Halloween celebrations 2025 🎃🎃

November 4, 2025November 4, 2025Leave a comment

Hi everyone! This UnicornPostbox blog post is a description of my Halloween happenings this year, with accompanying photography.. hope you enjoy! 😄😄🎃🎃

On Monday 27th October, me, my boyfriend Aaron and friends Matty, Robyn, Rosie, Emma, and Emma’s teenage son Lucas attended Yorkshire Wildlife Park for their Spooktacular half-term Halloween event. Dotted around the park were creepy characters and frightful props, stations etc, it was great! 😄 I loved smashing pumpkins, and taking photos of the impressive spooky scenery. Of course, we also had the opportunity to see all the incredible animals. I was particularly excited to see the sea lions, as the last time I visited YWP, they were having essential maintenance on their exhibit. We took some photos of all the amazing animals! 🥰🥰 I liked the giraffes 🦒 and tigers 🐅 most of all 💕

On Tuesday 28th October, I attended the Halloween themed pub painting, with my friend Denise at BRIX coffee house, Doncaster. We both dressed up as witches! 🧙‍♀️🧙‍♀️

To start with, we painted a washy white on the canvas, incorporating then blues and yellows. The acrylic paint was glow in the dark, so it looked fantastic in the dark with fluorescent lights! More purple and pink hues were added to the background, and white stars created, with dots and paint flicks, as well as adding a crescent 🌙 moon. The grass was more of a deep blue than green, with white shades for definition. The hardest part was the witch 🧙‍♀️ herself, trying to get her proportions correct. Mine has a sort of an hourglass figure, whilst other people’s were more skinny or more curvaceous ladies. White paint was used once more for body definition, and to depict her wavy hair and crooked witch hat 🧙‍♀️

On Saturday 1st November 2025, me and my boyfriend Aaron and a big group of my friends attended a local pub, The Beverly, for a Halloween fancy dress disco and karaoke party 🥳 Me and Aaron went as Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf 🐺 Everyone complemented us on our outfits, but to be fair, there were some outstanding costumes! It was pretty scary too 😱 as some staff in costumes were chasing people, dressed as like Michael Myers or Art the clown 🤡 Arrghhh! Me and Aaron also went round town afterwards but it was literally dead 😱 Still such an enjoyable evening though!

Thank you as ever for taking the time to read/view 🥰🥰 For my next UnicornPostbox blog post, I am on with a gothic castle diamond art 💎🎨 and also my first ever punch needle project!

Much love, Lauren xx

Halloween – Fear Factory review

November 21, 2024November 21, 2024Leave a comment

Hi everyone! Sorry it has taken me so long to write this review, I realise Halloween 🎃 was a good few weeks back, hope you enjoy the review in any case!

On Thursday 24th October 2024, me and my good friends Lou and Aaron went to the highly popular, multi-award winning, and greatly anticipated ‘Fear Factory’ for Halloween celebrations at Thornhurst Manor, Doncaster. 5 year running! It was incredible!

As soon as we arrived, even in the queue, there was a petrifying clown 🤡 chasing people with a chainsaw! And also a creepy woman who looked like the scary woman from ‘The Ring’, with dark hair falling eerily in front of her face.

We had our photo taken with props before entering the manor. In total, there were 5 different scary mazes to experience;

Diabolus: Witches of Salem
The Pogo Club
Crackle Hill: The Summoning
The Chasm
Friargate Foundry (the brand new maze for 2024)

Diabolus: Witches of Salem – The theme of this maze was salem witchcraft. The story; Thomas Parker, the town’s new priest (1962) investigates black magic, his daughter Martha suspected to have the mark of the devil! 😈 The torturous church awaits those brave enough to enter, and come face to face with the malevolent witches 🧙‍♂️ of Salem! Ready to pounce and terrify!

The Pogo Club – The Pogo Club is an epic nightclub, refurbished last year and under ‘new management’. It’s mint! All around the walls, everywhere, there is fluorescent colourful bright and bold glow paint, it really is immense. Such fun, loads of twists, turns, wrong ways and surprises!

Crackle Hill: The Summoning – The theme of this maze is paranormal investigation. Scientists hold a seance in hopes of summoning Agatha Stone, leader of an occult, and involved with worshipping the devil! 😈 She even sacrifices her own children, their young bodies buried under floorboards! Can you hear their screaming souls? 😱 Is Agatha’s spirit still lurking, waiting for new sacrifices? Beware!

The Chasm – The Chasm is a mine. Workers were sent underground but unfortunately the Chasm started collapsing. All escaped, except one miner. Rescuers were feared trapped and buried, as they did not return. Has something more sinister happened? It is our mission to explore the darkest, deepest crevices, avoid falling debris, beware sharp turns, and apprehensively crawl through confined spaces, in the dreaded darkness, to rescue the missing miner!

Friargate Foundry – Apparently, the scare park, with all it’s rooms, every year for Halloween 🎃 at fear factory, were all meticulously designed by the twisted and sick mind of ‘The Operator’. Thinking of ways to unlock new fears, manufacturing and amplifying your worst nightmarish visions, so hellish, so deranged, so petrifying! He has always been there, in the background, unseen, unheard, conjuring new methods of terror to unleash this Halloween. Past, present, future, there is no escape! Mwah-ha-ha!

