u/Lucky-Joe13

I wanted to share this picture from our Halloween display because this is the kind of thing we already participate in every year through Skeletons for St. Jude. Halloween has always been a huge community thing for us, and we try to use our display for something positive whenever we can.

That’s a big reason why I’ve talked about Chester in the same way. If Chester were lucky enough to have the support he needs to get selected for the HalloweenCostumes.com lineup and sold worldwide, donating a portion of the sales toward supporting St. Jude honestly just feels like the right thing to do.

To me, Chester is more than just trying to win a contest. I would love for him to become something fun for the Halloween community while also helping give back along the way.

If anyone would like to support Chester, my family and I will definitely appreciate your vote and shares. Every vote helps push Chester one step closer to potentially becoming a real Halloween animatronic while also helping us continue supporting causes that genuinely mean a lot to our family and community.

And if you would like to vote for Chester, here’s how you do it:

• Visit my designer page

https://designprogram.halloweencostumes.com/designer/Lucky.joe13

• Sign in with Google or Meta (Google usually works best)
• Click the VOTE button under Chester
• If the button looks faded and says “VOTED,” your vote went through successfully ✅

Thank you to everyone who has supported Chester so far. It honestly means more to us than you probably realize. 🎃

I wanted to say something openly.

When I first started posting here about Chester the Tricking Tree, I genuinely wasn’t really sure what I was doing with Reddit, and looking back, I know I probably got a little too spammy with it at times.

That was never meant to annoy people or clutter the community, and I truly am sorry to anyone I frustrated along the way.

Recently I received a pretty harsh DM, and it got to me more than I expected. It actually made me question whether I should even keep making Halloween stuff at all or if I should just quietly drop out of the contest altogether.

Not because I think everyone has to like Chester. They absolutely don’t.

But when you put something creative out into the world, especially something tied to a passion you’ve had for years, it can hit pretty hard when someone tells you your ideas are terrible and that you should stop creating entirely.

Still, after sitting with it for a while, I realized something:

Halloween is supposed to be creative.
It’s supposed to be weird.
It’s supposed to let different people enjoy different styles of spooky fun.

Some people love extreme horror.
Some people love goofy spooky fun.

I’ve always personally loved the playful side of Halloween. Mischievous props, cheesy animatronics, trick-or-treat nostalgia, and family-friendly haunted house vibes.

That’s what Chester was designed to be.

I censored the person’s name because I’m not trying to start drama or send hate toward anyone. I mostly just wanted to share the experience and also own up to the fact that I know I came in here a little too strong at first.

At the end of the day, I really do appreciate the people here who have been supportive, encouraging, or even just respectful.

Anyway, hope everybody has an awesome Halloween season ahead 🎃

This is a creepy jack-o-lantern cane I made a few years ago as part of a Halloween costume.

I like to dress up when we pass out candy to trick-or-treaters each year, and I wanted something that felt like it belonged to the character instead of just using a regular prop cane. I added the dripping green slime effect around the pumpkin topper to give it a more animated spooky look.

It ended up being one of my favorite costume props I’ve made. It’s lightweight, easy to carry around all night, and it fits right in with the rest of our Halloween decorations when we set everything up each season.

I’ve always thought little props like this make interacting with trick-or-treaters way more fun. Does anyone else build character props for Halloween night?

Two years ago we had a stretch of really strong winds come through and our 12’ scarecrow ended up going down.

Up until that point we had never actually lost a prop to weather, which surprised us because we’ve always been pretty careful about how we secure everything in our yard display each season. When we checked what failed, it turned out the weld at the base gave out, not the anchors.

Thankfully most of the prop itself survived, so it became more of a repair project than a total loss.

Curious if anyone else with the 12’ scarecrow (or other 12’ props) has reinforced the base after setup or added extra support like sleeves, spikes, or guy lines? Always interested in how other haunters handle wind on the taller pieces 🌬️🎃

We picked up this talking reaper animatronic from Home Depot a few years ago and he’s still one of my favorites in our collection.

What really sold me on him was the movement. The way his head turns and his mouth moves while he talks gives him a lot more personality than some of the other talking props I’ve used over the years.

My wife actually calls him the “big booty reaper” because of the wire framing under his robe that makes it look like he has a surprisingly large backside, which always makes me laugh when we set him up.

We don’t use him every season since our yard theme changes year to year, but he’s definitely one of the standout animatronics we still enjoy bringing out.

Does anyone else have a prop in their collection that doesn’t go up every year but is still one of your favorites?

Jack-o-lantern I built from an old yoga mat that blows fog through the eyes and mouth

Post:

A few years ago I made this jack-o-lantern using an old yoga mat as the base and built up the texture using yarn and fake moss sealed with Mod Podge. The yoga mat actually worked surprisingly well since it’s lightweight and easy to shape before adding texture.

I used J-B Weld KwikWood epoxy putty mainly for shaping the stem on top.

I also cut a hole in the back so I could connect a fog machine hose, which lets fog pour out through the eyes and mouth when it’s running. I added a red LED inside too, which really helps light up the fog at night.

It ended up being one of those props that I really enjoyed making and still like pulling out for the display each season.

Has anyone else experimented with yoga mats or foam for prop builds like this?