Creating a DIY Haunted House with Portable Storage this Halloween
For many of us, Halloween is the best time of the year. Whether it’s due to dressing up, trick-or-treating with the kids, pumpkin spice, or anything horror-related, there’s plenty to enjoy for everyone. If you’re an adult, one of the most enjoyable parts is decorating your home to create a unique and spooky display for your friends, family, and neighbours. If you’re looking to create your own unique haunted house this year, all you need is a storage container, some decorations, and your imagination!
Whether you already have a container on your property or are just exploring some of your options – in this article we’ll walk you through how to create your own haunted house with portable storage.
Create a Plan for Your DIY Haunted House
Halloween decorations can get quite expensive. This is why we recommend that you start with planning out your DIY haunted house to figure out your theme and what Halloween decorations/props you need. Planning your theme can be as simple as choosing a creature, such as: zombies, aliens, clowns, vampires, ghosts, etc.
After you’ve selected your theme, you’ll want to decide how big of a container you’ll need. 12 ft containers are perfect for small driveways/budgets as there’s much less space to fill, whereas 16 ft and 20 ft containers are large enough to create multiple rooms and really let your creativity fly.
We recommend sketching out your idea on a piece of paper (or on the computer) so that you’ll have a better idea of the Halloween decorations you’ll need to get it ready – along with the measurements. Make sure that you don’t get carried away and leave enough room for both adults and children to walk through.
Purchasing or Creating Your Set / Props
Depending on your budget, and expertise with tools, you may choose whether to purchase your props or create your own DIY Halloween decorations. This is where your plan starts to take shape as you’ll now be able to figure out what items are available and the materials, you’ll need to help it take shape.
Most home décor, hardware stores, and superstores will carry a large selection of seasonal Halloween items that you can browse through. The prices in-store can vary from a few dollars to several hundred dollars – depending on the item. If you’re working on a smaller budget, consider just purchasing small items like fake webs, blood, black lightbulbs, etc. and then creating your own DIY Halloween decorations at home.
Decorating Your Storage Container for Halloween
Now that we’ve created our plan and have gathered all our materials, we get to tackle the best part – decorating. Luckily, if you’re creating your own decorations/props for your haunted house, you’ll be able to spend as much time as you need since storage containers allow you to close and lock the doors when they are not in use – meaning there’s no reason to rush!
First, in this section, we’ll discuss setting up the lighting, audio, and other integral set pieces, and then we’ll walk through some ideas for props and how to make your container truly spooky!
Set Design
Working on the set design is essentially where your initial plan comes into play. If you’ve chosen to split your container into multiple rooms or sections, you’ll want to ensure that all of that is done first before you start adding in your props. If you’re planning to use this for Halloween night, you will really want to make sure that everything is safe, and secure so they won’t fall over easily – as it will be mostly children walking through.
If you’ve rented your container, you will likely not be able to fasten things to the walls, so designing a secure base, or strapping them to the walls will be essential. Give everything a good push to ensure that if a child were to trip and bump into it, it wouldn’t fall over on them.
For your lighting, consider adding lamps or hanging some lights from the ceiling with red or black lightbulbs, smart lightbulbs that can flicker or strobe. You can also set up some speakers or throw in a Google Home or Alexa to play spooky sounds like chains rattling, ghost noises, etc. Once you have these in the container, you can simply run an extension cord out to your home or garage to power them come the big night.
Halloween Decorations and Props
With all the hard work out of the way, no comes the fun part. Making everything as fun and scary as possible! Whether you’ve purchased or made your own DIY decorations, here’s where you get to bring everything to life (not literally, we hope). We recommend that you mark down the pathway while decorating so that you don’t get carried away and make the space too tight.
Start with adding all your props to the ceiling, such as hanging spiders, skeletons, ghosts, etc. You can then start to decorate the walls by leaning items or hanging them up (just be careful to not damage the container if you’re renting it). Additionally, we don’t recommend using fog machines inside the container as they can leave a residue behind.
Lastly, you can also decorate the outside of the container with traditional Halloween lawn decorations to further enhance your display and the walk-up experience for trick-or-treaters. If you’re still in need of some props, check out the dollar store or try waiting a few weeks (closer to Halloween) as many stores will offer discounts on their Halloween decorations in an effort to clear out their seasonal stock for the winter holidays. We’ve found some great motion sensor decorations at Home Depot for 50% off this weekend (with only 8 days left until Halloween).
Enjoy your Haunted House
Now that your portable storage container haunted house is complete, it’s time to enjoy it! Wait for Halloween night for the big reveal or invite your friends and family to come and see their reactions as they tour it for the first time. Just make sure to do it at nighttime!
Lastly, remember to be safe and follow the safety rules and regulations for using storage containers and electrical equipment as it will likely be children walking through your haunted house on Halloween night but most of all, have a happy Halloween!
Renting a Portable Storage Container
If you’re looking for a portable storage container in Toronto or the GTA, we can help! Our portable storage containers are the perfect solution for providing a safe, dry, and easily accessible space for you to create your own haunted house. Our team of professional drivers can deliver our storage container directly to your home where you can keep it for as long as you need. Once you’re done, just let us know and we’ll come and pick it up!
Click here to learn more about our storage container rentals or book online to get a free quote! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us through our contact page - at Go Mini's, we're always here to help!
