A Halloween half-term activation for a leisure venue
A nine-day spooky-season photo set with age-appropriate scare levels and evening lighting.
- Globe
- Halloween Globe
This is an illustrative install format showing how the globe is typically planned and run. It is not a record of a specific client project; venue details and results are not shown until genuine, approved project write-ups are available.
What did the client want to achieve?
Draw families into the venue's quiet daytime hours during half term without frightening younger visitors.
What was the starting situation?
The venue traded well in the evenings but its daytime half-term hours were soft, and its existing Halloween dressing was pitched at older children only.
What were the challenges?
The constraints that shaped how the activation was designed and run.
- One attraction serving toddler groups and older children on the same day
- Nine consecutive operating days including the half-term weekend
- Venue front-of-house staff needed to answer queue and suitability questions themselves
- Scare level had to be adjustable without re-dressing the set
Our approach
Rather than dilute the theme, we built two intensity settings into the operating plan — a calmer morning configuration and a fuller effect later in the day — and briefed the venue's own staff so the answer to "is it suitable?" was consistent everywhere.
The solution we delivered
A haunted-house themed globe with carved pumpkin props and orange and black media, run at two documented intensity settings with a supervision rota and a staff briefing pack.
The brief in full
The venue wanted to draw families in during the quieter daytime hours of half term without frightening younger visitors. Two intensity settings were agreed so the same globe could serve toddler groups in the morning and older children later in the day.
What we supplied
- Haunted-house backdrop with carved pumpkin props
- Two intensity settings for younger and older groups
- Orange and black media, guest-triggered inside the globe
- Staff briefing pack and supervision rota
What happened during the process?
From first site visit to hand-back, in the order it ran.
- 1Audience mappingSplit the operating day by audience with the venue: toddler-weighted mornings, older children from mid-afternoon.
- 2Set designHaunted-house backdrop and pumpkin props specified to read as fun rather than frightening at the lower setting.
- 3Operating settingsTwo documented intensity settings, including lighting and media volume, written into the operating plan.
- 4Staff briefingShort briefing pack issued to venue front-of-house covering queue times, age suitability and access.
- 5OperateNine days of crewed sessions with a supervision rota.
- 6De-rigStripped and cleared after the final day.
Products, materials and services used
Everything specified for this project, including consumable media and crewed services.
- 3.5m walk-in globe with haunted-house backdrop
- Carved pumpkin props and Halloween set dressing
- Orange and black confetti media, guest-triggered inside the globe
- Two-setting lighting rig for lower and fuller intensity
- Staff briefing pack and supervision rota
- Crewed operation and venue-specific RAMS
How long did it take?
Lead times and durations for a typical install of this format.
- Enquiry to quote
- Under 48 hours
- Booking lead time
- Approx. 5 weeks
- Install
- 2–3 hours including dressing, day before opening
- Run
- 9 consecutive operating days
- De-rig
- Around 2 hours
What shaped the cost?
A nine-day run quoted as a single booking. The cost drivers here were the bespoke haunted-house print, the two-setting lighting rig and continuous crew cover across daytime hours rather than evenings only.
We quote every project individually rather than publishing rates. Send your dates and venue for a tailored figure within 48 hours.
What problems came up, and how were they solved?
Every project throws something. These are the issues met on site and the fix that resolved each one.
Problem: The opening morning's setting was still too intense for pre-school groups.
How we solved it: The lower setting was reduced again after day one — less media volume and a warmer light — and documented so every operator ran it identically.
Problem: Front-of-house sent families to the queue at the wrong time of day for their age group.
How we solved it: The briefing pack was reissued with a simple time-of-day guide, which removed the mismatch for the rest of the run.
Problem: Confetti media clung to costumes and left the set.
How we solved it: An exit brush-down step and a sweep-back reset kept the interior density consistent and the venue floor clear.
Before and after
What changed between the site as we found it and the site as it ran.
| Aspect | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Daytime trade | Soft half-term daytime hours. | Approximately 95 groups a day through the quiet window. |
| Halloween dressing | Pitched at older children only. | One set, two documented intensity settings. |
| Venue staff | Referring every question to our crew. | Briefed to answer queue, age and access questions directly. |
How this format could look
Reference images showing how a similar installation can be built, dressed and operated in a comparable space.
What made it work
The parts of this format worth copying if you're planning something similar.
Two intensity settings serve two audiences
A calmer morning setting for toddlers and a fuller effect later meant one attraction covered the whole half-term audience without complaints.
Daytime is the gap worth filling
The venue's quiet hours were the target, not the evening peak, so the globe added footfall instead of moving it around.
Brief the venue's own staff too
A short briefing pack meant front-of-house could answer questions about queue times and age suitability without radioing the crew.
Plan your version of this
Send your venue, dates and objective. We'll confirm whether this format fits your site and come back within 48 hours with a tailored quote.