Guest Post: Planning your own Halloween Open House

One of the things I love the most about blogging is the opportunity to connect with others who also share my deep undying love for all things creepy and Halloween.  This week I’m sharing a guest post from my friend Suzy from across the pond at The Witch at OneandSeventy.  When it comes to Halloween, this woman reigns supreme with a fully immersive haunted open house.

She very kindly wrote up a full post for us, complete with photos, showcasing all the hard work she puts into each and every Halloween.  Take a look, pull some inspiration, read about how her home haunt got started, and begin planning your own Haunted Open House.

And because this is no simple process, we’re sharing this post now to give you ample time to get your planning done and everything in place just in time for your own spooky Samhain (that’s right, Halloween is LESS THAN SIX MONTHS AWAY!)

So, without further ado…

Planning your own Halloween Open House

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Welcome to the Cauldron Inn. If you want treats, you must come in!

Mwah ha ha!

Samhain (aka Halloween) is my favorite of the ancient festivals and I like to celebrate by decorating our house at OneandSeventy and inviting the local Trick or Treaters inside to share in my Halloween obsession.

Over the years, my decorations have grown beyond recognition. It started with a little altar, moved onto a mantel and now covers the whole ground floor of the house!

OK, it’s no Haunted Mansion (yet!) but this 3-bed semi in the English suburbs definitely packs a Halloween punch.

Although popular when I was a kid, Halloween has fallen out of favor in the UK, with many believing “it’s an American thing”. But Samhain started in the British Isles and armed with inspiration from my Halloween-loving cousins across the pond, I’m on a mission to bring it back! Starting with our local town.

Three years ago, Beloved had the genius idea of sharing my Halloween decorations with the neighborhood kids. In what was, even then, an extensively decorated entryway that included homemade Harry Potter hanging candles and a spooky interactive clock, I set up a sweetie station so that when the kids knocked, they (and their responsible adults!) had to come inside to collect their treats.

It’s a bit nerve-wracking inviting strangers into your home, but it was a great success and The Witch at OneandSeventy’s Halloween Open House was born.

In the two years since my Halloween decor has gone bigger and better. Now covering three rooms and combining handmade with shop-bought items, The Witch at OneandSeventy’s Halloween Open House has become something of a local tradition. I still can’t quite believe that people stand in line to walk through my home. Some even travel in taxis from nearby towns just to visit us!

In 2017, we estimate around 300 people came through the door.

I think the word’s got out!

Lots of people decorate their homes and gardens for Halloween and I’m constantly in awe of the spectacular haunts in the US. We even have some garden decorations starting to pop up locally, but I’ve yet to meet another Halloween decorator who invites Trick or Treaters into their home.

Maybe I’m the first.

I don’t know about that, but I absolutely love it! From 5 pm until closing, it’s a constant stream of visitors. It’s bonkers but brilliant! And I cannot deny the pride I feel when people remark how “amazing” and “awesome” it is. If I had a pound for every time someone said: “it’s better than Scarefest!” (a professional Halloween event held locally), I’d be quids in!

Since starting the Open House, Halloween is no longer just a day; it’s a full-on, year-round obsession. Planning for the following year begins almost as soon as the last visitor leaves and I spend the next 365 days practically eating, drinking, crafting, and shopping Halloween, while generally boring the pants off anyone who will listen about spooky decorations.

That’s why I love connecting with likeminded Halloween lovers, people who ‘get’ me. I joined the Halloween Forum and became a member of the Samhain Society. Then, of course, there’s the fabulous Eat the Dead community, where I’m really looking forward to hooking up with more fellow Halloween obsessives.

For my daily Halloween fix, I turn to Instagram, where I’ve set up a separate account for The Witch at OneandSeventy. Meanwhile, on the blog, I’m doing my darndest to bring year-round Halloween to the masses with a 2nd weekly blog post called Samhain Sunday and working towards collaborating with fabulous companies in my bid to bring Halloween back to Britain.