Halloween Aftermath – Proper Planning is Key

If you are as into Halloween as me and put a ton of effort into it then you probably woke up today with a giant weight lifted. The day after Halloween for me is always a day off even if I have to go to work and spent 8 hours grinding away at something boring. Waking up the day after Halloween with no deadlines no worries about things not functioning or not having enough candy is a huge relief. I just wanted to touch on some things that can help your Halloween Aftermath go a little smoother if you still have a ton of things to worry about, such as a still standing haunted house, a ton of clean up, storage of items, paying of employees or volunteers, returning of rented equipment and the list goes on.

Do yourself a favor and take today off, the day after Halloween should be a day for everyone that has helped on a haunt or done anything to just sit back and relax. It is only one day and should not effect your plans that much and you will probably get more done the following day since you will have had a good chance to rest and relax and if you have a bunch of volunteer’s that are coming in to help take the haunt down and get everything taken care of then you will see a huge improvement in their work and everything will just go a little smoother. I have had to get up at 7am the day after Halloween before and tear everything down and get it all out of our location. Never again, that was the worst day ever and almost put an end to my Halloween exploits because I never wanted to deal with that kind of stress and craziness that early after the biggest night of the year for me.

So how do I manage to be able to take this great day to relax off from Halloween efforts. Planning, really good planning. Do not lease a place that you can not have adequate time to move out of afterward, make sure you give your self plenty of time to do this move out. Make sure your volunteers are aware ahead of time that this day will be a rest day and that they are needed the rest of the week to take everything down and store it. By planning it all ahead of time you do not have to rush around like a chicken with its head cut off the day after but instead kick back on the couch or in your recliner and just relax today. If you do have to go back to a day job at least when you get off you will not have to rush out to start tearing stuff down afterward and running your brain through a obstacle course trying to figure everything out.

Proper planning of your haunt tear down and storage is part of the business and needs to be planned just as detailed as the setup and operation of your haunted house. This allows you to get it done more efficiently and to be able to give your people a little break even if it is just a day or evening off. It is a key part of operation that your people get down time to re-energize or they will be so burned out things will go slower and you will have an even harder time at getting this part of the business plan completed.