Got an uncarved pumpkin on your steps and some “zombie quarantine” crime-scene tape slung across your door? Yeah, that might have cut it back in 1999, but maybe it’s time to up your Halloween-decor game. Today, there are plenty of high-tech (and medium-tech) options that can turn your home into the best haunted mansion on the block. You don’t have to have a Ph.D. to assemble them, and there’s still time to scare up some fun.
Here are my best picks for last-minute Halloween decor that’ll impress everyone in your neighborhood, where to get them and how to set it all up.
The king of Halloween decor
Target created an eight-foot ghoul named Lewis, a challenger to the Home Depot giant skeleton.
Target couldn’t let Home Depot have all the fun — or terror. The discount store created a more budget-friendly challenger to the Home Depot skeleton.
Lewis is a jack-o’-lantern-faced creepster who’s 8 feet tall and actually talks, speaking six different phrases, including the classic “I am NOT a jack-o’-lantern! My name is Lewis!” He’s shorter than the Home Depot guy and a lot cheaper ($126), but sadly, he’s out of stock at the moment.
Target’s got plenty of other Halloween decor still in stock — we like these front-yard tombstones, animated reaper with glowing eyes and this cemetery scene-setter, aka a batch of bones that appear to be clawing their way out of your yard.
Scare them with Spirit
There are plenty of inexpensive projectors that will direct ghost or other shapes on your dark house at night.
You don’t need to be a Hollywood director to set up a scary show at your own house. This simple Whirl-A-Motion projector shines spooky ghosts that appear to be dancing all over your house. (They won’t really show up until it’s dark out, just FYI.)
This light-up tech works especially well on big flat spaces, such as garage doors, but we don’t have a garage, and it just looks like they’re possessing our house.
Bonus: If you do end up casting them on a window, you can see them swirling around inside your house. If the linked projector is sold out, there are plenty of varieties out there, and some will let you shift out to Christmas or other holidays.
Smart light shows for Halloween
Lighting up the night at Halloween not only adds a little scary-season flavor, it also helps trick-or-treaters see where they’re going. The Philips Hue Starter Kit is an easy way to switch your lighting into Halloween colors. It’s a reliable system with three color-changing bulbs. The starter kit includes three white and color-capable lights, a bridge that connects the system to your Wi-Fi router and a Hue button that can cycle through various programmed lighting scenes, meaning you can choose your own look.
Or for a more obvious Halloween splash of color, the familiar shape of a witch’s hat makes for an eerie decoration. This pack of eight colorful light-up witch hats are powered by a standard electric plug, come in a variety of patterns and have eight different lighting modes, such as twinkling, waves, slow fade and more.
