Thinking of a Haunted Castle and Medieval Theme this year

[MauEvig]

Of course, we'll want to do so on a budget. Our land lord has decided to move out and offered to sell us her property, so that means we'll have the big house to work with and full reign of the entire yard. We've been discussing what to do with the little house, (including have our own local Haunted attraction, but we may just rent it out after we do a few repairs here and there.)
I don't know about y'all but I'm excited!
Anyway, I was looking at some of the themes on here and an idea popped into my head. A haunted castle and medieval theme! My boyfriend loves castles and medieval stuff and we were talking about it as a theoretical idea. It's only March though, so there's plenty of time to plan and we might even change our minds later on.
If we do this theme, I was wondering if anyone would like to share some ideas. I know castles often involve some scary things, like dungeons and torture rooms. I was thinking of maybe some skeletal knights and other stuff and maybe make the house look like an old castle with draw bridge and a "mote" (we can't really do a real mote since I don't want to ruin the yard lol.)
We may even make our costumes to match the theme. My boyfriend likes the idea of being a zombie knight. Maybe I'll be a vampire "lady" or something else. I'm undecided as of yet.
I never really did a theme before. Typically I've just done your basic decor. I think it might be fun. Who knows, maybe we'll draw some more ToTers this year, as I'm sure everyone in the county would be interested in our themed haunt.

[Pumpkin_Man]

That would be a great theme. Vlad Tepec, a.k.a. Count Dracula lived in mideval times, so your theme fits Halloween tradition to a tee. I would love to see some pictures.

Mike

[MauEvig]

Right now the prospects of the new house are really exciting, and we both love medieval stuff like knights and castles, so incorporating a "Halloween" medieval theme would be fun.
But I wonder how to pull it off without it costing a whole lot...I still want it to look cool without it looking too "cheap".

[Pumpkin_Man]

I know what you mean. I have the same problem, which is one of the reasons why I love my 104 year old house so much. It really lends itself to Halloween. I don't really have an extensive outdoor display, or the money to get those things, but I do some decorating on the inside.

Mike

[MauEvig]

Not sure how old this house will be, but I know it's got some interesting history behind it.
When Halloween gets closer we'll see what we can do. This year we might just keep it simple, and wait until we're more settled into our new home before doing anything complicated like a theme, but you never know. Depends on how cost effective and efficient the theme can be. I know there's some thrift and antique stores that might give me some ideas later on.

[Pumpkin_Man]

I don't find too many Halloween decorations in the local thrift stores where I live. There are plenty of Christmas decorations, and it's a great place to find out of print record albums, but other then that, it's hard to find anything Halloween.

Mike

[MauEvig]

It may just depend on which thrift store you go to and what area you're in.
I find a few things here and there when I've gone thrift store shopping, and we'll also be coming into yard sale season (another thing I like about spring and summer) and I might find a few gems there too.
Something may not necessarily be Halloween related, but using your imagination an old flock could be used for costume material or to dress up a skeleton, or make a zombie/ghost or anything you can think of. A torn up sheet could be made into a ghost, or if it's read it could be turned into a pirate scarf/bandana.
I know there are some people on here who think of Halloween by just walking into a hardware store, and I see their point. Sure, PVC pipe and ply wood might seem plain and ordinary at first glance, but with a little imagination, skill and work someone can turn that into a cool decoration and a unique one to boot.
I wish I had more skills to do wood working, but I suppose I won't know unless I try. I've only ever made a few things out of wood before and a saw and I'm always afraid I'm going to cut my hand off. I also can't really sew to save my life and I've tried crocheting, but I need to learn to focus and sit down and practice. That's also why some of my stories haven't been written yet.
With the new house I may find some inspiration to do these creative arts and crafts. I know I've done a few things with construction paper before.
I tend to think very creatively, it's just putting that creative mind to use that I often struggle with because I'm either too tired or too distracted, or happen to be at work when the creativity bug hits. (Yesterday I was at work and started getting more ideas for a story, but when I got home...le poof. I still had the idea in my head, but it wasn't as fresh and I had no more ambition to write it down. I need to push myself to do this though, but I don't want my stories to feel fake or rushed either. They have to be perfect. XD)

[Pumpkin_Man]

I'm no handy man either, MauEivg. I did a few creative things with costumes when I use to ToT as a kid, but it's been a while since I actualy made any of my own Halloween decorations. I still do carve jack o'lanterns, though. I also put up lights and display items inside my house for the entire month of October, but the front porch just gets a jack o'lantern to greet the ToTers.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Unless you are determined to change your theme very year, you could build it gradually over time. Do certain things this year, then add to it the year after that, etc. That way it wouldn't be so expensive.

[Pumpkin_Man]

That's pretty much the way I do it, Murf. In fact I don't really have a theme at all. I just carve some jack o'lanterns, put up lights and other decorations and put my vampire fangs in my mouth and that's pretty much it. Some times I light off orange or yellow smoke bombs.

Mike

[MauEvig]

Not sure if I'd want to do the same theme every year, but I could do similar themes that incorporate similar elements. If I wanted to say, do a vampire theme one year, a lot of vampires live in extravagant mansions and castles, so I could use the same materials and just change it up. I could even get creative with the costume, and try to dress up like one of those old time folkloric type vampires, the ones that are and look undead.
Most of my stuff is stuff accumulated over the years anyway.
Of course, I could just do what I usually do and put out random and typical Halloween decorations like the pumpkins, black cats and grave yards, but the idea of a theme sounds like an exciting, refreshing way to approach the Halloween spirit and do something different.

[Pumpkin_Man]

That's a good plan, MauEvig, because medieval castles lend themselves to a lot of Halloween stories. Like one year you can do a ghost theme, another a werewolf theme, and on and on. If I where doing a theme, I would do something along that line as well.

[SIEFKA]

I would definetly stick with the castle theme since you can incorporate many themes into that. For me since I started doing my yard haunts they used to be just a few pumpkins and music. Last year I went all out with a pumpkin scarecrow I made with pumpkin vines through the yard connecting to pumpkins, green lights on porch, eyes in the bushes with whispering noises, turn back signs made from wooden pallets and spray paint, strobe lights, and window clings. It was a great success!

I have thought for a long time about what theme I want to do and one theme that always is on my mind is a carnival or graveyard theme. A castle works just as well since they are a general theme. The only problem with a carnival is you can only use it a few times. I really like the graveyard because you can add so many elements to it.

Right now I am working on making this guy for the yard.
http://grimhollowhaunt.blogspot.com/200 ... -step.html

[MauEvig]

Actually, I think we're just going to keep it simple this year. I'd like to do the castle theme sometime, but we just moved and all and I already got a whole bunch of new stuff that I want to incorporate into decorating.
I still want to plan on doing this one someday, but right now we have bigger fish to fry.
I appreciate all the advice and anyone is welcome to use the ideas in this thread for a potential castle theme.