How to Make an Operating Table for Halloween

Enlist a friend to play the role of ghoulish surgeon, mad scientist or alien investigator.

Whether you're setting the stage for coworkers or elementary students, a grisly operating table is a spooky decorating option for the creepiest of parties. Pair it with a Frankenstein theme, an Area 51 setting or as part of an abandoned haunted house. Enroll friends to play crazy surgeon, operating victim or alien and you have an evening ready for screaming fun. Equip your "corpse" with a camera to catch guests' surprised faces.

Things You'll Need

• Base (such as cardboard boxes, weight lifting bench, potting bench, cot or credenza)
• Silver spray paint
• Old white sheets or table cloth
• Alphabet stencils (optional)
• Fake blood
• Spray bottle or paint brush
• Leather straps with buckles (optional)
• Plastic skeleton or dummy (optional)
• TV tray stand
• Meat cleaver, scalpel, saw or other instruments
• Glass apothecary jars (optional)
• Biohazard containers (optional)
• Flood light or spotlight
• Fake cobwebs
• White lab coat
• Surgical mask

Instructions

1. Choose your operating table base. Find a ready item around the house, like a spare cot, weight lifting bench, potting bench, or credenza that will easily display a skeleton, dummy or actor. For a prop table, consider building an operating table from cardboard boxes. Spray paint them silver or gray for an institutional or surgical appearance.

2. Drape the base with old white sheets or tablecloths. For added effect, stencil "property of Bedlam," "property of Area 51," or "biohazard: destroy after use" on one end of each sheet. Splatter the sheets by spurting fake blood with a spray bottle and dipping a paint brush into fake blood, then flicking back the bristles.

3. Affix old leather straps with aged metal hardware to the edges of the operating table and fasten them around the wrists and ankles of a plastic skeleton, sheet-draped dummy or actor. Substitute craft store faux suede and purse hardware for a cheaper and more easily accessible alternative.

4. Place a TV tray stand or other small table near the operating table; cover it with an old white sheet, tablecloth or napkin. Display "blood"-splattered meat cleavers, scalpels, saws or other instruments on top. Surround the operating table with shelves of glass apothecary jars or biohazard containers.

5. Illuminate the operating table with a floodlight or spotlight. For a Frankenstein environment or haunted house operating room, drape the table and equipment with stretched cobwebs. Dress a friend in surgeon's garb to complete the scene.

Tips & Warnings

• Make an alien operating table by splattering green gelatin on the sheets and placing an alien mask at the head of the table, leading to the "body" under the operating sheets. Hang a black and white alien "x-ray" over a lamp.

References

• Boardman Web: Halloween Party