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How to Make a Haunted House on a Budget

So the neighborhood parents and kids want to have a haunted house for everyone to enjoy on Halloween, but there's not much money in the pocketbooks? No problem. You can make a haunted house on a budget that's just as much fun as one that cost bushels of money.

Things You'll Need

  • Backyard, preferably with trees
  • Uncluttered large garage
  • 12 black plastic tablecloths from the discount store
  • Staple gun and staples
  • 4 fake spider webs
  • 3 packages of black pipe cleaners
  • Brown paper lunch bags
  • Small fat candles
  • Dirt or sand
  • Old outgrown Halloween costumes, masks and gloves
  • Old newspapers
  • Black wire (and wirecutters)
  • A hammer, and nails or cup hooks
  • 12 small flashlights with fresh batteries in them, to hang from wires as lighting for the maze
  • Small coolers with ice cubes packed in them to keep the contents cold
  • A bunch of purple grapes
  • 3 sheets of round, white stick-on price tags
  • A bowl of cooked spaghetti noodles
  • A battery-operated CD player or tape recorder that can be set to play continuously through a set of auxiliary speakers
  • CD or tape of spooky Halloween sounds
  • Several sheets of black construction paper
  • Heavy black thread
  • Scissors
  • Cellophane tape
  • 3 rolls of white crepe paper streamers
  • 3 cards of white thumbtacks
  • 2 old chairs or stools
  • Ladder
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Instructions

    • 1

      Begin creating the Haunted House atmosphere at the gate to the backyard, by having one of the adult volunteers dressed all in black, with just a face (or mask) showing, to be the Creepy Gatekeeper. The Creepy Gatekeeper offers one of the party-goers some refreshments. When the party-goer agrees, the Creepy Gatekeeper gets the bowl of cold spaghetti from the cooler, takes one of the party-goer's hands and says, "Here! Have some nice fresh worms!" Then the Creepy Gatekeeper directs the party-goers to the Spooky Path, marked out with white crepe-paper streamers which have been thumb-tacked to the ground. The Spooky Path, naturally, winds around trees and shrubs in the backyard and leads to the back door of the garage. The only light along the path comes from the small brown paper bags with lighted candles inside and sand to weigh them down.

    • 2

      Following the Spooky Path to the back door of the garage is guaranteed to send some shivers up the backs of the party-goers. Hanging from the tree branches are black bats, cut from black construction paper and hung with black thread taped to the backs of the bats. Even worse, there are spider webs in some of the shrubs and trees--and one that stretches at chest-height across the Spooky Path. It's got big scary spiders made from black pipe cleaners hanging from the web on black thread tied to the spiders' bodies. But the party-goers must follow the path--they were warned not to stray off of it by the Creepy Gatekeeper. Just as everyone ducks low and gets past the spider web and all those spiders, something moves.

    • 3

      Suddenly another adult volunteer dressed all in black comes alive. More screams, because no one's seen the figure standing there without moving in the dark. "Oh, so you didn't see me, eh?" the figure hisses. He also grabs one of the party-goer's hands, and pushes it into a bowl of what looks like eyeballs, which are ice-cold. The eyeballs are the grapes with round, white price tags stuck to them, and they've been kept in a bowl in another of the coolers, packed with ice cubes. "You need to have better eyes!" the figure cackles and turns the party-goer's hand loose.

    • 4

      Running to the back door of the garage, the party-goers burst into the garage and find a Black Maze made up of black tablecloths hung from the ceiling, forming the walls. Which way do they go? They can hear screams and spooky sounds, coming from the hidden CD player or tape recorder--and then another adult volunteer steps from behind one of the black walls. "Lost humans!" the figure snarls. "Don't like humans. Bothersome creatures. You want to know where to go, heh?" He pulls aside one of the black tablecloth walls and waves the party-goers inside. "Good luck," the figure mumbles. "You'll need it."

    • 5

      Walking carefully in the dark, lighted only by an occasional flashlight, the party-goers have to find their way through the Black Maze to get to the party refreshments at the front of the garage. As they go around a corner, everyone jumps. There's a ghastly creature sitting on an old chair in the corner--but it's only one of the old Halloween costumes, stuffed with wadded-up newspapers to look like someone's inside. The party-goers continue walking, brushing aside more black construction paper bats and pipe cleaner spiders dangling from the beams overhead. Two of the paths don't go anywhere, so the third path must lead to the refreshments. The party-goers walk past the last figure on an old chair, figuring it's another stuffed costume--but this one stands up. With loud screams, all the party-goers dash for the lights that suddenly come on at the end of the maze. Time for some well-earned party food and treats after all those tricks.

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