Make a Halloween Dummy
So, you're digging decorations out of storage, or maybe just out of your closet. If you want to add something new to your collection, there's no better place to start than with a perfect porch Dummy!
Steps
- Get a "Jibber Jabber" red hair doll. There are several of them listed on eBay. The idea behind the "Jibber Jabber" doll is to give your dummy the appearance of a character from the movie "Beetle Juice" that has a shrunken head.
- Lay the pants out on the bed and stuff them with old sheets or clothes. Follow the same step with the shirt.
- Stuff the shirt down inside the pants. Then, carefully un-button the shirt and duct tape and pin the shirt to the pants and button it back up. Be sure that pins are not showing on the outside.
- Sit the dummy in the chair where you want it to go. Put it in an up-right position.
- Clear or (hollow out) a spot on the inside (neck area) of the shirt (down to the chest area) for the "Jibber Jabber" doll to go, and add the doll in. Once this is all done, the stuffing can be re-secured around the "Jibber Jabber" doll. The head and neck area only need to be showing, along with the cute necktie. Be sure that the neck area looks well rounded, but that no stuffing or material is showing. Press it all down inside the dummy's collar.
- Give the dummy gloves, pulling them over the bottom of the shirt sleeves. Put the boots on the dummy by tucking the pants' legs inside the boots; then position the dummy any way that you want.
- Have the head of the "Jibber Jabber" doll facing in the direction that the children will be approaching the porch. He will be a delightful welcome for the kiddies.
- If you cannot find a Jibber Jabber toy, use an old mask filled with plastic bags, and taped up. Ping pong balls work for eyeballs, draw a pupil on each with a sharpie marker, insert into mask, and coat with Vaseline and stage blood for a realistic gore-bulge look
- For another spooky effect, Buy a bottle of Stage Blood, or Kensington Gore for those in the U.K. Add a length of simple aquarium tube, connected to a turkey baster, filled with the artificial blood.
- Run the tubing through the body of the dummy, and out of a tiny hole in his mouth.
- Hide behind the couch, and when you hear someone approach, squeeze the bulb causing a jet of blood to squirt on them.
Tips
- When the children approach to get their candy, pull the string, causing the dummy to rock back and forth.
- Secure the dummy to the chair with duct tape, and twine
- Be sure that your porch area is well-lit so that your dummy can be seen.
- Any special effects that you may wish to add such as pens in the pocket, by all means, do it. Be creative. You may even want it to appear as though the dummy is holding something.
- A pot of candy can be placed on a small patio table next to the dummy.
- If you want for the dummy to have a bigger beer belly, add a small pillow.
- Western boots are highly recommended for the dummy. However, work boots will suffice for this project.
- Tie a length of fishing wire to the rocking chair
- Have on hand a small table or a place to prop one of the dummy's feet on after positioning it in a chair. Cross one of its legs over the other, giving it a relaxed look.
- Another nice effect works as follows...
- Put blood all over the dummy and give it a knife in the chest. Make it look in a dead position and then when kids come trick or treating it'll look like a killer has been. You could even put up some crime scene tape and then make a cop version of the dummy but put a police costume on it and have poles in the legs going up the back to stand him up near the crime scene.
Warnings
- Be sure to carefully handle the Dummy while positioning it in the chair, for the back of the Dummy's clothing will not have safety pins, only the front.
Things You'll Need
- Jibber Jabber doll - (see photo above)
- an old pair of pants
- a long sleeve man's button up shirt
- pair of boots
- set of men's gloves
- newspapers
- green sheets or old clothes - for stuffing the pants and shirt
- safety pins
- porch chair - to sit the dummy
- lots of imagination
