A Saturday Evening Post

Hallowed House was an idea sprung from a haunted house. We have done the Hallowed House for three years now, and I thought you might be able to use our ideas for your own church. It is to draw people to Christ. There is so much wrong with the world, the church can shine brighter when we are surrounded by so much darkness. A lot of churches see the Halloween as having an origin in paganism and intrinsically evil, and it was.

When Joseph met his brothers in Egypt, He said to them:

“What you meant for evil, God has used for good.”

Genesis 50:20

Isn’t that what we should be doing in all we do? It is the ultimate irony to take a pagan holiday and use it to shine the light on Jesus Christ. When we do the Hallowed House, so many families have come and told us how much they appreciate the lighthearted, upbeat atmosphere. Its different and people like that. I shared three themes we have done so far, and how we set up for each one. Take what you can use, and tell me what tweeks you made to improve it! I’d love to hear from you.

Hallowed House promotes the church, you can get to know people in the community, and teach them the Bible. One additional benefit is these themes are set for a younger audience, so you get all those patrons begging their parents to go to a haunted house, that can’t handle the scare. It’s also lots of fun for the teens of your congregation to display their creative genius and set up the family trunk. Those kids that came for your Vacation Bible School can come back in the fall and a great bridge between summer and Christmas break. We did it one year setting up the classrooms with each theme, other years we have done more like a trunk or treat and done it outside. This adds a carnival atmosphere, we have a face painter, But pumpkin carving or balloon sculpting (in warmer weather) is fun too. Have someone bring refreshments and an outdoor patio heater, and you can visit with parents.

Theme 1: The Ten Plagues

We did this one inside. Each plague was in a classroom, and we set up the hallway to be the river of blood,

Room 1: We started with Pharaoh’s room. Moses’ rod became a snake, and Pharaoh’s advisors also made snakes by their sorcery and then Moses turned the Nile to blood, (hence the “blood” in the hallway.

Room 2: the frog room, the woman that did this room used her husband’s hunting gear and turned herself into a swamp monster, they had a game with jumping frogs and a wading pool. I need to get more specifics from her on that.

Room 3: was lice or flies, my son and his buddy hung black plastic from the ceiling to create a long walkway. They hung fishing line and had a loud buzzing noise amplified and patrons walked through in the dark, I think they had to set up black lights because the fishing line created such a terrifying effect. Patrons felt like bugs were crawling all over them.

Room 4: Death of cattle. This was a fun beanbag game they had animal cut outs on the wall, and the kids’ got prizes by hitting the targets.  

Room 5: Locusts and hail were combined. A long piece of plastic was hung across the room, and patrons walked through the locusts and then the hail on the other side.

Room 6: boils, my daughter and her friend probably could have used a little more direction in this room, they painted ‘sores’ all over themselves, and set up the room to look like a first century home and they were just sick on the floor.

Room 7: Darkness, again with the black plastic, we made long hallways,  and used a battery operated candle, and using the reflection of two mirrors patrons had to try to find their way in the darkness to get to the candle where the bowl of candy was. Be sure to secure the mirrors to something so patrons don’t knock it over while wondering around in the dark.

Room 8: The death angel hung from the ceiling while an Egyptian woman grieved for her son. This part of the story was tough because it indicated such a sad part of the Biblical story. Those that set up the theme for this room were careful to be respectful.

Room 9: The Passover. ‘Moses’ had the kid paint the door posts with the “blood of the lamb” before they could partake of the Passover meal. We set up the room like a feast. Plastic fruit, and golden goblets, bread and cheese wedges. We made unleavened bread with olive oil and bitter herbs (parsley). We gave the kids life savers and ‘Moses’ taught the kids about how Jesus is our Passover lamb.

Theme 2: Babylon.

 This was the first Hallowed House we did outside. This was set up like a Trunk or Treat. It allowed everybody to have more room and added more of a carnivally feel to it. People stayed and visited as their kids had their faces painted etc.  

Car 1 was not actually a car. But a canopy. The Ishtar gate was set up and patrons walked through the hanging gardens of Babylon. The person who did this theme made a Styrofoam fountain, where the kids could come in and pick up their candy.

Car 2 was Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2:24-25. We made a statue from Styrofoam with the head of gold, chest and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of iron, feet of clay and Iron. We made a Styrofoam ‘stone’ and the kids ‘bowled’ to try to knock down the statue as in Nebuchadnezzars dream.

Car 3 was an idolatrous temple. She decorated the back of her car to look like a temple. She had golden pillars, and the candy in a bowl.

Car 4 Daniel’s dream (Daniel 7) The four beasts Representing the four kingdoms. We had to use two cars for this one, and we used the hood as one animal and then the trunk was a different animal. The lion with wings, the leopard, and the bear with three ribs in his mouth and the iron beast. Kids could play a beanbag toss and try to knock in the teeth of the iron beast. And the lion had a dollar store Velcro mitt  the kids tossed the ball and the lion ‘caught’ it in his mouth.

Car 5 Daniel and the lion’s den. We had someone dressed up like a lion and used children’s safety gates like a pen for the ‘lion’ the lion scared the kids if they tried to get the candy. (I think the lion eventually let the kids have some.)

Car 6 Shadrack Meshack and Abednego in the fiery furnace.  

Car 7 Was tied (metaphorically) to the stone that was carved out of the mountain from Nebuchadnezzar’s dream at the beginning. We set up a chapel and communion  (We used the covid communion cups if kids wanted to try it) We talked about how Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was fulfilled in us, the church!  

 Theme 3: The Time Machine

This is the one we are doing this year, so I don’t have all the details of how each trunk will be set up. I will have to add in those details later!  

Car 1 Creation

Car 2 Adam and Eve are kicked out of the garden.

Car 3 Flood

Car 4 Pillar of fire, Red Sea crossing.

Car 5 Jonah and the big fish

Car 6 Lazarus

Car 7 Demon possessed man by the tombs

Car 8 Valley of the dry bones

Car 9 Jesus/resurrection/heaven

A few people bring trunks that are unrelated to the Biblical themes, just fun games for the kids to play. There are no rules! Just have fun.  How have you done Trunk or Treat? Please leave comments below so I can add them into the post!