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They scare them but they thrill them too. A haunted house can be so much fun at Halloween. By being a little creative and using your imagination you can make a haunted house in your backyard. You can keep it inexpensive and still provide fun for all who attend.

What You’ll Need

* Cardboard boxes
* Sheets
* Hay bails
* Glow-in-the-dark paint
* Regular paint
* Rubber bats
* Pumpkins
* String
* Christmas lights
* Black light
* Strobe light
* Halloween CD
* CD player

Instructions

Have your children help you decorate the cardboard and sheets with paint including glow-in-the-dark paint. Be sure to paint scary looking characters, bats, ghosts, pumpkins and anything else you can come up with in the Halloween spirit. Also be sure to make some signs that will entice your guests to check it out. Be as creative as you and your child’s imagination can go.

See if you can find some bales of hay to make tunnels with. By setting them up with enough room to crawl through, you can create tunnels with many twists and turns. By hiding some spooks behind some of these twist and turns you can create quite a surprise for all who go through it.

Before you construct your haunted house be sure to walk through your backyard. You want to make sure there are no obstacles that can cause someone to trip and fall. Be careful not to place any of your haunted house where tree roots might be in the way. Be sure to remove any limbs, sticks, wet leaves and rocks from the area also. By keeping it safe your insuring an enjoyable time for everyone.

After you have set up the walls and tunnels you get to decorate the inside. Use ghosts, goblins, bats or anything that is frightening to hang around the haunted house on different lengths of string. Place a few carved pumpkins with ghoulish faces around. Be sure to use battery-operated lights in them to keep your haunted house safe. Stuff some white sheets with newspaper to make scary ghosts. The sky is the limit when decorating your haunted house.

Be sure to add some lighting to your house. Make it just light enough that people can make their way through without falling or hurting themselves. Strings of Christmas lights work great. Also black lights or strobe lights give a great spooky effect. Don’t forget that spooky, howling music. Set the atmosphere with a Halloween CD.

See if you can instill the help of some of your children’s friend’s parents to help by dressing up as characters for your haunted house. They can greet the kids before they go in, hide in and around your haunted house and be there when your kids finally exit their venture. What a fun time for the adults too.

Be sure to have a big bowl of candy available for all your trick or treaters as they exit your haunted house. There’s nothing like a scary trip to build a child’s appetite. A haunted house can be so much fun for you, your children and all their friends. BOO!

Submitted by EZ Pumpkin Painting

Pumpkin Painting Made Easy