Halloween brings scares, screams, and lots of fright. It also means it is time for pumpkins, costumes, and sugary-overloaded trick or treat adventures. If this is your favorite holiday, you should consider taking your celebration to a new level this year. How so? By constructing your own outdoor Halloween maze!
Surprise your friends and family with some outdoor fun and a maze to boot. Perhaps you have never thought of designing your own maze, or maybe you just aren’t sure where to start. Don’t let this task seem too daunting and take the fun away.
Instead, check out these ideas for creating a Halloween maze that will have your guests all twisted and turned around. Don’t wait too long – your time is running out!
To haunt or not to haunt?
This is your maze, so you get the opportunity to decide how scary – or not scary – you want it to be. Should you choose the latter, it doesn’t mean that your maze will be lame or no fun. See, Halloween can go one of two ways – spook-infested or a pumpkin harvest theme.
A haunted maze
A haunted maze is one that will likely take place at night. The mission is one of fright. You want to create a maze that will keep your guests on their toes with goosebumps that can be seen for miles. With every bend, every curve, and every dead end – your guests will not know what to expect.
Haunting can come in all types of forms. For example:
- Blood, guts, and gore
- Ghosts and goblins
- Demons and exorcisms
- Alien encounters
- The zombie apocalypse
It is up to you what type of haunt will spook your guests the most. But, once you decide, you must go all out for the full effect!
A harvest maze
Whether you don’t like being scared, you are scheduling your maze for the daytime, or you are constructing a maze for children, a harvest maze is the perfect choice – and your reason for choosing this route doesn’t really matter.
A harvest maze will consist of things, such as:
- Pumpkins
- Corn
- Scarecrows
- Fall leaves
- Pilgrims
- Harmless ghosts
- Black cats
A Halloween maze doesn’t have to be scary to be enjoyable. Just the struggle of finding their way out can be freaky enough!
The best place to construct your Halloween maze
You can choose to pop up your maze in all sorts of places – your house, your garage, your backyard, an old field, a vacant building, etc. But, there are two things you want to consider first. One – you are going to want to have your maze outdoors. Why? Who wants to find their way through an indoor maze? Two – you will need a wide-open space. This allows you to design the maze exactly how you want it – without having to work around any pre-existing walls, doors, or enclosed spaces.
You are going to be putting a lot of time and care into this project, you will want to make sure this maze offers some sort of protection for your guests – and your maze. After all, it would be an awful moment to construct an awesome maze and have one evening of harsh weather ruin the whole thing.
With all of that said, your best option is likely a tent rental. Tents are perfect for providing you with a blank canvas to create and construct your Halloween maze in a wide-open area. In addition, they offer many options, such as flooring, side walls, and even climate control!
How to construct a maze
So now that you have decided where you are going to construct your maze and what kind of maze you are going to create, it would be very helpful to know how to construct one! Here are the steps you will want to follow:
- Sketch your maze.
You will want to draw out a sketch of how you want your Halloween maze to be. Make sure to create dead ends and roundabout passages, too. The more trickery you put into your maze, the more tricked your guests will feel!
- Decide what material you will use to create your walls.
You have several options when it comes to creating the walls of your maze. A few of the best choices are large pieces of cardboard, tarps or sheets, wooden pallets, or even corn.
- Get to work.
You can outline the maze in rope and drape or construct your chosen wall materials around it. Make sure you allow enough room for passages ways and turning around if multiple people will be in the maze at the same time.
- Add the effects.
Depending if you chose haunted or harvest, you will need to add the effects once the walls are constructed. Be cognizant of where you place items – and always test the final product!
Tips to make your maze amazing
- The bigger the maze, the more opportunity for it to be difficult. For example, you will have more room to create dead ends.
- For a scary effect, add fog machines and strobe lights. Regardless of how frightening the maze is, these two items automatically increase the freakiness.
- While you are packing in all the fun and fright, don’t forget about the safety issues. Be sure to keep walkways clear and always have a designated person with an open ear for those who may find themselves in distress.
- Hook up to electricity to add lights, audio, and visual for extra effects.
- Add people in character throughout the maze. Their purpose is two-fold: they can engage your guests in a frightening (or not) way and can keep an eye out for those who are having difficulty with your maze.
Halloween is a time for a lot of trickery and fun. Designing a maze for your friends and family can add to it. Don’t be fooled – with a little planning, creating the perfect maze can actually be a fairly simple task! Just make sure no one gets lost!