Jabberwocky 2009 Yard Haunt

Jabberwocky 2009 is the name of my Yard Haunt. The entire yard's design is mostly made of recycled and refurbished materials. The theme is based on Lewis Carroll's poem. 

Last year, I went green on my haunt. I switched over to LED lighting and built most of the pieces for the yard from recycled materials: newspaper, plastic bottles, cans, old/scrap wood, abandoned furniture, etc. 

This year, I took it a step further. I approached neighbors and friends asking for donations of old, unwanted Halloween decorations. I received many plastic skeletons that were repurposed into new monsters with paint. I used unwanted Halloween garland to set the path for the trick-or-treaters and dowels a neighbor was throwing out for the path markers (seen above). Yard clippings and fallen branches were used to build up the forest of Wonderland.

I also acquired old chicken wire from neighbor's gardens at the end of the season, saved up my newspapers, purchased oops paint from the home supply store, and salvaged 1x2s from DIY construction sites to build the centerpiece of the yard: the Jabberwock, seen above. It stood well over 6 feet tall and had a wingspan of 10 feet. The armature was made entirely of recycled materials and detailed with oops paint and hand-crafted fake feathers (from newspaper). Best of all, the prop was designed to be disassembled and added onto with new heads, arms, or wings on future Halloweens. Nothing goes to waste on the build. A fresh coat of paint is the only requirement to use the pieces again.

The full yard design is available at my Halloween 2009 album.