Haunt Stress
I know it sounds trivial, but haunt stress is a real thing. I know, I have it. Over nine years, I've built with my own bare hands, hundreds of elements that I set up each Halloween. There's the graveyard, the fence, the fence columns, over 120 hand made spotlights, figures, and then the light show. The light show alone is the result of hundreds of hours of work (plus the help from David Ultis). It is all done by hand with freeware, which can be finicky and troublesome to get working correctly. Last year I had a crowd of people in front of my house chanting "We want the light show!" Over and over while I scurried about, headlamp strapped to my head in the dark checking wires, hardware, and the computer program I use trying to find out what wasn't working. My blood pressure wasn't good, I'm sure.
I have literally put my own blood sweat and tears into this thing. And it's free! The only donations we take are pet food for the Idaho Humane Society
That said, I wasn't very happy. A friend took a photo of me when I got everything to limp along for the time being. I looked terrible. I did not look happy. The past few years have been like that. This year, I've staged setup over several days, but the weather has been menacing with rain. The figures I've built from scratch are water resistant- to a degree. So I haven't set them out yet. My spot lights (all 120 or so of them) are aging and were first generation design of mine. meaning that they were pretty effective, but poorly designed and cause me endless headaches. There has to be at least a mile of wiring that runs throughout my display. Tangled wires, wet weather, and the rest of the elements have aged them to the point of failure.
Each year, the day after Halloween, We take everything down for storage with the exception of things that need repairs and updates. The past few years though, I haven't done that because I am so done with it all and don't want to deal with it. I work three different jobs and by November 1st, I'm DONE. And then there is what fellow haunters call the Haunt Hangover... It is real, and it isn't fun.
This year I have set up the cornstalks(Thanks Kris), the graveyard, the handmade witch jars with candles. I have a few store bought lights out as well. It looks amazing compared to what most people do. I have two days to get the figures and light show working, but honestly, I don't care if I do this year. I refuse to get stressed this year. I want it to be fun.
This year we went to a local walk through that was super fun and well done. I've also gone on a few walks in areas where people decorate. I enjoyed this fall's wonderful colors and taking things down a notch. I never made the time for that in the past. Also, this year we have reservations at a nearby hot-spring resort for Nov. 1. We'll take down and stow everything away the next day.
I'll still have the collection bin out for the Idaho Humane Society pet food drive this year. I'm just taking it easy.
I hope everyone has a happy Halloween!
Here are some local haunts-
I have literally put my own blood sweat and tears into this thing. And it's free! The only donations we take are pet food for the Idaho Humane Society
That said, I wasn't very happy. A friend took a photo of me when I got everything to limp along for the time being. I looked terrible. I did not look happy. The past few years have been like that. This year, I've staged setup over several days, but the weather has been menacing with rain. The figures I've built from scratch are water resistant- to a degree. So I haven't set them out yet. My spot lights (all 120 or so of them) are aging and were first generation design of mine. meaning that they were pretty effective, but poorly designed and cause me endless headaches. There has to be at least a mile of wiring that runs throughout my display. Tangled wires, wet weather, and the rest of the elements have aged them to the point of failure.
Each year, the day after Halloween, We take everything down for storage with the exception of things that need repairs and updates. The past few years though, I haven't done that because I am so done with it all and don't want to deal with it. I work three different jobs and by November 1st, I'm DONE. And then there is what fellow haunters call the Haunt Hangover... It is real, and it isn't fun.
This year I have set up the cornstalks(Thanks Kris), the graveyard, the handmade witch jars with candles. I have a few store bought lights out as well. It looks amazing compared to what most people do. I have two days to get the figures and light show working, but honestly, I don't care if I do this year. I refuse to get stressed this year. I want it to be fun.
This year we went to a local walk through that was super fun and well done. I've also gone on a few walks in areas where people decorate. I enjoyed this fall's wonderful colors and taking things down a notch. I never made the time for that in the past. Also, this year we have reservations at a nearby hot-spring resort for Nov. 1. We'll take down and stow everything away the next day.
I'll still have the collection bin out for the Idaho Humane Society pet food drive this year. I'm just taking it easy.
I hope everyone has a happy Halloween!
Here are some local haunts-
.JPG)
Thank you for posting this. I am in the exact same place that you are, and looking at tomorrow's weather forecast makes me want to just pack it all in. We can both trudge through a scaled-back 2018 and recharge for an incredible 2019. Good luck on Halloween!
ReplyDeleteWell good luck - I hope your haunt is a success no matter what scale it is on. I tend to do it every other year so that I enjoy a less stressful haunt in between. Haunting lite I call it. Then I can hit some cemetery tours, haunted houses and events. We are expecting 4 to 7 inches of snow tonight so I have no idea if I will even have lighting in my graveyard tomorrow. I hope your weather is better. Haunt stress and haunt hangover - I can relate. I have that dream all year long that it is Halloween and I cannot find the decorations and have no candy.
ReplyDelete