Author Topic: Monster Halloween boxes  (Read 49889 times)

a71678

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Monster Halloween boxes
« on: April 09, 2017, 11:09:04 AM »
I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this since these are inspired by vintage pieces, but not actually vintage (in fact, they don't even exist yet... which I guess is the polar opposite of "vintage").  Each year, I run a massive Halloween block party in the city where I work, so I haven't been home for Halloween for nearly a decade.  Last year, however, the town council in the area where I live made a somewhat last-minute decision to move trick-or-treating to the Saturday before Halloween.  At first I was upset because I thought it was a pretty stupid decision (I still do...), but then I realized that actually gave me the opportunity to celebrate two Halloweens!

My wife and her family usually sit outside and hand out candy at our house on Halloween, so there really wasn't anything extra to do except buy a little more candy and set out one more chair.  This year, however, I have plenty of time to prepare... so I came up with the idea of creating little Halloween "fun packs" from pillow boxes (the kind they stuff with mints or whatever and hand out as wedding favors), inspired by the 1960s Phoenix Candy "Frankenstein" box:



I know the rest of the boxes in this series (I'm only fortunate enough to own the Frankenstein version) were if the "Frankenstein's Pal" variety... but I really like the design of the original Frankenstein box, so I came up with these instead:








Kids today might not know who the Phantom is, but he's my favorite so he gets a box!




Taking a cue from 1960s monster cards, the backs will feature horrible jokes:


My wife says the screwdriver joke is objectionable, so I'll probably replace it with, "What did Frankenstein's monster say when he ran for office? 'Volt for me!'"












Each one will contain two Albert's Halloween chews (keeping the tradition of borderline horrible candy in these types of "fun packs" alive), a small plastic soldier (inspired by the tiny plastic monsters in the L.M. Becker "Spooky Surprise" packs), a Halloween eraser, a monster-themed trading card and one of the following custom designed stickers:


















I'm also thinking about designing some "monster money" play dollars and adding one in every pack, but I haven't quite decided yet.  If I do, I'll update this post that here, as well, if anyone is interested.

Mike Scott

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Re: Monster Halloween boxes
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2017, 01:13:07 PM »
The kids will love them! How many do you plan on doing? Sounds like a lot of work!  ;D  In stead of a toy soldier, maybe you could find some dirt cheap small monster jigglers (spider, skeleton, etc.)?

A couple of years ago, UMA had it's own DIY recreations of the 6 Phoenix boxes, plus an additional 6 new boxes (Invisible Man, Mole Man, etc.) Here's The Creature.

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horrorhunter

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Re: Monster Halloween boxes
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2017, 01:18:01 PM »
Those look absolutely awesome!

I have a couple of suggestions for you:

1- Since the Best Plastics flats are relatively expensive now you obviously can't use those, but plastic soldiers won't cut it. You can get neato plastic monster figures pretty cheap in Big Bucket Of Monsters tubes but those are too big to fit, so... buy a few cheap bags of Rings and Creatures at Dollar Tree around Hween and put one in every box.



Another possibility might be Zombie figures from Walmart:



They're small and skinny, but may still be a little too large to fit in the boxes with the other stuff (2" tall). I'm pretty sure Walmart still sells these (around $5 a bucket) but if they don't I have some extras I'll send to you.

2- Don't worry about a little veiled non-PC humor slipped in. We had it in the '60s with certain Horror Hosts so there is precedence. Everyone is too touchy these days about every little thing. Just my opinion.

Dude, if you have those boxes and stickers printed up and fill them with the monster coolness you mentioned there are several people on UMA (especially me!) who would be interested in purchasing a complete set. Please keep us updated about this project in this thread, and when you get ready to sell whole sets, or even individual boxes, just post your offer to sell in the Monsters For Sale section. Great idea and I really hope you go through with it. I want a whole set!  :)

 tynhrt
« Last Edit: April 09, 2017, 01:26:25 PM by horrorhunter »
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a71678

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Re: Monster Halloween boxes
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2017, 07:30:29 PM »
Thanks! The reprint templates on this site actually were my introduction to the "My Pal" boxes.  I don't own any of them, though I do have the front and back panels cut from the "Frankenstein" box.

