Background
We started the Halloween party theme in 2001, before this we would have an annual bonfire (fireworks)
party. During a late summer BBQ with a few friends we decided to introduce the Halloween theme and thought it a
good idea to make a castle as the main prop. The original idea was to create a fabric back-drop we could drape
across our double driveway. One thing lead to another and we ended up making a timber sectional castle front, almost
as tall as the house itself. The total cost was about £500.00 with the majority of this going on the cost
of the wood. Because, so many people had a hand in making the castle, we decided to keep it in storage for later
years.
Halloween in the UK
With ASDA being owned by WalMart we're starting to see lots of Halloween merchandise tempting the kids, and fast
selling the idea of getting free stuff just by knocking on people's doors. Kids aren't stupid and if it involves
free stuff, they catch on quick. Still it's a far better idea than kids sitting on a street corner
with a manky old "Guy Fawkes"
dummy made out of grandma's old clothing and shouting "Penny for the Guy" - whoever came up with that idea
needs shooting. Besides, in today's day and age anyone trying to blow up parliament would be called a terrorist.
History buffs would probably see it as a little more complicated than this - I imagine there's a little more to it.
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To be authentic it's best to hold your Halloween party on the 31st October. However, it takes time for people to
dig out costumes and dress up, so if this happens to be anything other than a weekend there's not much time after
work for people to do this. This usually means we hold the party on the closest Saturday night to Halloween.
One exception for us was last year (2002) when we held the Halloween party on Halloween night (Thursday 31st
October), this was only because a friend had set his wedding for the Saturday (some people have no consideration).
The next year that Halloween falls on a Saturday will be 2009 (the last was 1998) - so we'll have to wait until next year for
a genuine Halloween Saturday Party Night.
We're not aiming to be authentic Halloweeners, just to throw a party that combines the Halloween theme with
fireworks, music and beers - Bonfire night (5th November) is close enough to combine both. Still it's good for
the neighbourhood kids to see some of the props up early for Halloween night.
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This is our first attempt at making a Halloween prop, turned out pretty
well in the end - Though it's a shame we didn't get more pictures to
chronicle the construction.
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1) Building the Castle
Starting work on the castle frame (well eating burgers). The castle is made out of 8 panels, each around 4 meters high and 1.5 meters wide. Each panel will be joined to the next using three six inch bolts. |
2) Putting it together
After a days work making each panel, the last of the panels (that will become the castle entrance) are knocked together. |
3) Time for painting
After two base coats of black paint (mixed with sand for texture) and a final grey paint coat, each stone is hand-painted using sponges (in total it took three days to paint) |
4) Assembly
After outlining the windows and doors with Invisible Blue UV paint and coating each panel with a PVA clear sealer, the panels are assembled. |
5) Finishing Touches
Each window has a red curtain which is floodlit from behind, the black frame on the ground will be filled with water and Invisible UV dye to become the castle moat. |
6) Castle Completed
This is the completed castle at the end of the night, green and red flood lights are used to add effect, unfortunately the flash in this photo hides the glowing UV paint. |
7) Open for Business
This is the castle under Ultra Violet, and red/green flood lights.
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8) Guests & ghouls arriving
This costume (believe it or not) was made out of black refuse bags - respect to Fitzy and Amanda for this one.
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9) The Moat glowing in UV light
An invisible blue water dye is added to the water in the moat, this make the water glow under the UV light
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These are some of the props we've managed to buy so far forget about buying
good stuff in the UK, the only place for good Halloween stuff is the USA.
It's amazing how much gets opened by customs - still if the customs
declaration says "latex zombie" I'd probably want a peep too.
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6 Foot Inflatable Pumpkin
This 6 foot inflatable pumpkin is made of durable nylon and comes with a heavy-duty fan that blows him up in minutes, a set of lights inside the pumpkin create a effective sparking light effect.
From frightshop.com (around $100)
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Hanging Black Ghoul
This prop is 51 inches high and 49 inches wide, it's packed into individual components which are taped before hanging.
