How to Decorate with Alien Cocoons for Halloween

Step-by-Step Guide

1. 1

   Step 1: Create a backdrop for your lair

   Lay out a roll of dark paper or fabric large enough to cover your space, and spray paint them to add dimension and give them the color you want.
2. 2

   Step 2: unless your walls look creepy enough to show through.

   This is like wallpapering, only not as precise or sturdy.
   
   Measure the height of your walls and cut sheets three or four inches longer off your prepared paper or cloth.
   
   Attach them to the wall with duct tape (rolled to be two-sided), black thumbtacks, carpentry staples, cord and hooks, or any way they stay up.
   
   Use the remaining paper to cover your ceiling and any bare patches. , Light this with large black lights for an eerie glowing effect. , Fill the room with thick fog to add atmosphere. ,, Unpack and stretch a rope of spiderweb, following the instructions on the bag.
   
   Hang most of the length where it can stay clean, and get a hook or helper to hold it still, a few feet from the free end.
   
   Fan out the free web until it's one or two feet wide.
   
   Inflate about 5 balloons taped together, or stuff and tie shut a large garbage bag, and wrap it evenly in the fanned cobweb.
   
   Cut the cobweb away with the scissors and twist it around the top of the bag or balloon to gently secure it, so it has a twisted tail of web on the same side as the bag's handles or the knot of the balloon.
   
   Repeat with the remaining balloons or bags, until you have a large cluster of web-covered globules to hang from the walls and ceilings.
   
   The more you make, the better it will look.
   
   Reserve 5 or 6 bags of web for the mother alien egg. , Layer on gray, black, and any other colors you want on them to hide the print on the grocery bags or the surface of the balloons, tone down the white webbing, etc. , Hang them by their tails using tape, carpentry staples, or whatever works best on your ceiling, keeping the large ones toward the back and concealing any Albertsons logos that might show through.
   
   Let them bunch up and rest against one-another. , Deepen the shadows, hide flaws, spray the tails to blend into the backdrop, etc. , Uncoil and stretch your last bag of web, tear off a large chunk, and spread it evenly all across a cluster, reinforcing the cocoons and further screening them in mystery.
   
   Repeat for the other clusters, spread remaining web decoratively around the front of the entryway, or wherever you can think of.
   
   Spray paint the webbing that covers the clusters so it blends into the walls and doesn't appear so stark white. ,, Add food coloring to the gel to give it a tinted look. , This method will create a very realistic blood pattern, and if you have covered all surfaces, will not make a mess. ,, (non toxic for the children) ,, Remove the chain from a chainsaw, and when the children enter the room, jump from the closet, chainsaw roaring, and chase them around the room.
   
   The slippery surfaces of the hanging alien egg sacks will frighten and gross-out all involved.
   
   This is a variation of the 'peeled grapes as eyeballs" kiddie haunted house of our youth. , Use the sounds of hogs squealing in reverse, chains rattling, and strange outer space synthesizer effects to finish this frightening haunted basement! ,
3. 3

   Step 3: Cut and hang the backdrop.

4. 4

   Step 4: Add torn strips of cheesecloth sprayed with fluorescent paint on top of the black paper and cloth.

5. 5

   Step 5: Conceal fog machines in the corners of the room.

6. 6

   Step 6: Fix a few large strobe lights to the ceiling to give the room an otherworldly shock effect.

7. 7

   Step 7: Create the cocoons.

8. 8

   Step 8: Paint the cocoons.

9. 9

   Step 9: Hang the cocoons in clusters from the ceiling.

10. 10

    Step 10: Touch up the cocoons again with paint

11. 11

    Step 11: unless you didn't install a backdrop earlier.

12. 12

    Step 12: Add a final layer of web.

13. 13

    Step 13: Add large latex rubber veins

14. 14

    Step 14: and water balloons coated with Vaseline and thick hair gel.

15. 15

    Step 15: Add a thick coating of clear hair gel to all the hanging sacks

16. 16

    Step 16: and dangling globules in the room.

17. 17

    Step 17: Apply a generous amount of a realistic stage blood by dipping a large paint brush into a can of blood and whipping it around the room.

18. 18

    Step 18: Clean up the scraps

19. 19

    Step 19: check the display from a distance

20. 20

    Step 20: make sure that the foggers and the strobe lights are functioning properly

21. 21

    Step 21: and add on anything else you have lying around that might fit.

22. 22

    Step 22: Some suggestions: Severed arms

23. 23

    Step 23: intestines

24. 24

    Step 24: rotten heads made of rubber with the eyes pulled out

25. 25

    Step 25: also coated in a non toxic food like applesauce

26. 26

    Step 26: dyed blue cottage cheese

27. 27

    Step 27: or tomato paste.

28. 28

    Step 28: Rubber eyeballs affixed to the sacks

29. 29

    Step 29: human ears

30. 30

    Step 30: animal bones strewn about the floor

31. 31

    Step 31: and plastic skulls covered in brown paint to simulated decay -these types of details will add to the shock effect producing fun and thrills for all involved.

32. 32

    Step 32: Hide in the closet with a bloody flannel shirt

33. 33

    Step 33: and a latex pig mask covered in blood.

34. 34

    Step 34: Make sure you have a loud CD playing on infinite repeat.

35. 35

    Step 35: Have a fun and safe time!

Detailed Guide

About the Author