• Home
  • About MomStart
  • Contact Me
  • Today’s Topic
  • Savings
  • Disclosure/Terms of Use
  • Cart
  • Purchases

MomStart

Forget the Mommy Guilt, it's a new day

  • Tech The Halls Holiday Gift Guide 2020
  • Movies
  • Travel
  • Tech
  • Recipes
  • Crafts
You are here: Home / holiday / Creating a Frightful Front Yard For Halloween!

Creating a Frightful Front Yard For Halloween!

October 20, 2013 by Beeb 6 Comments

Creating a Frightful Front Yard For Halloween!

Gift cards were provided by our spookactular sponsor Kmart in order to pick up decorations!

Last week, Jai and I made a trip to Kmart to pick up everything we’d need to create our best Halloween display yet! This weekend, we set about setting it all up (Ha!) – here’s a little sneak peek of our haunted house, along with some DIY tips for your own ghoulish goings-on!

Knocking down cobwebs

The first thing I did was get my porch prettied up by knocking down cobwebs. You would think that a Halloween party would be the one time I’d want to leave cobwebs around for effect, but I seem to end up cleaning up the real spiderwebs and replacing them with fake ones. What’s wrong with me?! 😉

Spider Decoration Vs. Real Spider

While I worked on replacing real arachnids with fake ones, Jai was setting up our light display in the driveway.

Putting up lights

Lights & Leaves

Strand of Lights

Red Bulb

Stringing Up Red Lights

This is “Marcus The Carcass”, who looks like he’s trying to crawl out of the leaves!

Marcus The Carcass

Next, we began setting up our DIY photobooth!

How to Create a Homemade Halloween Photobooth

These were the supplies we bought to make our homemade Halloween photobooth:

Items For Creating Our Halloween Photobooth

  • Canon Rebel T3
  • Lowepro Adventura Camera Shoulder Bag
  • Targus Tripod
  • Craftsman Work Light with 60 LED Lights
  • Essential Home Curtain Rod
  • Essential Home 5-Piece Black Curtains
  • Essential Home Halloween Tablecloth

The first step was taking the Halloween tablecloth and nailing it to one side of the porch to create the backdrop.

Photobooth Backdrop

Braaaains!!!

Next, we installed two small hooks in the porch roof and tied two pieces of twine to them, which were used to hang the curtain rod.

Hanging Curtain Rod

Finally, we hung the curtains to form the front of the photobooth area and frame the pictures.

Photobooth Curtains

The LED light is hung by twine using the same hooks supporting the curtain rod and hidden behind the curtain. Since we have a number of other lights on the porch as part of the display, we had no trouble plugging it in. The light put too much glare in the photos at first, so we wrapped a plastic bag around it to deflect some of the light. Fancy, I know. 😉

LED Light

To snap photos, simply have your subject stand in front of the backdrop and use your tripod to capture their portrait, as Jai so kindly demonstrates here:

Jai Tests The Photobooth

We also discovered an unexpected way to use the photobooth that is perfect for Halloween. Since we set it up on our porch, the photobooth directly faces a window, and Jai noticed that it was reflecting his image back in the window. He told me to turn the camera around to take a “Selfie” of our reflection – with all of the lights and decorations, it makes us look like ghosts! This is our ghostly selfie, straight out of the camera – no editing or Instagram filters necessary for this spookacular effect!

Ghostly Selfie

Another DIY project that we took some time with was our “Pepper’s Ghost“, an illusion which is created when you reflect an image using a piece of glass.

Pepper's Ghost

This illusion is often created by propping a piece of plexiglass over a TV, as demonstrated in this video; we actually used a vintage jewelry display cabinet which we already owned, since it not only allowed a spot for the flatscreen to sit, but its lid was much easier to prop up than a freestanding piece of glass. We ran a black piece of cord through the latch on the lid and tied it to a hook in the ceiling:

Hook For Pepper's Ghost

The cord actually belongs to the Tekky Toys Scary Flying Ghost, which we had hooked up in the living room so that it could “Fly” by the window and create a fun effect. It made sense to tie both of these together, literally and figuratively. Har har!

Living Room Ghosts

Once the TV and piece of glass was in place, we could get started with the fun part. Since the RCA 24″ LED Flatscreen HDTV that we bought for this can also hook up to a computer, we simply plugged it in to my PC and used it to play an animated GIF. We set the display case up on a card table in the living room, so the illusion would be shown in the front yard – here’s a short video to give you an idea of what it looks like:

I created the animated GIF of the floating head myself. I did this by propping up my Totally Ghoul Light Up Reaper with Flames in front of the black plastic tub I bought and filmed a short video of it with the Canon Rebel. I then converted the video to a GIF with openAviToGif, and played it at fullscreen on my computer, creating an endless loop. We adjusted the contrast on the TV to reduce the backlight glare as much as possible. Since the display case does have a border around it, we minimized its appearance by pulling the curtains partly shut and taping black fabric over the top and bottom of the lid.

Here is the floating head GIF that I made for this Pepper’s Ghost illusion – please feel free to use it for your own haunted house illusions!

Floating Head

So there’s your sneaky peek at what we’ve been working on thus far – I will be unveiling my finished haunted house the week of Halloween, so check back to see how all of my devious decor turned out! In the meantime, I’d love to hear how all your Halloween decorating is coming!

