Are you planning to stay home for Halloween this year? That’s great—you can have a perfectly spooky backyard haunted house for your family and friends to enjoy.
Shadows can create a perfectly spooky backyard haunted house
Your whole backyard can get involved. For example, if you have a pool or hot tub, you can change the color of the water by adding some colored lights. You could also put lighting in the trees for a special effect. The lights can make a big difference; choose your colors carefully. Some gruesome garland with lights might just be the icing on the cake. Something might be lurking in the shadows.
Spooks add to a perfectly spooky backyard haunted house
Hang creepy spiders on huge spider webs in the trees to help set the mood. The spider webs could even take over your patio furniture. Use black cats, ravens, or scarecrows for extra decor.
You could also go the ghost and goblin route. White trash bags filled with leaves from your yard make great ghosts. Old white sheets work well for ghosts too. Have some scary music playing in the background. And maybe even have a creepy clown telling scary stories around the fire pit as the family carves jack-o-lanterns.
If vampire bats and witches are more your style, have a witch stirring a large cast iron pot. Dry ice can give the illusion that smoke is coming out of the pot. Alternatively, the witch’s brew could be your punch bowl for the night.
Have a “graveyard” set up in one corner with special sound effects coming from that direction. You can even make some headstones out of cardboard with some clever sayings. Throw in a coffin and a skeleton or two surrounded by crime scene tape for good measure. Consider making a trap door using a pallet; have a light underneath it to make it look like it leads somewhere. For extra spookiness, have a zombie hidden beneath the trap door; an old doll could double as a zombie.
Scares
In having a perfectly spooky backyard haunted house, arguably the most fun is in scaring someone. It just isn’t Halloween if no one is scared. Tie an inflatable in the trees and have it descend at just the right moment. Or, have something come up out of the pool with a big splash. Set up some type of a maze and get everyone’s heart pumping by having someone jump out at them. Or, spring that trap door and have something pop out.
You could play a “live” game of Clue. Present the suspects, the weapons, the crime, etc. Have the “butler” introduce everyone and explain the rules of the game.
Suits
What will your attendees wear to your spooky haunted house? Make it a costume party. Have a special prize for the best costume. There is no limit to who might attend—werewolves, scarecrows, witches, animals, TV characters, etc. The list goes on and on.
The memory of this night will stick with all who are involved for years to come. At Energy Center-Manhattan Pool, we hope you have tons of fun with your perfectly spooky backyard haunted house!
