This Halloween, I hosted a haunted house for Mozaiko, a living-learning community at Virginia Tech. It was the first haunted house this organization has hosted and — wow — it was far more chaotic than I first thought. With that, here is everything I learned from the experience.
- iT’S NOT AS EASY AS YOU THINK
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This was Mozaiko’s first haunted house ever. I wanted to make this the most amazing event for the community, both for Mozaiko and its students. So, a group of volunteers began helping and we had a huge plan: three floors, museum style, multicultural, educational. However, that isn’t how it went. We had multiple plans and ideas, all of which changed up until the night before the event. Thankfully, we had a group of flexible and amazing people who were ready for anything.
- Everyone loves a haunted house, but not everyone wants to help
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Thirty. That is the number of people we began with for this event. Fifteen. That is the number of people we ended with for this event. As someone who believes in showing up and committing to something, I was angry with the number of people who dropped throughout the process — especially the number of people who quit the day before and the day of the event. From that, I realized how important it is to have a group that is excited about the event. Without those people, this event would have never happened.
- Be prepared for anything
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Again, nothing goes as planned. One of the biggest curveballs was trying to make sure everything was timed correctly. From purchases to acting, if anything went wrong, there would be consequences. The week before, our skeleton got lost in the mail and an important aspect of the event was gone. Due to this, my group and I considered many changes and searched all over the New River Valley for a 5-foot skeleton. However, three days before our event, two skeletons showed up in the mail and we were spared the changes.
- Don’t aim for perfection
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I am a perfectionist. When I began this project, I had large goals that would lead to placing Mozaiko on the map — but that didn’t happen. I dealt with so many problems and limits based on resources, that I had to change what I envisioned. I downsized from three floors to one, moved from museum style and educational to a campsite and cannibals, and created our own t-shirts over buying embroidered ones. The idea of perfection within constraints cannot be done — so I settled for the best we could do and it was wonderful.
- Remember to have fun
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I dealt with so much anxiety and stress over this event that I wanted to cancel the night before. I put blood, sweat and tears into this event. For me, the idea of having fun on this night didn’t seem possible. However, when I saw the excitement on the faces of every person in the room and the pride in the volunteers — my friends — the people who believed in this whole event from the beginning. Every person who stood with me throughout the last three months had an incredible joy for this event, and it made everything go away. Every piece of stress melted from my body and I allowed myself to breathe.
I worked from scratch to make this event happen. I worked with a steady group of seven people in the meetings and 15 when it came to the week of the event. While I can see parts that could have been improved, I don’t think I would change the outcome. Everyone who worked on this event made every moment worth it. Without the people who endured the highs and lows of this event, Mozaiko’s first haunted house would never have been a thing — and I’m so proud to have worked with them all.