Halloween Discussion Forums, Costumes, Horror!

In my situation, decorating for Halloween is close to impossible with the exception of my own bedroom, but some people may have other reasons that limit their Halloween decorating ability, maybe it's financial matters or maybe it's limited space...or both!
So let's say you have your ideal living spaces, your ideal finances in check, and you want to create the perfect haunt without anyone telling you what you can and can't put out...so...what would you put out?
For me it's kind of obvious, *I* would do a bunch of black cats with a grave yard, fill it up with some fog...of course I'd have the jack o' lanterns and probably some skeletons...I wouldn't want to get too carried away though and make it look like a mess. Although the problem is, if I was working with the financial and unlimited space...I'd probably want to put a little bit of everything in it. Plus I'd see something in the store or online and would just HAVE to add it into my haunt. It's hard to imagine without actually having my own place though, because until that happens I'm only left with my...nightmares. Mwahaha. But there will most definitely be black cats, and I definitely want to put out my inflatable black cat that I've been saving since 2007. I would also want it to be big if I could, so it could be easily seen from the road. And I would totally accept criticism to make it better.

Edit: oh yeah, and I'd also want halloween lights out.

Oh my, dare to dream! I guess if I had an unlimited budget, I would actually start remodelling the exterior of the house. I would rebuit the house to have a tower (front staircase) and a larger, wrap-around front porch. I would want the entire front of the house to look more like a Victorian, complete with cornacing and all the shingle detail. Here are some really cool examples I have found over the years:





This one is really cool because someone took the original photo into PhotoShop and created a "Haunted House" version. This is exactly the kind of vision I want to have.

That would definitely take care of the facade. I would then continue with my current collection of handmade tombstones, the pumpkin patch, skeletons, etc. Of course, having a "new house" to decorate would open all sorts of possibilities. I would do more with the trees in the frontyard, possibly put in a permanent stone path along the perimeter of the yard to help with Halloween traffic, and I would buy many sheets of the 2in styrofoam so I could build fake posts, walls, and other structures (like a mausoleum).

I would also beef up the outlets for the front of the house. I would run at least one new breaker out to two or three dedicated, outside outlet boxes. This would reduce the number of extension cords I need, and the dedicated breakers (at least 20amp) would help reduce any overload concerns.

I would also learn more about the light-o-rama system (which I am trying to find the time to do) and go to town with that stuff. I'd have a musical pumpkin patch, dancing skeletons, possibly singing skeletons with some of the triple-axle skull kits, maybe a flying witch...

Oh, my head will pop! There are sooo many things I would like to do. Every year, I get a little bit closer.

Whoah, that's quite some thinking there. Compared to your ideas I'm still not quite thinking outside the box!
Shoot...well in that case...My dream home is a log cabin out in the woods...but animated decorations? I didn't think of that!
I DO have a singing black cat, but animated black cats...maybe they could walk around and prowl the grave yard and yowl and hiss at passers by...with bright glowing eyes...
Shoot...maybe I should have an animated black panther for that matter! Out in the middle of no where something like that would surely scare anyone coming by thinking it's the real thing!
Some animated skeletons would be great. Maybe some hands that could pop out of the grave when people walk by.
Thanks, you're really helping me come up with some good ideas!
But as far as that lightorama stuff...I'm afraid you'll have to translate that into English! Hahaha. I'm not an electronics major.

Hey, you said dream!

If you wanted an animatronic black panther, these guys would be your best bet. They built this panther for a hotel in Florida.

http://animalmakers.com/Catalog/panthers.php

If you're gonna dream...dream BIG!

Good point with the dream big! The animals on there look great! I saw a cat on there that looked like Salem Saberhagon from Sabrina the Teenage witch, now if they had one that sounded just like him that would make for a great Halloween display. Then I'd just need a costume to look like Sabrina!
The animals would be great for a Haunted Woods theme as well.