This edition of the Chop Shop is another guest post by guest blogger Steve Sabellico from HalloweenAddict.com.
Today on Chop Shop we’re going to forego the big rooms that get all the attention. No living rooms, no kitchens and certainly no dining rooms, here. Nope. Today we’re going to decorate the in-between part of your party: the hallway.
Hallways are the Rodney Dangerfields of Halloween Parties. They get no respect (rim shot!). Most people look at a hallway as just a means of getting from one major room to another. But I think there is a missed opportunity if this crucial transport vessel is ignored.
Here’s a simple idea that isn’t hard to pull off and won’t cost you an arm and a leg (rim shot!). Ok, seriously I promise I won’t do any puns. Elvira, Freddy and The Crypt Keeper have always been better at that than me. Then again, there’s that “rule of threes”… hmmm… I can’t guarantee there won’t be one more.
What is a “Hall of Horrors?” Think of it like a museum to honor the boogeymen.
First you’re going to make the doorway to the hall into an official entryway. A Hall of Horrors commands respect, so it should be ceremonious in how it meets guests.
Get some red or black fabric: this could be a bed sheet or some fabric you purchased at Fabrics-Fabrics-Fabrics-And-More (they sell fabric).
Drape it over the doorway like theatre curtain bunting if you’re going for an ‘upscale’ Hall of Horror… or you can make it the ‘dilapidated’ Hall of Horror by using some black or red cheesecloth like the Burgundy Creepy Decoration or the Black Creepy Cloth Decoration and let it hang down in front of the doorway so that people have to pass through the rotten curtain to get through.
Next, hang over the doorway either a homemade sign announcing your new exhibit or try a few of what BuyCostumes.com has to offer in either a Beware! Enter If You Dare Banner, a Welcome to Hell Sign or an Enter If You Dare sign. After all, you want to let people know where they’re going… and no man is going to ask directions.
Once in the hall, you’ll want to set up your virtual museum to the monsters who have come before. Grab the following door covers with light up eyes:
- Jason Voorhees
- Freddy Krueger
- Michael Myers
Affix them to the walls as if they were medieval tapestries. Be sure to either take out most of the lights in the hall or install a dark purple or blue bulb so that it’s a dark walk. Now as people travel down the hall they’re met with a soundscape of scary noises emanating from the door covers (be sure to have batteries!) while the eyes light up. Hope your patrons can hold their bladders.
Extra credit: Install a Hanging Ghost Face in the far corner of the hall. You can’t have the boogeymen of Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th represented without Scream.
And if you have the room (you’ll know because you’ll have one of those decorative half-tables with a porcelain elephant or something on it), you can nix the elephant and replace it with a Leatherface Deluxe Mask (stuffed with a foam wig stand or newspaper so it stands upright). For an extra twist, make a little plaque to sit beneath Leatherface that says simply, “Dad.”
So there you go. One Hall of Horrors. Partygoers check in but they don’t check out. (rim shot! Bam! That’s three.)
[Lightning flash. Thunder clap. Maniacal laughter.]
