Yard Haunt Setup Countdown

Our yard haunt, graveyard, weatherproofing, fog, lighting, neighbor and storage guides, put in the order you need them. Each line carries a short tag (GY, WP, YB and so on), and the key on page 2 gives the guide it came from, so you can look up the why behind any step. Tags source the step; where a guide gives no date, the week is our suggestion.

What’s on the Sheet

• All October: the gust bands from our weatherproofing guide, what to do when your local office issues a Wind Advisory, and the walk after every windy night
• 8+ Weeks: HOA documents, and a written approval if a rule is unclear or the display is big, tall or loud, a year-one scope from yard haunt basics, and a plan in the Yard Planner
• 6 Weeks: circuit and wattage math, GFCI, cords, the September fog test run, and reading the manuals and boxes for indoor-only ratings
• 4 Weeks: foam, carving, lamination, Drylok timings and weathering from the front-yard graveyard guide, plus the note to the neighbors
• 2 Weeks: sleeves flush with the lawn, stone layout, the fence, low lighting and cord routing
• 1 Week and 3 Days: animatronics and projectors, the night walks of the path, a sound check at the property line, chiller ice and the actor rules
• Day Of and Night Of: the morning walk, fog machine placement from its manual, timed bursts, and when to switch the scares to ambient
• November 1: test before teardown, dry before packing, batteries out, the fog machine flushed and stored empty, from how to store Halloween decorations

The sheet leaves out anything we haven’t covered in a guide. There’s no line for permits or insurance, because we haven’t researched either.

Pairs With

• Party Planning Checklist if you’re hosting inside the same night: it covers guests, food and drinks, which this sheet doesn’t
• Candy Cheat Sheet for the door count on the night
• Yard Haunt Warning Signs and Period Epitaph Tombstones for the yard itself
• Neighbors and HOAs for the noise, light and sidewalk rules behind several lines