How to Plan a Halloween Hayride
The tradition of Halloween was first brought to America by immigrants who would celebrate the harvest by building a campfire and then telling ghost stories around the flames with family and friends. Now, Halloween has turned into holiday celebrated by many people across America. Aside from trick-or-treating, Americans participate in other events such as visiting haunted houses for going on haunted hayrides. If your town has a Halloween celebration, suggest adding a haunted hayride on the list of scheduled events. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Truck or tractor
- Flatbed or attachment
- Hay bales
- Building materials (optional)
- Costumes (optional)
- Character makeup (optional)
Instructions
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Call your insurance company. Before you set the components of the Halloween hayride in stone, have a conversation with your home insurance provider and inform them of your general plans. If the hayride is taking place on your property, they may suggest additional coverage. If the hayride is operating off-site, but you or your company are in charge of the event, they may direct you to their event insurance department. Based on the event, they will offer you a policy that covers liability and damage based on the length of how long you are holding the hayride and what it entails.
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Rent or secure the supplies needed for the hayride. The basic supplies needed are a truck or tractor and flatbed or attachment where people can sit. The attachment should have sides or rails so people are secure inside the back. Also, purchase bails of hay for people to sit on during the hayride.
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Plan events that people will experience along the hayride. Use your imagination when planning these events. They can range from getting local actors to dress up in costume and scare people to building small faux haunted houses that you decorate along the way. Whatever you choose to place on your hayride, keep the tone consistent for your target audience. For example, a scary hayride might contain monsters that jump out in front of the hayride at predetermined times. However, a hayride for children might include some favorite superhero characters that give out pieces of candy along the way.
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Hire or ask people to help you with the hayride. Make sure you have enough man power at the event. You will need someone to sell and collect tickets to the ride, someone else to drive the truck or tractor and several people to build and man various stations along the hayride. If you have funds to pay people, offer them an amount per hour or per night in accordance with federal minimum wage guidelines. If it is a volunteer situation, ask people to commit to times when they can be part of the hayride. Get a few back-up options in case people fall out at the last minute.
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Build items that will be seen along the hayride. Fake houses, burial grounds, pumpkin sculptures and Halloween scenery are all items that might need to be built based on your design plan. Leave enough time for the actual construction, painting and set-up of each item.
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Set a day to decorate the hayride. Perform this either the night before or the day the hayride begins so the decorations do not get left out in bad weather. Additionally, inform people who are part of the hayride that any objects that can easily be removed at the end of each evening and the replaced, should be items getting damaged.
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Invite participants to the hayride early. Ask the local actors or people participating as characters to come to the hayride about an hour before so they can get into makeup and costume and be set in their position along the hayride.
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Advertise the Halloween hayride. Take advantage of social networking sites, community message boards and promotional materials associated with the fair or festival where the Halloween hayride will be held. The advertisement should include the dates, time and cost associated with the ride along with the location where it is being held. Directions and parking information are also helpful.
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Tips & Warnings
If you are holding the hayride as part of a local fair or festival, you will need to apply to the fair or festival board in order to get permission. Items required might be where you plan to hold the hayride, how much you are charging, the amount of workers you will be using and what decorations or events will be placed along the ride. Additionally, an application fee or space rental fee might be required.
Prepare for rain. Either cancel or postpone the event or prepare for rain by using a flatbed that has a roof and open sides.
Use the hayride as a fundraiser for a charity or organization.
Sell Halloween themed snacks before and after the hayride.
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/Photos.com/Getty Images