More from my site

  • Unveiling My Haunted House: Get Ready To Spook With Kmart!Unveiling My Haunted House: Get Ready To Spook With Kmart!
  • Getting Ready For Halloween With Kmart: $500 Gift Card GiveawayGetting Ready For Halloween With Kmart: $500 Gift Card Giveaway
  • Kmart Kostume Kreator – Super”ghoul” Online Costume ContestKmart Kostume Kreator – Super”ghoul” Online Costume Contest
  • Ghostly Pumpkins Double Crusted Halloween Pizza RecipeGhostly Pumpkins Double Crusted Halloween Pizza Recipe
  • Spring Cleaning With CLR ProductsSpring Cleaning With CLR Products
  • Clog 101: 4 Tips For Preventing ClogsClog 101: 4 Tips For Preventing Clogs

Filed Under: holiday, review Tagged With: decorating, Halloween, Halloween decorations, Home & Garden, Kmart

Share on Yummly

Yum

Recent Articles on Mom Start

Don't let back pain ruin your anniversary plans!

Visiting a Doctor – on my Smartphone! #GetWellWithAmwell

Disclaimer: Compensation was provided by Amwell via Momtrends. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions of Amwell or Momtrends. I’ve been experiencing a lot of back pain for about a month. It all started after a long week of work, where I had been sitting in […]

Tech The Halls Gift Guide 2020

Tech The Halls Holiday Gift Guide 2020

Thank you to our partners who have sponsored our 2020 Tech The Halls Gift Guide! This post contains affiliate & Amazon Associates links. Just in time for Cyber Monday, we’re launching our 3rd annual Tech The Halls Gift Guide! Here you’ll find the best in gadget gifts for the whole family listed in one place, […]

About Beeb

Beeb is a British journalist living on the north Oregon coast. Blogging since 2008, she covers everything from coupons to contests in addition to running a network connecting UK bloggers with brands. In her free time, she loves to drink coffee, watch reality TV, and spend time with her fiancé, Jai. Join her on Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+BeebAshcroft/

Comments

  1. Daisy says

    October 20, 2013 at 11:27 am

    I love it! Haha, I think that my son would definitely be spooked. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Brett says

    October 20, 2013 at 5:37 pm

    Marcus the carcass. Hahahahhahahaha. Seriously.

    Also yay you got a canon!! Congrats!

    Sweet display!!

    Reply
  3. Danielle @ We Have It All says

    October 20, 2013 at 7:31 pm

    OMGosh! I wish I could visit!! This looks like it’s going to be a BLAST!

    Reply
  4. Ashley - Embracing Beauty says

    October 21, 2013 at 8:34 am

    Girl, that is incredible!!! I’m so jealous of your skills. That is seriously awesome!

    Reply
  5. Karen says

    October 21, 2013 at 3:05 pm

    too cool! Your trick or treaters will be spooked for sure.

    Reply
  6. trisha says

    October 22, 2013 at 5:58 pm

    You did a really fantastic job. Your extra spider helper there is freaking me out!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Find Kids Auditions


Kids Auditions

Featured Video

Recently On MomStart

Recovering files from a failed hard drive

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard: How to Restore Lost Files in Minutes

Thank you to our partner EaseUS for sponsoring this post! Now that so much of … [Read More...]

Skoove

Learn to Play Piano With the Skoove App!

Thank you to our partner Skoove for sponsoring this post! My husband is a … [Read More...]

How to Make Memories with Your Kids that Last Forever

This is a sponsored guest post. As moms, for sure, many of you can relate to … [Read More...]

Our Living Room Makeover With VIZIO

VIZIO M-Series Quantum 65” Class 4K HDR Smart TV: The Perfect Gift (Especially Now)

Thanks to VIZIO for providing their M-Series 65” SmartCast TV for review! Our … [Read More...]

CrucialÂź X8 Portable SSD

Five Ways to Boost Computer Literacy in Your Kids While Schools Are Closed

Product sample provided. This is a guest post by Natasha Hendrix, Customer … [Read More...]

Modern Mother’s Day & Futuristic Father’s Day Gift Guide For Techies

Modern Mother’s Day & Futuristic Father’s Day Gift Guide For Techies: Online Shopping 2020

Product samples provided; this page contains our Amazon Associates … [Read More...]

Vintage Weddings: Make Your Day a Blast From the Past

This is a sponsored guest post. As we move into a more digital age, we find … [Read More...]

Is It Time For Us To Start Embracing The Esports Revolution?

Is It Time For Us To Start Embracing The Esports Revolution?

This is a sponsored guest post. Last year a 16-year-old from Pennsylvania … [Read More...]

  • Visiting a Doctor – on my Smartphone! #GetWellWithAmwell
  • Is It Time For Us To Start Embracing The Esports Revolution?
  • 4 AirFryer Desserts to Make For Valentine’s Day
  • Augmented Reality Craft: Create DIY Valentine’s Day Cards That Come to Life!
  • Valen-Tech Gift Guide 2020

Recipes

4 AirFryer Desserts to Make For Valentine’s Day

Keto Lemon Garlic Turkey

Keto Lemon Garlic Turkey: Your Best Thanksgiving Bird Ever Thanks to Topsy Turkey (Plus Giveaway!)

Hotel Transylvania 3

Hotel Transylvania 3: Plan a Spook-Tacular Sleepover!

Double Crusted Sausage Pixxa

Ghostly Pumpkins Double Crusted Halloween Pizza Recipe

Fancy Italian Coffee Recipe

Funfetti Stuffed Cotton Candy Cookies Recipe @Smuckers #HolidayTips

  • 26 Out-of-This World Star Wars Recipes
  • Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation Cocktails
  • Keto Ricotta Pancake Recipe

More Recipes

We Work With

Louise Bishop: influencer & brand ambassador
dealspotr.com

Archives