Here are links to slideshows produced from pictures taken at my Halloween party

indoor photos - people, decorations

outdoor photos - bonfire, pinata, graveyard with props

This year was about the front yard. I wanted to have a full graveyard with great lighting to set the atmosphere as people arrived to my party. Also, it was great for trick-or-treaters on Halloween! I sat in the house watching out the window. As trick-or-treaters approached, they'd see the sign on my front door that read "Candy is in the graveyard." This gave me time to go out the back and around to the shadows at the end of the graveyard (grabbing the bowl of candy on the way). Kids (and parents) would stroll down the path, read the tombstones, and look for candy. As they got near the end of the trail, in front of the hanging skeleton-in-the-cage, I would move a little in the leaves. They'd spot me, and stop in their tracks. They weren't quite sure if I was a prop or real. When I started my zombie walk, they either stepped back a step, or moved back a lot! Some ran! Many screamed. By the time I got to the path and held out the candy, most kids would walk up and take some. Some kids had to be dragged by their parent to get closer. Three cried and refused! Many parents gave me handshakes and congratulations and appreciation for the hard work involved. One parent came by without kids, just to check things out. Some cars pulled up, parked, and came in. Some people left and came back with cameras. I had a good time, and provided many others with a great experience. Scarring some young children was a side effect I'm willing to accept.

Be sure to watch the attached slideshows (links at the top).

The coffin was just cut out of cardboard.		The hanging skeleton in a cage is pretty straight forward. The trick was to make it easy to assemble and disassemble, for storage. I used three pieces of plywood: one for the top (with 12 holes for poles) and two for the bottom. The very bottom had 4 holes, in the corners. The top of the bottom had 12 holes. Thus, a pole could be slid up through the top piece and then set into a hole in the bottom piece, but not fall through, except for the corner pieces, which had to poke through. The corner PVC pipe then had a nail put through the pre-drilled hole to support the framework.

The "wrought-iron" fence is really constructed of PVC and firring strips, screwed together and painted black. The fence-post tops were little pieces of plastic that I took out of some noise makers that I stumbled across in Walmart.

The walls in the house were decorated as well as all the lighting being changed. All bulbs in the house were replaced with either pink or blue bulbs. Plus many candles were lit.