My first idea for the plastic figures was the Tube of Monsters, but they were on the expensive side for what I wanted to do.  Then I went out and measured some regular plastic soldiers, and if the Tube of Monsters are a similar size, they wouldn't have worked anyway.  I bought a bag of 144 one-inch plastic soldiers on eBay for $6.50, but I wasn't aware of the Walmart zombies; I'll check them out and see if they might fit.

I priced out the jigglers, but I couldn't find any that were as cost effective, and I'm not sure some of them would have fit, anyway, adding in the rest of the items.  I thought about the Dollar Tree rings and figures, as well.  I use them as prizes at the Halloween block party I mentioned, so I took a couple out from last year's "leftovers" and measured them; most don't quite fit.  The bat rings fit OK, but the rest were too tall for the boxes, and most of the non-ring figures (except the spiders) were too wide.  Then I measured some of the erasers I had left over from last year, and they fit (only Dracula was a little snug because of his cape...), so I ordered a gross of them for this project.

For the trading cards, a regular 2.5"X3.5" card is going to be tight, especially squeezing the 3-D items and candy around them.  I'm looking at either buying a few sets of R. R. Parks' "Monster Choke 'n' Gag" (which feature two "miniature" cards on each regular-sized card) and cutting them apart or just creating a pair of "You'll Die Laughing"-type cards of my own, having them printed on standard size trading card stock (two per card) and then cutting them apart.  There's only about a $3 difference between doing either one.

In all, I'm hoping to make 144 boxes (originally it was going to be 200, but 144 is more cost effective for a trial run since the the prizes and boxes are sold in that quantity) at about 70 cents a box, or a total of around $100.  We usually get about 200 trick-or-treaters, so they will be first-come, first-served (and the 2- and 3-year-olds won't be interested, anyway).

To be clear, the boxes will be plain, with labels on both sides, so I'm not sure how "collectible" they will be.  But if anyone on here decides they really want some, I'm sure we can figure it out.  I'm going back and forth between sealing them or just closing them.  Sealing them would cost a hair more, but it's doable.  My initial idea was Scotch Magic tape, which would be transparent and easy to open (unlike some of the generic cellophane tape, which doesn't "give" and would tear the labels when opened).  My wife thinks it would be better to use a paper-based adhesive closure, like cutting apart some Avery mailing labels, which is also doable... but I wouldn't be able to put on the labels until after they were put together and sealed, and I think it would be easier to apply the labels when the boxes are still flat instead.

I've already pre-designed a couple for next year, featuring Godzilla and King Kong with a different font and background, based loosely on the 1965 Donruss "King Kong" wrapper.  Maybe if I find some plastic items that fit better, I can save the soldiers for them since they figure more prominently into those movies.  Or I can just throw them in with the block party prizes.

But we'll see how well this first batch goes over first.  For the same amount of money, I could give every kid his or her own full-sized candy bar (which I actually did last year)... or 17 Pixy Stix!

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Re: Monster Halloween boxes
« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2017, 08:53:21 PM »
Thanks! The reprint templates on this site actually were my introduction to the "My Pal" boxes.

I didn't know you'd been around that long.  :)

For the trading cards, a regular 2.5"X3.5" card is going to be tight, especially squeezing the 3-D items and candy around them. 

Seems like it would be easy enough to print your own on card stock. You could make them any size you want.
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horrorhunter

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Re: Monster Halloween boxes
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2017, 09:18:31 PM »
To be clear, the boxes will be plain, with labels on both sides, so I'm not sure how "collectible" they will be.  But if anyone on here decides they really want some, I'm sure we can figure it out.  I'm going back and forth between sealing them or just closing them.
I would love to purchase a full set of those (UNSEALED, please). I suspect other UMA members would be interested in buying a set as well. I would be willing to reimburse your cost plus shipping, and pay some extra you could use to make more to hand out to the Trick Or Treaters.

From what I see from your initial post I think they would be of interest to anyone who collects Monster and/or Halloween toys...so, very collectible.

I love the Best Plastics Horror Monsters Grab Bags, Becker Spooky Surprise grab bags, monster candy boxes, and anything of that nature. And, UMA is full of folks who love that stuff too. Between selling sets here on UMA and hanging on to enough to give out to TOTs I doubt if 144 would be enough. Anyway, put me down for a full set of them. Something else to look forward to for Halloween.
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Mike Scott

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Re: Monster Halloween boxes
« Reply #6 on: April 09, 2017, 10:14:25 PM »
I would love to purchase a full set of those (UNSEALED, please). I suspect other UMA members would be interested in buying a set as well.

