## thenightmarefamily

AussieBoo said:


> i would love to use my side/backyard as a walkthrough….hubby - not so much. lol. Although last year he was shaking his head at what I had done to the front of the house but after a successful evening with so many ToTs coming past with their families, he announced that this year we would have a barbie at the front and invite friends over for drinks so i might be able to get him to come around to a big walkthrough eventually. Hehe.


I'm sure your husband will come around eventually. my wife didn't even celebrate Halloween when i met her but look at her transformation.















The left is her posing for me when we first met, the right is 2 years later. See the transformation. Now she lets me tare apart the front and back yard. Don't worry girl you'll get him LOL.


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## AussieBoo

thenightmarefamily said:


> I'm sure your husband will come around eventually. my wife didn't even celebrate Halloween when i met her but look at her transformation.
> 
> View attachment 239260
> View attachment 239261
> 
> 
> The left is her posing for me when we first met, the right is 2 years later. See the transformation. Now she lets me tare apart the front and back yard. Don't worry girl you'll get him LOL.


Haha I'm hoping he will. He has agreed to wear a butchers apron so it's a start. lol.


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## Ghost of Spookie

AussieBoo, you live in a fabulous city. Honeymooned there sometime ago and really loved the area. You have a nice house and yard to decorate.

I'm quite impressed with what you do already. Way more than I expected given that Halloween isn't prominent there. The windows looked great. That's something I like to incorporate too given I never know what the weather will be come end of October. I set up outside on the day of Halloween and guage what will go out that day. Pretty much everything outdoors comes down that night after the last ToTer has come by, which for us is about 8:30 or 9pm, and stored in the garage to be sorted out the next day. I think decorating that day keeps it special but it is alot of work to plan on that day and you're never sure it gets fully appreciated given the short timeframe.

8:30-9pm is quite late for darkness. Here we are still on daylight savings but it gets dark much earlier. Until this past year we had to contend with a fairly bright street light so did have some of the same issues creating a spookier atmosphere (the new LED streetlights actually are great for halloween now). These would be my suggestions:

*If you can invest in some colored lighting for some of your displays I think it would still yield a desired effect during the waning daylight and for sure later at night. Some of the LED lighting we have here is very vibrant, even some of the colored florescents do a nice job. If you don't have stores carrying this, check the internet for shipping to you.

*you have a _wonderful_ white fence area that screams decorate me...or project on me at night. 

I see the fence as the foundation of some "building" for example--with several framed arched window silhouttes, turret, or props--appearing above at the fence line...ie a castle wall with dragons or a wizard peering down from above. Example of the dragon-- a foamboard or plywood dragon rigged with fog coming out of it's nostrils in bursts periodically (low-lying fog would work best)...that should gain you some more attention from passerbys. Just one example brainstorming here. 

*You have a great porch area to use. If you could suspend something like black plastic sheeting, even cut into strips to move in the wind (if you pull on the strips they will get deformd and sort of look like drooping branches from willow trees or hanging seaweed -- see this from Martha Stewart: http://www.marthastewart.com/271722/witchs-curtain ), from your gutters or between posts and I think you'd have a darker, scarier area for the kids to walk up to and get their candy. Given your porch posts, maybe you could even use a tarp with grommets on it and lash it to the posts to create a solid tarp wall of sorts. You could decorate the streetside and the porchside of it.

*Think of themes from Australian history/culture that you can pull from to make the appeal more local. Ghosts haunting a scene like Port Arthur maybe. Abandon ruins on an island with crocs in the waters and unfortunate escapees rendered to skeletons after an unsuccessful attempt to flee (sort of Island of the Dead). Occasional fog machine bursts might help create more of an atmosphere of a swamp area. And for sure the screaming sounds of tassie devils sends chills through anyone! If you can get one of those mean skeleton dogs like GrandinRoad sells ( http://www.grandinroad.com/small-skeleton-dog/halloween-haven/outdoor-halloween-decorations/681360 ), maybe it could double as a skeleton devil with some added growling/screeching sound effects in the background to sell what it's suppose to be.


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## Trex

Our set up is a yard display and a walk through which goes through our garage (very dark) and back outside through our back yard (tarped area but exposed to ambient light). We begin our set up with the cemetery in early October, from there we add to veranda, fence line along driveway and 2 weeks prior to Halloween we close off the garage and work on the maze. It gets dark here around 6:30 by that time so we are fortunate for low light, mind you it can be -15 degC  so that presents other challenges!! I think you have the right idea, have one scene in an area where you can control the light, maybe add tarps or fence lines to outdoor areas to it dimmer. 

Sounds like you are well on your way to being the place to see, in time you will have teens and adults come by later to enjoy the yard in the dark as well.


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## AussieBoo

Wow GoS amazing ideas. thank you! I was thinking the same thing about the lighting. As it got dark last year, there were still a few ToTers and the only lighting I had was the ones on my front porch so i will be looking at lighting for the graveyard this year. The fence idea is amazing too…i never thought to look at that and utilise it for decorating. Glad you love my city…I love it too  xxx

Trex thank you I definitely think I've advanced in my decorations in my area. I have a feeling those who visited last year will visit again and tell others in the weeks leading up to Halloween. I've decided I will definitely use my front lounge room to decorate a different theme each year. I only told my hubby last night when I was showing him signs I created for this years Haunted Hotel…he wasn't impressed that I'm using a room in the house but I told him i wasn't asking him for permission. haha. He's totally fine with it now…not his decision anyway. hehe. As I said in previous posts, Melbourne has 4 seasons in one day…we could have a beautiful warm night this Halloween or it could be freezing. lol. I'm looking forward to choosing a theme for our lounge room each year.


