Top products from r/HalloweenProps

LIGHT! Disney uses lights at night to dress their park and we've been using that idea for years now at our house. Spirit Hallowee used to have these great little lights that projected and wavered that were about $25 a piece. BUT, I found these guys: https://www.amazon.com/Outdoor-Waterproof-Bluetooth-Changing-Floodlights/dp/B07517WSQ5 . They are outdoor lights, bluetooth and cool as hell.

Buy the three pack and suddenly your house has spooky lighting along the side, lighting behind that fence, or lighting for the front door of your house. You can change the brightness level and its all controlled from your smart phone. Best money I have invested so far into my yard.

Only down side is getting the power to the lights. But I bet most halloween folks like us have or will have a full drawer of power cords and outdoor splitters.

The lights come with a handle/stand, so if you want to, you can mount them to a stake and get some height out of them and get them off the ground. Otherwise you can also mount them to a porch, or in the past, i was able to mount it the underside eaves of my house to project down onto my garage. GOOD LUCK!

I've always used some sheer fabric. This year I upgraded to a rear projector screen for $30 from Amazon and it was a big improvement (Mdbebbron 120 inch Projection Screen 16:9 HD https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FB6VW1M/).

Also upgraded to an LED projector from wish.com ($58). 1200 lumens, 1080p HDMI which I plugged my Roku stick into and accessed Plex media server wirelessly to stream Michael Jackson's Thriller which I made into a loop 2.5 hours long. Projector surprisingly good in the dark. As good as the $1200 lamp projector, circa 2006 it replaced.
https://www.wish.com/m/c/5a532053e26cae51de4a48c2

Needed to tie the bottom down as this new screen was shorter than the fabric of prior years. So I melted and molded a milk jug over my $20 skull. Took it off and filled the mold with concrete x3 (https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/S5GsIXpe1bW0qiCBSqgZmyrnEthtb76lP29UVZe2CwS )

I like to add something new every year 😁

Credit goes to my wife and her friend for the decoration. That was all faux fur from JoAnn's Fabric and acrylic paint. I did the frame and robot stuff :) I had to do a lot of work on the joints because they did not bend. I wanted it lower to the ground so the tail did not have to be so long and to give it a better look and more stability.

Dog skeleton (on sale right now for 10 bucks!):
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Home-Accents-Holiday-3-ft-Animated-Skeleton-Greyhound-with-LED-Illuminated-Eyes-6342-36559/206770838

Servos:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076CNKQX4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Hardware:
Raspberry Pi 3 B+

Servo control: Adafruit 16-Channel PWM / Servo HAT (https://www.adafruit.com/product/2327)

UI: Adafruit OLED Bonnet (https://www.adafruit.com/product/3531)

I was able to stack both the servo control board and OLED Bonnet on the Pi. I love this OLED Bonnet because it has a joystick and buttons so it provides a mini UI. I wrote a menu program for the Bonnet that loads on boot and lets me start the program for the tail and do an orderly shutdown.

I’ve been using this: ADJ Products VF1000,1000w compact Value Fogger ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MLARE0Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_m0.nDbW299V13 since 2015, and pushing the fog though a bin full of ice lays down a carpet of fog that fills my yard with an awesome effect. I’ve also used small ultrasonic misters in humidifiers, and while they are cleaner and easier to maintain, the fog dissipates quickly in a low humidity environment. I bet those huge ultrasonic misters work better indoors. Based on the amount of fog I can see in that video, I would estimate that it would take several 12 head units to create the same volume of fog as my current machine.

Thanks! Projectors can definitely be pricy but you can get a halfway decent one for Halloween and backyard movies under $200. This is the one I’m using and so far I’m happy with it: VANKYO Leisure 510 HD Movie Projector with 4200 Lux, Video Projector with 230" Projection Size, Support 1080P HDMI VGA AV USB with HDMI Cable and Carrying Bag https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GDNVND9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_KwQMDb251JKA3

We do a massive multi room haunt ever year and clowns are always a part of it. Consider a rickety old colorful booth with a clown in it or hand out candy from it. A well placed old “disco” light works well to light up the porch. Make a bunch of dummies using the tyvek suits at Home Depot and stuff them and dress them like clowns sitting in chairs hanging out and you dress as one also. When they walk up you jump at them. We had circus music on YouTube playing in the two clown rooms. I think it was something crazy like 3 hours long so need to restart often. Lights would trigger and go out it would get dark and the clowns would come to life with knives and guns. They do sell cheap wall covering that have the bloody strips in them. It’s around 5$ but you need a few of them and clear tape them together. When it’s dark they help pull the whole thing together

https://www.amazon.com/Creepy-Carnival-Striped-Room-Roll/dp/B01FOIV5JM?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_4

Something similar to this.

https://www.amazon.com/Disco-Party-Partys-Chrystal-Effect/dp/B00PYP6CPS/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?adgrpid=83740227588&gclid=EAIaIQobChMInoaE-JL85AIVBW6GCh2guw13EAAYASAAEgLaOvD_BwE&hvadid=359985175898&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9067609&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=15813105019940005342&hvtargid=kwd-345631860604&hydadcr=15591_11248791&keywords=bulb+disco+light&qid=1569970254&sr=8-6

You could try using a product like this,
put the burlap over what ever mold you are going to use and spray the heck out of it. You can use acrylic craft paint to dye the burlap before you stiffen it or paint it afterward. Once it has dried you should not have to worry about exposure to the paint.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074B4BFNT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_jllVBbSKQSH0B.
But it has shit reviews