It’s a common occurrence for people to spend weeks planning for their Halloween costumes, but how much time do you spend on decorating your home for Halloween? The best that most people do is hang some posters or dangle some scary items – and pumpkins. 

Lots and lots of pumpkins. If you want to steal the spotlight this Halloween, you’ll have to do a little bit more than that. Not sure where to get started? Here are 8 incredibly creative ways you can use light to absolutely rock your Halloween decorations.

1. Accentuate Walls with Floodlights

If you were forced to choose one kind of lighting, then you can’t go wrong with floodlights. Floodlights allow you to light a big area to accentuate the bigger picture, as well as highlighting specific scenes just by adjusting their position. The best thing about these lights is that you can choose the color that best serves your purpose; in this case, you want to go for spooky colors. Depending on the mood you want to set, you can go for cool colors like blue, green, and purple to create a spooky effect, or opt for warm colors like red and orange for a fiery and daunting effect. 

You don’t have to limit yourself to one color; you can choose a variety of colors, just make sure to check your wall decorations and adjust the colors accordingly. If you want to create the atmosphere of a graveyard, it’s better to choose a cooler set of colors. As for highlighting pumpkins or fire, it’s better to choose warmer colors. You can also go around the floodlights by getting LED spotlights, which offer you more versatility and allow you to change the colors. 

2. Make a Boiling Cauldron with a Mister

Using a mister makes for the ultimate intense air of Halloween. Misters are colored lights that can be submerged in water and create a mist effect, which you can use to produce a myriad of effects. You can also use a fog machine to create fog; a good alternative to mist. The easiest way to use a mister is by making the effect of a boiling cauldron, which you can accomplish by placing the mister in a shallow dish such that the water level exceeds the mister’s top by a quarter inch.  You can then use this cauldron as a part of a witch kit where floating bones and flesh pieces can be seen. Another idea is to use pre-existing home structures as a foundation for your mister; if you have an outdoor fountain, a birdbath, or other water features, that can be the best way to spook guests and passersby long before they set a foot in your house. 

3. Illuminate Objects from Within

You must be waiting for the pumpkin, right? All right, stop holding your breath. Here’s your pumpkin at long last. We won’t just go for good old carved out pumpkins; spice up your pumpkins by illuminating them from within with light. Whether it’s a real pumpkin or a plastic one, both options are viable. However, don’t limit this idea to your pumpkins; make sure to illuminate all viable objects from within using the right color tone. For instance, you can make the effect of an underground crypt by making the structure, stuffing in some skeletons, and then use red-orange lighting to create the air of an underground hellfire. 

4. Hang an Illuminated Skeleton

Skeletons are another great Halloween decorative item, if for nothing else but their spookiness. They’re also versatile in their applications. Skeletons trying to escape from an underground crip can signify hellfire, while skeletons dangling from the ceiling, well… they suck your soul out of your body. It’s a must-have Halloween decoration! To level up your skeletons, even more, the creative minds behind Ellumiglow suggest using an EL-wire to accentuate the curves – or the bones, whichever fits your tastes better. These wires are primarily used as wearables to add lighting to customs, but what’s better than using them for lighting up the skeleton? You can hit two birds with one stone and use them for your customer as well.

5. Uplight and Backlight

Playing with lights can produce the most amazing effects ever. If you’re looking for accentuating overhead structures, then you can use the uplighting technique to direct the spotlight from below the objects. You can highlight broken branches, hanging clothes, and other structures that way.

If you want to highlight the silhouette of something overhead, then backlighting is what you’ll do. Let’s say you want to highlight the silhouette of a crow. To do that, you’ll direct the light spot on the background of the crow, making it contrast in the process. 

6. Scatter Some Luminaries

Want to make the air speak for itself? Then maybe you should scatter some luminaries across the house and yard. Luminaries are illuminated bags with words written on them. Not only will they deliver your message, but they can also be positioned in a way to create a light path to direct people. 

7. Float Some Ghosts

Something feels missing, doesn’t it? That’s because there is. What about the ghosts of the hanged skeletons? You can create these ghosts by projecting their images on your windows. Take it a step further and make ghost figures, then make the glow by lighting them from within using the uplighting technique.

8. Create a Lightening Effect

Now it’s time to play with your lights. There are many ways to do that, but let’s start by using a lightning machine and keep the lights flickering to the music beat. You can also create a blinking effect by installing some mini-light strobes or get a moving light to keep highlighting different scenes.

When looking for the spookiest Halloween decorations, you can never forget to integrate lighting into your preparations. Anyone can install some light strobes randomly and call it a day, so make sure to up your game by digging deeper and implementing some pro-techniques. From using floodlights, misters, and EL wires to illuminating objects from within, uplighting, and backlighting your scenes, you can be sure to scare your neighbors away into the next year.