How to Scare Up a Good Halloween!

Halloween. The only holiday where scaring people half to death won't get you a lawsuit. But alas, with Halloween up and coming, you sit brain dead on the couch, mindlessly stuffing your face with the candy you promised yourself you would save for halloween, wondering what you should do to create a positively...grim Halloween. But for those shambling around Party Cities looking for cheap decorations, costumes, and candy, look no further. This intractable will not cover just costumes, or decorations, or special effects, but it will cover ALL of the necessary building blocks for your Halloween to blossom into the ghoulish holiday that you so desire. So travel with me into the depths of...*dramatic pause*...HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!

Step 1: When the Dead Rise Again...are You Prepared?

Now, to begin our ghoulish adventure, we must first prepare a proper grim hideout for our little goblins and grim reapers to play in. Depending upon the desired look, houses could go from homely to horrifying with simple decor. Now you don't have to have fancy lights, sound effects, or fog machines to create a positively terrifying house. Now, if you take a look at most horror movies, houses are made terrifying by simple lighting and decor. 1.)For a creepy atmosphere, use lots of candles instead of electric lighting. It gives off an eerie glow when it flickers. Put the candles in all of the windows and draw the curtains back and make sure the room is dark.

2.) Now that we have covered lighting, lets cover decor of the house. To create a creepy front porch for trick or treaters, use old clothes and pillows shaped like bodies stuffed in a garbage bag and duct taped or tied to create "dead" bodies in makeshift body bags. Use white garbage bags and fake blood to make them bleed. Add puddles of blood in a corner and slump them there. Then add cobwebs and jack o lanterns to taste.

3.) Now its time to turn that front yard into a grave yard. You can use the bodies from the last step and lay them out in a pile or hang them by their feet from a tree with rope. With this step you can have fun with it. Toss fake body parts around the place, use painted pool noodles with bottle camps to create tentacles, cut out and paint tombstones out of cardboard or foam board, have your family hide in plain sight as scarecrows or other monsters and have them jump out at people! The possibilities are devilishly endless...

Step 2: Deadly Disguises...

Now that your lair is finished, its time to look the part. If you are anything like me, you have trouble picking out costumes from stores. Well, there is a simple solution. Frankenstein one of your own. This section of my Halloween tutorial will show you how to create a positively stunning grotesque costume of your own.

Zombie:

1.) Pick your attire, go with older, worn out clothes. Try shopping at a local Goodwill or thrift shop for clothes that will create an undead nightmare.

2.) Take your attire and lay them out on a flat surface. Then take a fine sandpaper or fine cheese grater to them to create an old, distressed look. Then take a spray bottle and fill with water. Add a couple drops of yellow food coloring and spray down the clothes to create a dirty look. Add red to the bottle to create dried blood. Then take red paint and fling it at the clothing to create the blood splattered look.

3.) Now its time to create the zombie. Use light brown to hollow the facial features. Apply around the cheeks outlining the cheek bones, under the eyes, and in the depressions towards the top of the head. This will create a skeletal, sunken effect to the face. Add cuts to the face with a base of dark red face paint and fake blood. To create bite marks, apply the dark red face paint with a brush in a u shaped pattern. Then add a black line to the inside of the U shapes. Add fake blood in a u shape towards where the black line is and let drip down. I made missing fingers by applying paint on my fingers and keeping them bent and covered them with blood.

4.) To create a burn like mine use elmers glue, tissue paper, acrylic paint (dark red, brown, black, and red), fake blood, sea sponge, and brushes. To do boils use toilet paper and vaseline. For burns: Paint glue on desired burn area, apply tissue paper layers (i did 3), rip open a hole in the middle making the edges rough, paint acrylic paint on with sea sponge brush starting with red, then dark red, then brown, then black in certain areas. In the middle do the same but with only red, dark red, and black. add fake blood everywhere in the middle to create oozing. To make boils: Dab glop of vaseline, add toilet paper layer over the top and paint around the boil. To create charred flesh coat desired area with glue, rip up cotton balls, paint elders glue over the cotton balls until no raw cotton is showing, then paint in the same manner as the ties paper using more brown though.

Armor:

1.) Start with the design. Drawing it out helps greatly

2.) The base materials that i use are craft foam sheets ( the multi colored ones that come in packs), EVA floor mats (found at Lowes or other hardware stores), cardboard, spray and acrylic paints, brushes, X acto knives, box cutters, and any other scavenged materials.

3.) Go online. There are tons of metalworking websites that have templates for every kind of armor for free. There are even templates for video game armor, so just look for it online. Don't forget that you can also build off of other templates to make it your own

4.) Weather your armor. To make it look old and worn, use a cloth and black acrylic paint to create a worn look. Brush on black paint and wipe off immediately after so that the surface is the base color of the armor and the black is trapped in the crevices. I used this tactic to create my with king armor and skyrim helmet. If you want to add rust, use reddish brown acrylic paint in the crevices to make it look rusted (Look at my skyrim helmet to see what i mean)

Step 3: Final Preparations...

Your time has come. Halloween draws near. No use in hiding. Accept it. Its time for finishing touches. If you want your Halloween to be hauntingly happy. Lets talk some basic rules. Yes, the dead have rules. Deal with it.

Rule 1: Don't over do it.

Listen, we ghosts love new arrivals, but please, don't scare them into it before they are ready. One scare is good enough for a house on Halloween, but if you over do it, you will look like a jerk. So if you scare someone, make sure that they are not truly terrified. Unless you know them, then you can chase them into the underworld for as long as you want.

Rule 2: Give out CANDY! NOT RASINS!

This rule is self explanatory. Raisins aren't "Natures candy." They are disappointments.

Rule 3: Halloween Manners

When trick or treating, please do not bully, steal or break things or people. I have worked several haunted houses and myself and the workers cannot begin to tell you how many people have hit us, broken our costumes or decorations, or ruined it for everyone else by messing with the attraction. Another thing i have seen are people breaking or stealing things from houses that are decorated or stealing all of the candy in the bowl. There is a special place in hell for people who take the whole bowl when it clearly states "Take one". Don't be that person.

Rule 4: Have a Good Time!

When out trick or treating or at home handing out candy, no matter your age, have fun with it! You are gonna see a ton of cool costumes, houses, and get a LOT OF CANDY FOR FREE! This is one of the most popular holidays and even if you don't go out and trick or treat, have fun with the trick or treaters! If you are fun and polite, most likely they will enjoy the experience more.

Step 4: The Final Moments...

Now it is time to say our goodbyes. The gouls and goblins, stuffed full of candy, are fast asleep by some supernatural means because they just ate a literal ton of sugar. The decorations are coming down and everyone prepares for the next holiday. It will be time for spooks like me to disappear back into the spirit world. It is a sad day I know, but there is one thing to look forward to. DISCOUNT HALLOWEEN CANDY DAY!!!!!!

Thanks for reading!

If you have any questions or ideas for my next instructable, comment down below!

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