I have always wanted to go to a proper official Halloween scarefest. And I was not disappointed!

In every maze there were elements of flashing strobe lights, pools of smoke, pitch black darkness, very disorientating! The actors were fantastic 👏 dressed up in Halloween costumes; jumping out, screaming in your face, pulling your hair, taunting, etc. The whole experience was both terrifying and terrific!

At the venue, there were burger vans and also sweet treats, such as chocolate marshmallows and Belgium waffles. They also had entertainment in the form of contemporary sci-fi inspired dance, and Waltzers. Classic. I observed while Lou and Aaron went on the Waltzers, I was feeling a little queasy by that point, ha! 😆

Overall, a fantastic event. I would definitely go again next year, except I have heard rumours it may close 😢 What would be brilliant next year is to go Halloween at Alton Towers, that’d be amazing!

Here are a few photos from the night:

All information obtained from: https://doncasterfearfactory.co.uk/#pageMazes

(Accessed 21/11/2024)

My next blog post will be a theatre review of ‘The Nutcracker’ ballet I went to see with my auntie last weekend at Cast, Doncaster ❤️

Thank you as ever for taking the time to read/view. Many thanks, Lauren xx

‘Starry night pumpkins’ amateur pub painting

October 30, 2024October 30, 2024Leave a comment

Hi everyone ☺️ My latest UnicornPostbox blog post is progression photos of an amateur ‘Starry Night’ Van Gogh inspired Halloween 🎃 pub painting… hope you like!

First of all, we outlined with watery brown acrylic paint the soon to become pumpkins 🎃 and painted the entire background a deep blue. We then created and built up the white flowing central star swirl, and circular star swirls, in inspiration of Van Gogh’s original dreamlike etheral night sky, stars and moon🌙 We then used neon pain to paint the pumpkins bright neon orange, and neon yellow in the sky / creating detail on the pumpkins 🎃 It was brilliant when we turned the lights off to see the fluorescent colours! We incorporated the black cypress tree, symbolic some say Van Gogh’s mental state (he painted Starry Night in an asylum after he mutilated his left ear) and a little more definition to the pumpkins, white, brown and back subtle strokes, and here is the finished piece:

I really enjoyed this one, I love the effect of the swirling sky in contrast to the bright bold neon pumpkins 🎃

The next pub painting is our Christmas 🎄 ‘Winter fox’ in December. I am also on with a new turtle 🐢 diamond art, and I am going to a few pantomimes in the next couple of months… also, I’m going to see the ‘Nutcracker’ ballet with my auntie 💓 I’m so excited because I have always wanted to see a ballet.. so yes, please keep a look out for future posts…

Many thanks as always for reading/viewing, love Lauren xx

https://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starry-night.html [Accessed 30th October 2024]

‘Oscar the black cat’ 🐈‍⬛️ amateur pub painting

November 4, 2023November 4, 2023Leave a comment

Hi everyone! My latest UnicornPostbox blog post is progression photos of an amateur Halloween black cat with a witches hat! Hope you like 🙂

We started off silhouetting the cat outline, and painting the entire rest of the canvas purple. Two piercing golden eyes, and shabby black fur. The hat then looked a bit like a traffic cone! Orange fluorescent paint really made the painting pop. Two black slits for pupils and grey detailed features..and hey we have a black cat with a witches hat 💜💜.. and here is the finished piece:

It was so much fun painting this Halloween themed painting! I won the fancy dress competition too with my ‘day of the dead’ outfit 😁 and won myself and my friend Denise a woo woo cocktail 🍸 The concept of Pub Painting is fantastic, being creative whilst unwinding with an alcoholic beverage, ha! Becca was brill as ever, guiding us through the entire process..

The next pub painting is in December, with a Christmas robin theme. So keep a look out for that 😜 Also, I’m about to start on a new lion diamond art 🎨

Thank you as always for taking the time to read/view..

Many thanks, Lauren xx

‘A Nightmare Before Christmas’ Halloween pub painting progression photos

October 26, 2022October 26, 2022Leave a comment

Hi fellow followers, my latest UnicornPostbox blog post is progression photos of ‘A Nightmare Before Christmas’ Halloween special at a pub painting art class. Hope you enjoy! 😊

I have not actually seen A Nightmare Before Christmas all the way through, only snippets of it I am afraid. I was informed however that the main characters are Jack and Sally (the silhouettes), and the Oogie Boogie, the boogeyman is at the bottom of the painting.

It was really fun doing a Halloween themed painting session, Rebecca the art teacher guided us through the whole process, start to finish. It is a shame it’ll be a few months until the next session.

Here is the final piece 😊 There were a few attempts by others that were amazing, but I’m pretty pleased with the outcome, I like it, my amateur go

Thank you so much for reading/ viewing. My next UnicornPostbox blog post will be progression photos of a upcycled draughts table for the Children’s Air Ambulance 💕

Much love, Lauren xx

unicornpostbox

art / craft, travel / theatre

Tag: Halloween

Halloween – Fear Factory review

‘Starry night pumpkins’ amateur pub painting

‘Oscar the black cat’ 🐈‍⬛️ amateur pub painting

‘A Nightmare Before Christmas’ Halloween pub painting progression photos