<<<Can you guess the theme of this year’s Halloween display? I’m well into my “silly season” of Halloween preparations. I’ve finished two homemade props so far and bought a few. My workbench has been cleaned from the building and switched over to the electronic fabrication configuration. I’ve brought an old laptop out of retirement, tested a few boards left over from last year, consolidated the components, and I’m about ready to start coding for Halloween Spooktacular activities.

BTW the theme, in case you didn’t get it, is Aliens from Outer Space.

I’ve done a bit of preparation, but I don’t take credit for starting until I’ve worked on my first “new” prop. Two years ago (https://azatheist.com/2017/09/09/its-never-too-early-for-halloween/) I started building an ambitious project in honor of the release of the Steven King movie “It.” This year my theme was inspired by the “Storm Area 51” news articles. Apparently, it has been cancelled (https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/09/11/storm-area-51-event-canceled-after-everyone-realizes-its-a-horrible-idea/). However, “the die has been cast.”

(I know it’s not “Talk Like a Roman Day! Avast matey. Now you be knowin’ wha’ day tis.)

I started with a DIY video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WwGnaL-vTo) by This Southern Girl Can. In the video she builds a cute movie inspired prop from Dollar Tree parts including foam rubber foot balls and plastic Ninja fighting sticks. It looked great and I loved both versions of “Little Shop of Horrors” and stage play I caught in Montgomery Alabama in 1987. In the movie Audrey II—the people eating plant—comes from outer space. Perfect! It looked easy and cheap…err inexpensive. It was settled then. I’ll start with “Little Pot of Horrors.”

I followed the video closely and only added a couple of touches like the glowing veins and the mesh tubing lips. It came out great…some of my friends are angling to steal it for their own. I may have to chain it down during the night before Halloween party. I was then anxious to move on to the next challenge.

I wanted my next prop to be built around a piece of motorcycle fairing I found in a field a few years ago. I always saw an alien in it. It is not unusual for me to pick up potentially useful “junk” when I’m walking around in the neighborhood. The alien in this piece was too strong to be ignored. For a few years I’ve been tripping over it. Every time I came in to my workshop it would be looking at me and asking me to do something with it. This year the theme of the Halloween display would be about aliens and I knew that if I didn’t use it , it was going to the curb.

I’m a member of a FaceBook page “Halloween DIY Projects” (https://www.facebook.com/groups/851677191523170/). This shouldn’t surprize ANYONE. So I posted the picture of the fairing on the page and asked if others could see an alien too. Many people saw it and agreed that there was an alien in there. One person saw the beginning of a jet pack. However, one person simply posted “My Tallest.” I had no idea what that meant until after I did a Google search (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3OByb-Gd88) Then my pathway was clear. I will HAVE to build an Invader Zim prop!

The face was free, but I needed a few more items. The ACE store near my house gave me a few scraps of plexiglass for the eyes. My backyard is full of those puzzle EVA foam mats that I should have thrown away years ago. I had some Dollar Tree scraps. I only needed to buy some PVC piping and connectors and they cost me less than $20. Now to add the voice!

Happy Halloween!