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## gidget

hi Aussieboo, I too am fully into Halloween, where I live (northern New South Wales) the kids have got to know that an old witch lives at my house and she hands out lots of treats. yes that's me. I am the only person in our small town that totally gets into to decorating. this year we are having our Halloween party on the 24th as I don't really want adults standing around drinking while the kids are toting on the 31st. my whole back yard will be decorated for the party and I am trying to convince my hubby to let the kids come through to the back yard on the 31st, but he is not keen and wants me to move it all out the front. he is not into it like I am, and rolls his eyes at me all the time, but this past weekend he got his power tools out and helped me make stands and fix up some props and this weekend we are going to make a coffin, so he is slowly coming around.


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## chantelledc

We share the same problem! 
We're in Melbourne and the weather is completely unpredictable in October. Last year it was above 30C and the sun was out until really late, previous year it rained and got dark quick.
We've just started running a backyard maze for the kids to come through, we open it from 7pm for the younger kids to come through until 9:30 so we still have the dark scary effect. We start building the structure a week before but won't put up the decoration until the night before unless the weather is good we'll do it a little earlier. 
Sadly i don't trust people enough to put on a show in the front yard leading up to Halloween


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## AussieBoo

Hi gidget. It's so great to hear from others in OZ. I had the same issue with hubby and his rolling eyes...lol...but now, while he still says this halloween stuff is all mine to do, he has come around and while he won't admit it, I know he's going to love it. hehe.

I think this year will be the year that my house will be known all through my area as that Halloween house.


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## AussieBoo

Hey Chantelle. Where abouts in Melbs are you? Yep totally agree on the weather problem here. Last year was amazing weather...hoping for a repeat of it this year 

I'm going to get started on my hotel beginning of October - this is indoors so I can spend time working on it. Outdoors I'll probably put out stuff mid October - stuff like the cemetery fencing and arch I have, and other things that don't look like Halloween. While my neighbourhood is great and I don't have to worry about thieves, I don't think they'll want to see the scary stuff go up earlier than a day before Halloween. lol. By then, I'll have all the big things completed and it's a matter of decorating.

A maze will be amazing! Is this the first year you are doing the maze?


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## tomanderson

This is a great thread, guys!! No one would deal with these complexities if they didn't REALLY want to do it. Dressing up a house for Halloween is one of the breeziest, most enjoyable things a person can do, IMO. It's weirder and more creatively satisfying than decorating for any other holiday.


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## chantelledc

Hey,
We're just in Craigieburn, not too far from you i think? I'm also hoping for a repeat of last year, i'm just a bit concerned about the wind because i already live in a wind tunnel and last year it was super windy in the morning that it kept blowing my scene setters away!

The hotel idea sounds great and so jealous you get to decorate inside, my partner refuses to do inside unless its close friends and family! I might have to pop by to see your decorations, i haven't seen any other houses slightly decorated for Halloween.

This will be our 2nd year doing the maze, last year we had 116 people show up so should be interesting. We're expecting roughly triple the amount this year going by our Facebook page.


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## AussieBoo

Hi Chantelle. Yes Craigieburn is not far at all. Funny thing, my husband mentioned a friend of his liked an FB page about a Halloween House in Craigieburn and immediately I wondered whether it was you. I'm guessing I'm right? That's pretty awesome that you are doing a maze. I will head to your FB page and like it so I can check your progress. 

Lol it's taken a few years for hubby to give in...just as long as I do it all myself, he's fine with me going crazy with Halloween. lol.


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## gidget

i have started a facebook page for my Halloween this year, would love if you would like and share it for me.

https://www.facebook.com/Christines-Halloween-1661899247380826/timeline/?ref=bookmarks


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## chantelledc

It might be our page, i know there is another house that does a scary walk through. I think it's targeted more for adults though but they do a non scare for kids too.
https://www.facebook.com/Melbourneshouseofhorrors that's our page, you're more than welcome to come along this year?!
It drives my partner slightly crazy when im too impatient and have to go to the shops ASAP when i know they're stocked up on Halloween items!


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## gidget

where are all the Halloween stores? I have picked over Big W, all the cheap dollar shops, and its now too late to order any more online.......I want shops like spirit Halloween that they have in the USA.

I have started decorating, but with this hot sunny weather I don't want to put out my skeletons and large props as I don't want the sun to fade or perish them, so it looks like most of the decorating will have to wait until the last minute. I have done all the inside stuff though.


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## ooojen

gidget said:


> I have started decorating, but with this hot sunny weather I don't want to put out my skeletons and large props as I don't want the sun to fade or perish them...


I just mentioned this on a post about refurbishing latex props, but it seems worth mentioning here since you have such powerful UV levels. I use a UV protectant on latex and plastic props (good for rubber, vinyl, etc.) It's the kind of stuff they market for use on fiberglass boats, surfboards, snorkel and dive equipment, camping gear, etc. It screens UV rays, and helps replace plasticizers, making stuff slower to dry out and crack. I think it would be worth checking out to prolong the life of your props-- even if you don't have them out for an entire month.


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## gidget

thanks ooojen, have never heard of anything like that before. with the amount of money we spend on props this would be another good investment to make them all last a little longer. will do some research and see where I can buy it. I am thinking maybe my local camping shop might have it or will point me in the right direction.


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## FutureCatLady

Hi there

Although I've been decorating my home for Halloween for a number of years now, I'm still a bit of a newbie at it. My question is: I love the creepy doll in the window and would love to do something similar for my house this year. Do you have to paint the doll with special pain or will a blacklight suffice to give off that eerie glow?


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