Well, I didn't get to cleaning out my closet otherwise known as my "art room" otherwise known as "the place creativity goes to flourish in a fit of evil laughter then die in a virulent case of life". (I wish that weren't true, but it happens more often than I care to admit. Every time I get on a roll, life tosses a brick at my head. The message rubber-banded around it always says, "Sucker!")
I hope to accomplish that feat this weekend so I can get to work. I mean, there are only 112 days until Halloween.
It's not time to hyperventilate yet, but we're crawling up on it.
Some of my intended projects are a slew of permanent jack-o-lanterns (some of which need to go to Mom and D), some general wet-your-pants evil for the front yard and the carport, and some items to match the theme for this year's party. (Mad science fair.)
Good thing is the jacks are easy and I can do a bunch all at once. The rest, well, I haven't planned much. I've been perusing several blogs written by people who are much better at the prop-building thing than me, and I hope to glean some knowledge and possibly suck their talent right out of their brains to be used for my own evil plans. (Mad science, FTW.) Either way, I dug out my pen tablet, and at least plan on whipping up some plans.
As far as my ultimate plan of being The House that kids both fear and flock to during the All Hallow's is definitely working. See, in suburbia, you have to take things in steps. Oh, sure, I could have just entered this land of Old Ladies on Patrol bearing forth my weirdness, but all that gets you is parents steering their trick-or-treaters away because you might be a threat. However, if you start off with a few well-placed, creepy but fun Halloween props and hand out full-sized candy bars, you earn their trust. The next year, you ramp up the props and the creepy, and while the kids are starting to get nervous, they see that big old bowl filled with the "good stuff" and decide nightmares are worth the risk for a full-sized Hershey bar (with almonds). The bonus is you get people from the neighborhood coming up to you while you are setting up declaring that it's great that you really play it up for the kids!
You see, I'm conditioning them. Soon, they'll be so desperate to get at the "good candy" that no one else in the neighborhood offers that they'll be willing to withstand quite a bit in my house of horrors. And, even funnier, the parents nine-times-out-of-ten think their kids facing their fears only to run out screaming is a hysterical sight. Who am I to deny them the pleasure? This conditioning especially works since most of these kids were about middle school age, which means they will soon be disillusioned pre-teens and full-on teens who think they're afraid of nothing and will have something to prove to their friends.
May I insert an evil cackle here?
Now, I just have to decide if I want to do the mad science thing as my actual display or do I want to go for a more traditional zombies and graveyard approach. On the one hand, disgusting things in jars and vats are always well-received. On the other, zombies coming out of the bushes always get satisfying shrieks.
Hmmm...I wonder how I an combine the two...
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Each year as my display gets more elaborate and the kids override their "she's going to cook us and eat us" instincts in the name of candy, it makes me all tingly inside.
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