How to Use Christmas Lights for Halloween
Halloween is just around the corner, and as early as now, streets are being filled with carved pumpkins, leafless trees, ghost decorations, and orange lights. Neighborhoods are an attraction in the weeks leading to the spookiest day of the year — and if you’re one to get in the spirit of Halloween, you might be keen on joining in and decorating your home.
‘Tis the season to get creative and artsy. And the good news is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to revamp your house and make it the scariest and most well-decorated in the neighborhood! You can be more resourceful this year by repurposing your Christmas lights and setting them up to give off the Halloween vibe. Here’s how.
Choose Your Colors Wisely
Every season has its own set of signature colors. For Christmas, red and green take the stage. But for Halloween, the colors orange, black, and white hit the memo. When you’re scouring the boxes of Christmas decorations in your attic, look for lights of those colors.
While some Christmas lights can be programmed with the color of your choice, others are not so versatile. Most lighting strings meant for Christmas decorations only come in the conventional colors of red, green, white, or purple. But that doesn’t mean you should go to the store and get orange strings of light.
Remember, creativity is key in setting up Halloween decor, so think of ways you can incorporate the existing light colors you have in your theme. Green, in the essence of Halloween, can give a ghoulish look, while purple can appear mysterious and eerie if situated in the right places.
Wrap Lights Around Your Landscape
The majority of your Halloween decorations will be in your front yard. After all, you want trick-or-treaters passing by to stand in awe of how well-decorated your property is — or run in fear of how spooky you’ve made it look!
To achieve the theme that you’re going for, you need to leverage your landscape. There are many ways you can incorporate Christmas lights into your trees and bushes. You can either wrap around them or better yet, position the lights underneath to give a subtle yet eerie glow.
Create Shadows
If you were in the dark with only one source of light, it probably won’t be the darkness that frightens you — it’s the shadows. There’s something so sinister about a black figure on the walls, and we think that trick or treaters would feel the same.
Use your Christmas lights to create depth and shadows on your property. To create this illusion, you will need to position your light strings on the ground with the lights aiming up towards a wall. Place your decorations (a ghost or witch fixture works well) in front of the light source to create a large shadow behind it.
Add Lights to Your Pumpkins
A Halloween staple that you would be remiss not to include in your decorations is a couple of Jack-O-Lanterns carved with creepy faces. But with all the larger fixtures and displays, it’s easy for pumpkins to get lost in the setup and become unnoticeable — unless you highlight them.
Use your lights to illuminate your Jack-O-Lanterns. You can grab a cluster of string lights and place them inside or behind the pumpkin. Alternatively, use your LED Christmas candles for more consistent light.
Make a Creepy Runway
The essence of Halloween lies in making children and children at heart happy by dropping a handful of treats into their baskets. As much as possible, you want to lure them into your house and make it worth the trip!
Position some string lights around your sidewalk, creating a pathway to your front door. You can wrap them around bushes, line them up on the pavement, or go as far as installing stakes and decorating them with lights. This will also create a festive landscape lighting around your home, office, or shopping mall for the holidays season.
Going Big on Halloween For Cheap
Making your home a Halloween attraction this year doesn’t have to cost you a boatload of money. Be resourceful by repurposing your Christmas lights, taking our tips, and unleashing your creative Halloween spirit!
