Have you ever paid money to go through a haunted house? Do you have haunted houses in your city or town? Some places like Kansas City have a big business of having haunted houses in their old warehouse district. The Beast and the Edge of Hell are the two most famous. This year, there is a new game in town out near Bonner Springs. This is a walking trail with promises of being really scary.
The price of these haunted houses has grown from $3 in the 70s to now over $20 per ticket depending on the location and popularity of the attraction. Almost every state in the country has haunted attractions to visit from the middle of September until the first weekend in November to help celebrate Halloween festivities. People love to be scared without being in real danger and going through a haunted house is a great way to do this!
Haunted Corn Mazes
Another fun Halloween activity for the entire family is to go through a haunted corn maze. Depending on the age of your kid and the recommended age for the corn maze this can be quite the adventure. With scary characters at every turn or just the anticipation of something, a corn maze can be very creepy. And double the fun because of the fact you have no idea where you are going. This is fun for youth groups and families with teens.
Halloween Hayrides
Haunted Halloween Hayrides are also a fun time as well. This can be for younger kids because usually the characters stay further away, and the hayride is more of a contained space.
Halloween Theme Park Events
Various places like Disneyland and Disneyworld also decorate for Halloween and kids get a chance to be scared in a very safe environment. There are theme parks all over the country that change their decorations for Fall and Halloween and people flock to those parks just to take in the fun atmosphere.
DIY Haunted House
We made a haunted house once out of our upstairs before we remodeled it. Our oldest was in 5th grade. We decided it would be fun to have a Halloween party the Saturday before Halloween and invite some girls over. We turned the upstairs into a haunted house, complete with hay bales and black walls, scary lights, and pictures. The girls, their dad, and I had made snacks and pizza, etc. for this party. The guests had to walk through a tunnel that we made out of cut trash bags from the front door to the stairs and then up the old stairs to this one room.
Once the kids had some fun on their own, I sat them all down to tell them a scary story. It was about a group of friends who were in a room in an old upstairs and a scary man with a chainsaw came. About that time, we had a signal worked out to shut the lights down. But we had flashlights and small lights, so it wasn’t completely dark. My husband was on the roof outside the window in a scary mask with a chainsaw, no blade. And he revved it up. He also had a light pointing at him in the dark.
Oh boy! There was screaming, laughing and crying. Running. So glad no one got hurt, in hindsight. Anyway, all was well. So the girls all came back and there was this one child who had never moved. She was still on the haybale with a big grin on her face, “So are you gonna finish it?” she asks? “Am I gonna finish what?” I replied. “The story! Are you gonna finish the story?” She asked again. I thought, “Wow, this kid is something.”
She wasn’t fazed at all. They ate their pizza and went home after a bit. Our haunted house ended up being much scarier than anything they could pay for, and I learned a lot. I sort of smiled at the one girl’s mom when she picked her up. Little did I know then, this child would end up being one of my daughter’s best friends for life.
