Some of the coolest costumes that you’ll see this year are all going to have one thing in common: lights. With modern technology a winning costume or a brag-worthy haunting home set up is right around the corner. Our guide will leave you wanting to incorporate LED lights and strips into every aspect of your holiday to make it spookier than ever!
At our house we have rolls of LED light strips because we love using them for sooo many things so if you ever feel like you might have too much, don’t worry… There are so many ideas that once you get going it’s hard to stop. Lighting in closets, under shelves, doorways, drawers, or cardboard project boards for the kids. Accent lighting for paintings and artwork, costumes, crafts – the options are endless. We’ll get into some ideas and hopefully brighten your Halloween spirit.
Spooky Crafts Using LED Lights
Light a Jack-O-Lantern Using LED Light Strips This idea might seem obvious, but we’re so used to the traditional tea light or battery operated dollar store candle that it might get overlooked. LED lights are bright and efficient. Plus they last longer and they can stand up to most elements, especially that pesky rain and wind. Take that nature! A small section of LED strip is all you’ll need to take your pumpkin to the next level.
Creepy Eyes Save your cardboard rolls for this one – toilet paper, paper towels and even wrapping rolls will do the trick. Cut eyes shapes out along the length of the rolls. Line them all up length-wise and run LED light strips through their insides. Place the rolls over a shelf, or against the wall. Depending on your power supply you could even hide them in bushes outside. Here’s a lengthy tutorial where they use glow sticks but a strip of LED lights will really make these stand out.
Halloween Wreath All you really need for this one is a styrofoam wreath form, some tulle and of course, some LED light strips. There are so many ways you can fancy this up, but these are the basics. Depending on the size of your ring you’re going to want to make sure you have enough tulle. Always get more than you think you’ll need, it’s usually pretty affordable. Cut the strips to a length you like and tie them onto the ring. String your LED light strips in as you go along and… voila! Add some funky Halloween decorations if you want and you’re done!
Boo-tiful Decor
Light Entryways and Hallway Walls With a roll of LED strip lighting you can light doorways and pathways easily while enhancing the spooky mood. Add red, orange or blue lights to set the tone. Stretch fake cobwebs across them to hide any hardware and sprinkle a few spiders or creepy crawlies in to add to the creep factor.
Switch Out The Light Bulbs Go around the house or whatever rooms you want a spooky vibe in and switch out your regular bulbs with a colored LED bulb. With LED bulbs, your Halloween decoration lights will use 75% less energy than incandescents. Try a monochromatic look of all green, or all blue, red or purple to really a set a mood. Use contrasting colors where you want to draw attention. Avoid whites as they tend to wash out colors.
Haunted House If you usually decorate for Halloween, using LED lights is an easy way to make big upgrades. Wrap LED strip lights around the border of gravestones or coffin decorations. Use orange LED string lights around a cauldron to imitate fire. Colored LED flood lights in front of bunched dead tree branches can create a haunting but breathtaking backdrop against a wall. Placing red LED strip lights behind locked doors makes an eerie scene from the crack near the floor.
Cool Costumes
There are so many cool ideas for lights on costumes! Tron-inspired futuristic one-pieces, light up fairy wings, Iron Man’s repulsors, light up sparkling unicorn horns! See? You can do pretty much anything. I’m serious. You could be a frog. Just add some green LED strip lighting to the trims and suddenly you’re the most eye catching critter on the block.
One of our favorite silly costumes this year is the LED Stick Figure. It’s one of the easiest, silliest and most affordable costume that you can completely DIY. The most expensive part of the whole thing is the power supply. This costume is a hit at every night-time party or function that you will go to and it’s appropriate for all ages.
All you really need are some black sweatpants with a black hoodie, a roll of LED strip lighting with their connectors as well as electrical tape and something to fasten the lights to the materials. You can use thread, tapes or some glues. Here is a tutorial to get your very own DIY LED Stick Figure Costume started. He even uses an embroidery hoop to make a perfect circle for the head. Have fun and switch it up though! Maybe you want a square face, or some hair? Maybe you even want your “head” unattached? Let your imagination run wild.
There are so many ways you can use LED strip lights in costumes. Wrap them around the tutu of a ballerina. Run them down the border of a wooden sword and say that it’s enchanted! Light up a skirt or a vest. Run a string of lights through a ponytail or a braid and if that’s not enough for you there’s even LED lights that sit over your eyelashes.
Don’t Stop There!
We could go on and on with different ideas for lights and Halloween but we think you get the idea. If you use any of these, try to build on them, share it with us and let us know! We’d love to see what you come up with. Happy Halloween!