From horror-masks.com (around $160)
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Hanging White Ghost
Same as the Black Ghoul, this prop is 51 inches high and 49 inches wide, it's packed into individual components which are taped before hanging.
From horror-masks.com (around $160)
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Life size latex Skeleton
This is quite a fragile prop, some of the joints are barely held together, and need re-joining every now and then, the chest is a little flat but this can be corrected with wiring.
From ronjo.com (around $100)
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Latex Gargoyle
This is quite a fragile prop, some of the joints are barely held together, and need re-joining every now and then, the chest is a little flat but this can be corrected with wiring.
From nightmarefactory.com (around $110)
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Latex Zombie
This is probably one of my favourites, the latex zombie is quite large and realistically painted.
From frightcatalog.com (around $250)
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Latex Bat
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It seems that the only Halloween party music you can buy is by a third
rate popstars band, cheesy organ music or a computer nerd's collection
of crap midi files.
So we did our own, spread across two cd's most of the tracks are Halloween
related (some I just stuck in for fun, some like Music and Who let the Dogs out
are there because we use them at most firework parties). All the tracks were
mixed using mixmeister. You'll probably find some of the tracks on older cd's
or back street record shops - hope this gives you ideas for Halloween music.
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01) Blue Moon Cowboy Junkies
02) Moondance Van Morrison
03) Zombie The Cranberries
04) Bad Moon Rising Creedence Clearwater Revival
05) Amityville (House on the Hill) Lovebug Starski
06) Bat out of Hell Meat Loaf
07) The Time Warp (Remix 1989) Rocky Horror Picture Show
08) Rock Lobster B 52's
09) Just the Two of Us Dr Evil
10) Wee Rule Wee Papa Girl Rappers
11) Haunted House Jumpin Gene Simmons
12) Things I've Seen Spooks
13) Bad to the Bone George Thorogood
14) Haunted House Elvira
15) Spooky The Classics IV (feat. Dennis Yost)
16) Devil or Angel Bobby Vee
17) The Addams Family Andrew Gold
18) Ghostbusters Ray Parker Jr
19) Thriller Michael Jackson
20) Music Madonna
21) Addams Groove Hammer
22) Devil In Disguise Elvis Presley
23) Hot Hot Hot Arrow
24) Evil Woman ELO
25) House Arrest Krush
26) Gravel Pit Wu Tang Clan
27) Lil Red Ridin' Hood Sam 'the Sham' and the Pharoahs
28) Enter Sandman Metallica
29) Mistress of the Macabre Bollock Brothers
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01) Somebody's Watching Me Rockwell
02) Better the Devil you Know Steps
03) Wild Thing Tone Loc
04) We've Gotta Get Outta This Place Space
05) Love Potion No. 9 The Coasters
06) Twilight Zone 2 Unlimited
07) Rhythm of the Night Corona
08) Who Let the Dogs Out (US Version) Baha Men
09) I Put a Spell on you Sonique
10) Lil' Devil The Cult
11) Zombie A.D.A.M. feat. Amy
12) Don't Fear the Reaper (Techno Remix) Blue Oyster Cult
13) Devil Gate Drive Suzi Quatro
14) Werewolf Southern Culture on the Skids
15) Nightmare Brainbug
16) Witchdoctor Cartoons
17) Monster Mash Bobby 'Boris' Pickett and the Crypt Kickers
18) The Munsters TV Theme Halloween Themes
19) The Purple People Eater Sheb Wooley
20) One Way or Another Blondie
21) The Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon Cramps
22) Bark At the Moon Ozzy Osbourne
23) Don't Fear the Reaper Blue Oyster Cult
24) Dr Heckyll Mr Jive Men At Work
25) I Put a Spell on you Creedence Clearwater Revival
26) Halloween Vs Freddie Krueger Da Boy Tommy
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Religion and Halloween
I know many religious people who are uncomfortable with the idea of celebrating Halloween. My thoughts are that
it isn't really the devil we're celebrating, we don't decapitate live chickens or do any virgin sacrifices -
just following a theme that has it's origins
back in pagan times.
(to be continued...)
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