Let's leave a few for the kids!  ;D
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horrorhunter

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Re: Monster Halloween boxes
« Reply #7 on: April 09, 2017, 10:26:03 PM »
Let's leave a few for the kids!  ;D
But they'll only use them up, have fun with them, and remember the experience for the rest of their lives. Whereas us old farts will put them away in our collections where nobody will see them for years (unless we post a pic on the internet) and let them languish with thousands of similar items that we think we just can't do without and pretty much forget about them...

....I see your point.  ;)

BUT, I still want a set! So there.  ;D
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Mike Scott

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Re: Monster Halloween boxes
« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2017, 10:30:01 PM »
But they'll only use them up, have fun with them, and remember the experience for the rest of their lives.

Damn kids!  >:(
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a71678

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Re: Monster Halloween boxes
« Reply #9 on: April 11, 2017, 07:02:48 PM »
I've been around for a lot longer than I've been posting.  "Lurking" seems particularly appropriate on a monster site!  Besides, I don't really collect "monster" stuff, per se; my big thing is non-sports cards (including the monster variety, which is how I stumbled upon this joint in the first place).  But I like looking at all this stuff, and I do make the occasional "bargain box" purchase at yard sales and flea markets.  I've found a nice Remco Phantom, some MPC figures and a Palmer Dracula that way, all for about a buck each.  Knowledge is power!

I toyed around with the idea of printing my own cards, but I can't really get the gloss that I want unless I have them done professionally.  I'm still a little up in the air on that part.

I can't do anything until the boxes come, anyway.  My cheapest place to source them was China, and I ordered them a couple weeks ago, so I probably have another month or so to wait.  Then the fun begins!  (Fun ain't what it used to be....)

Mike Scott

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Re: Monster Halloween boxes
« Reply #10 on: April 11, 2017, 07:29:46 PM »
I don't really collect "monster" stuff, per se; my big thing is non-sports cards (including the monster variety,

Any idea where to find those Japanese Universal Monsters cards? I'm interested in the 9 card Creature FTBL subset.
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horrorhunter

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Re: Monster Halloween boxes
« Reply #11 on: April 11, 2017, 11:44:58 PM »
I've been around for a lot longer than I've been posting.  "Lurking" seems particularly appropriate on a monster site!
I lurked for over a year before I finally started posting.

I think we all had to go through the lurking stage. Then after you start posting you go through the can't post pics stage. After that comes the newby trying to fit in stage. Then, the boy, these guys really don't like me stage. Then comes the I don't care I'll post what I want to stage. Then the damn, I've been warned because I posted something inappropriate stage. And finally you settle down, blend in, and really enjoy yourself, finally becoming part of UMA proper.
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Mike Scott

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Re: Monster Halloween boxes
« Reply #12 on: April 12, 2017, 12:19:37 AM »
I think we all had to go through the lurking stage. Then after you start posting you go through the can't post pics stage. After that comes the newby trying to fit in stage. Then, the boy, these guys really don't like me stage. Then comes the I don't care I'll post what I want to stage. Then the damn, I've been warned because I posted something inappropriate stage. And finally you settle down, blend in, and really enjoy yourself, finally becoming part of UMA proper.

Sounds like the 5 stages of grief!  :(
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horrorhunter

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Re: Monster Halloween boxes
« Reply #13 on: April 12, 2017, 12:23:10 AM »
Sounds like the 5 stages of grief!  :(
:laugh:

Not really, but it can be slightly dire for a bit.  >:D
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Palifan

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Re: Monster Halloween boxes
« Reply #14 on: April 12, 2017, 12:49:16 AM »
I lurked for over a year before I finally started posting.

I think we all had to go through the lurking stage. Then after you start posting you go through the can't post pics stage.

Looks like I've still got a long way to go as I'm still stuck on the 'can't post pics' stage. One day I'll sort out photo bucket or something and show you all what I've picked up since joining (the little I have before joining here is all in storage in the UK so it's going to take even longer to get some pictures of those things).

Ian
« Last Edit: April 12, 2017, 01:31:46 AM by Mike Scott »

 

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