Haunted House Ideas

Haunted houses can be made to be mildly scary for young children or made to startle adults who can handle it. Haunted houses can be created in garages, carports, extra rooms in a house, at a place of business, or in a hallway.

For young children the haunted house should be dimly lit. There should be nothing jumping out or too unexpected. “Icky” things like fake big spiders can be used. Glow in the dark items work well.

To really scare adults and older children, the key is the element of surprise. Darkness and sound effects will help with scary factor of a haunted house for adults and older children. The surprise can be one of the following ellements:

• Texture

• Sound

• Touch

• Object

• Light

• Spider web

Combining a few of the above at the same time will add to the element of surprise. Fake blood and scary masks can be added to walls. Having a person who looks like a decoration pop out and make noise is a great addition to haunted house.

Blind boxes (a box where an item can be touched and not seen) can be made out of wood or cardboard. A hole is needed to put a hand in. Inside can be items to touch. Put wet and gooey stuff in a bowl in the box. Some of the items that can be put in a blind box:

• Pumpkin “guts”

• Cold pasta

• Squishy balls

• Jello

• Pieces of fake fur

• Rubber animals in ketchup

• Bones

Create scary titles for the boxes like “dead rats” “brains” and anything else you can come up with. Have lots of wipes handy. A lawn trash bag with a hole in the top can be a make shift cover to protect clothing. Warn people they can get messy before they start. Give out candy at the end.

Haunted houses are fun memories for many people and terrifying for others. Be sure to warn small children and have an “escape” route for those who get in and want a quick exit.