How to Build a Haunted House Facade

Haunted houses are a favorite for both young and old.

Decorating your home entrance as a haunted house is a fun way to celebrate Halloween. Trick-or-treaters love the decorations as they come up the walkway to receive their candy. Creating a haunted house facade, rather than turning your whole home or garage into a haunted house, is a cheaper alternative. It is also less time consuming, especially considering that trick-or-treaters will only be visiting your home for a few hours. Several things can be done to turn your home entrance into a creepy haunted house facade.

Things You'll Need

• Lighting
• Strobe light
• Window clings
• Synthetic spider webbing
• Fog machine
• Dry ice
• Plastic cauldron
• Latex gloves
• Water
• Food coloring
• Freezer
• Candles
• Lighter
• Gray poster-board
• Black permanent marker
• Styrofoam heads
• Wigs
• Halloween makeup
• Fake blood
• Plastic knife
• CD player
• Halloween CD

Instructions

1. Choose lighting that will lead from the sidewalk to your home entrance. Although the haunted house facade should be dark and scary, adequate lighting to and from the house should be used for the safety of the trick-or-treaters. Make luminaries or use jack-o'-lanterns to light the walkway.

2. Use a strobe light in the yard, pointed away from the home entrance but aimed at a wall or fence. You can also put a strobe light inside the home, so trick-or-treaters can see the strobe in the window while walking up to the house. Strobe lights can cause health problems. They may also cause disorientation to walking trick-or-treaters, which could cause an injury, so they should not be used at the haunted house entrance.

3. Purchase scary window clings in the shapes of ghosts, mummies or vampires. Attach the clings to the window closest to the haunted house facade so they are visible to trick-or-treaters.

4. Stretch synthetic spider webbing across the exterior walls of your home. Place the webbing on any bushes near the home's entrance and overhead, across the walkway.

5. Set a fog machine in the entrance to create a foggy appearance. If you do not have a fog machine, purchase a plastic cauldron. Fill it with dry ice and water to create the fog. To add to the spooky effect, fill latex gloves with water and red food coloring. Freeze the water-filled gloves. Place the gloves in the bubbling cauldron so it looks like it is filled with bleeding hands.

6. Light candles and place them on a flat surface near the home entrance. Candles provide soft lighting, which adds to the haunted house effect.

7. Play a spooky CD. Create a CD with scary sounds or play Halloween music. Noises add to the effect of the haunted house facade.

8. Contruct fake gravestones by cutting gray poster board. Write on the poster board with a black permanent marker. Attach the gravestones to the exterior walls of the home.

9. Decorate styrofoam heads with wigs and Halloween makeup. Apply fake blood to the faces and put a plastic knife through the styrofoam head.

Tips & Warnings

• Dress in a scary Halloween costume to greet the trick-or-treaters.

References

• Venetopia: Haunted House Design - Designing the Facade; Paul Pendragon
• Family Corner: Create Your Own Haunted House
• Rotten Apple 907: How to Make a Haunted House