We used to do a play for the kids, more like a short show. My ex was a light & sound tech, so we had plenty of special effects, we also had a smoke machine. Different freaky sounds all around the house (speakers in open windows, even in the cat-flap. Having a small computer network helped)
Once we had a staff with a enormously bright light-bulb on it, but we covered it with feathers. It had a trigger, f*** knows how he did it, but if you'd use it, pretending to angrily pound it on the street, there'd be unreal bright lightning and thunder so loud, it must have rattled windows throughout the entire village
Freaked everyone out the first time, kids and adults alike, lol.
I'd write the story and take care of our outfits and make-up and any other props we'd need, as he'd be busy with the light & sound stuff.
We were always the last stop. So we had nothing much to do all evening, and then the entire village would be on our doorstep, including the adults
Ppl in the back couldn't really see what we'd be doing, so we usually did our 'show' some 3 times
Must admit I miss those Halloweens. This year I won't be doing anything. Last year I did, but it was the 1st time they'd ever do Halloween in this village. So the kids didn't have the slightest idea what it's about. Some kid said "Why don't you just hand out the candy? That's what everybody else does!"
Well, sod it then. I'm not just gonna hand out free candy without having some fun.