Halloween, my favorite time of the year

Last year I drove from NY to Philly to go to the Easter State Penitentiary which was alot of fun because we made a day of it and biked through downtown the stopped at a bar directly across the street. It was a haunted prison. Adds alot of ideas for your own party to take the time to visit a professional haunted venue. Obviously few people will have the budget to hire actors but getting into theme is always fun. Another venue we went to which was out of this world was Headless Horseman in Ulster Park, NY. I vow to return here every year. The budget for this place is unbelievable. The property they own is limitless, about 45 acres. They have a corn maze, a fleet of tractors that carry about ten people at a time through there amusement, and the most extravagant animated props. I was totally impressed. I would have paid double for whatever our ticket cost because they went all out. http://www.headlesshorseman.com/

With the space I had and the budget I used about two months prior to Halloween to prepare and shop online. I got alot of great stuff and ideas from Grandin Road,http://www.grandinroad.com/ which is an affiliate of Frontgate.Martha Stewart is also involved with their designs and they have realistic tombstones, skeletons, serving plates and glassware for the occasion.Not sure if you ever did research on the price of real goblets.Actual Gothic goblets can go from $45 and up into the hundreds! I purchased a ton of Gothic battery operated candles from them. They have amazing designs and around 4 tombstones. The only product I was disappointed in were the two scary black cats because in the photos they look great but in person they look cheap. So those were returned I kept the owls. I also did alot of searching on ebay. I actually became obsessed with ebay for props and discouraged and how pricey the large animated stuff was. made me want to go to school just to learn how to make them.
I was really lucky to know someone who works for Ruby's Costume Shop and was able to get me a ton of stuff for free or at a huge discount. we got rolls and rolls of black fabri which is ideal for making a maze.I got all the masks and the skeleton door frame and fireplace mantel from Ruby's. We were lucky to have an unfinished basement. If yours is finished that's okay too but then you can't staple the material to the ceiling like we did. So with the fabric cut it into long strips and made a dark narrow maze. Not very narrow but creepy enough where corners can hie surprise and at every corner was a prop. Lastly and most importantly because the $100 fogger we got did not work on command was lighting.Purple lighting green lighting perched above each prop. Oh and a CD of ghoulish horror. Screaming of course like a torture chamber. I even let my guests bring a battery operated candle down with them if they wanted. Fireproof. Less worries for you. What I learned the hard way is not to let anyone bring down their drink. Glass bottle broken was not good. To fill in any empty nooks and crannies you don't have to spend alot to create a grand theme. Target has a lot of decor as well as costumes. SCroll all the way down to see added pics.