IAN Warburton says he and his wife, Connie, thrive in chaos, as the countdown for Halloween enters single digits, but they’ve been preparing for three months already.

Their Wanniassa home is slowly becoming overrun by troublesome pirates, says Ian, 69, as he puts the finishing touches on “The Buccaneer’s Strumpet” pirate ship.

“I’m also making a cannon, we have a kraken to put together as well, there are also skeleton pirates walking the plank, and one drinking a never-ending supply of white rum,” he says.

“Three months ago I started putting our props together, it is absolutely a huge effort, but it’s really great fun,” says Ian.

“We started putting this display on when we moved to Wanniassa in 2013, it was just a little display then, a few inflatables here and there.

“Then, about six or seven years ago, we just went crazy. We built a haunted house for the driveway and it was very popular, so we’ve continued ever since.”

Initially, he says, they had a storage unit in Phillip to store their props, but it became too expensive.

“So, I built my own storage shed in the backyard. We also have what looks like a garage, but it’s never had a car in it, it’s my workshop,” he says.

“The lead up to Halloween – on October 31 – is absolutely frantic, but always pays off, especially once it all comes together on Halloween night.

“We’ve had people queuing up the whole street to see our display, it’s just crazy, but everyone has a great time and so do we, it’s our contribution to our community.”

Ian says it’s great to watch the kids in the street walk by every day on their way to school.

“They check and see what’s been added since the day before,” he says.

“A new family recently moved in and they came and told us their kids were so excited to live in the Halloween House street.

“A lot of people see Halloween as American rubbish and think we don’t need it here, but we say if you’ve got no fun in your life you’ll say stuff like that. 

“We know lots of people enjoy it because of the massive turnout we get every year, we’d easily get several thousand people walking through.”

In a further contribution to the community, Ian and Connie, 56, encourage visitors to contribute a gold coin donation towards Stella Bella Little Stars Foundation.

“Stella Bella supports seriously ill children and their families, when and how they need it most,” says Ian.

“It’s a charity we’ve been supporting since we started running this Halloween House.”

Ian says while he thinks the decision to go all out in their display was “a little bit insane”, people now sometimes throw $20 notes into their charity bucket, and it makes everything worthwhile.

“Stella Bella is a local charity, for local people, and the charity is about families and kids, which is also what Halloween is about,” he says.

Every year Ian and Connie raise between $1000 and $3000.

“Across six or seven years, it’s a pretty reasonable contribution, and we are very proud of the fact that every cent goes straight to Stella Bella,” he says.

“We don’t take any out for expenses, if we did there wouldn’t be any money going to charity at all!”

For the people who can’t make it on Halloween night, Ian says they keep the house open for a few nights afterwards, too.

“There’s a lot of people who, for whatever reason, can’t handle crowds, so they are welcome to come back a day or two after Halloween when it’s quiet,” he says.

“There is so much work that goes into putting it all up, there’s no way we’re going to put it all up just for one night, we have to make the most of it.

“On Halloween, we open at 5pm and close at 9pm officially, but people always come earlier or later, and we don’t care. It’s open from 6pm to 9pm the next three nights.”

Halloween House, 26 Osmand Street, Wanniassa.