With spooky season around the corner, those that love getting dressed up for the occasion may well want to know how they can add a touch of scare to their home this Halloween.
If you’ve dusted off the decorations this year — or gone all out buying decorations to “spooky up” your home for the big day — but don’t quite know how to show it off, having the right lighting is crucial for upping the scare factor.
In this guide, our lighting experts cover everything you need to know about lighting your home maximising the impact of your decorations for Halloween – including specific products to get you started.
Halloween Lighting Ideas
Whether you’re going for an enchanted aesthetic or just plain scary, we’ve got some fantastic lighting ideas that’ll help show off your decorative features or light up your home and garden for the spooky season.
Colour-Changing Spotlights
Planted spotlights that face up are a great way to boost the spookiness of your decorations — the underlighting highlights shadows on the decorations making them look more striking to the eye.
You’ll want spotlights that change colour though — the natural, warm glow of a traditional bulb won’t give you the Halloween feel you’re looking for. Halloween orange, Sinopia red, luminous green or royal purple scream Halloween, so having a spotlight that can paint your home and features in spooky colours are a must this season.
We recommend the Chiron Solar Spotlight, which offers a range of seven colour options to choose from — letting you customise how you want your home to look this Halloween.
Ghost Lantern String Lights
Want something that doubles up as a decoration and a source of spooky accent lighting? Look no further than a ghost lantern string light.
They can be draped on bushes, hung up on edges of your roof, or wrapped down a pillar — making them a versatile lighting edition to any home or garden.
If placed right, the white glow can accentuate your decorations, adding a scary touch to your Halloween design.
We recommend the The Solar Halloween Ghost Lantern String Lights for those looking for some versatile lighting that can be placed anywhere around the home, garden or driveway.
Shop Elan Solar Halloween Ghost String lights
Flameless Candles
The ominous flicker of a candle is synonymous with Halloween — think about the eyes of a pumpkin or the mysterious orange glow it can lend a room. However, it’s difficult to get this effect with a real candle without buying an expensive lantern to protect the flame.
Flameless candles are battery or solar-powered lights that mimic the colour and flicker of flame without the fire.
This gives you a lighting choice that can feature as a central focal point when clustered together or add movement and dynamism to your decorations on their own.
We recommend the TrueFlame USB Solar Crook Lantern to give your home the eerie, yet traditional, orange hues to your Halloween decorations.
Shop TrueFlame USB Solar Crook Lanterns
Festoon Smart Lights
If you’re looking for a way to add a Halloween hue to your home or garden, a set of festoon smart lights do just that.
Festoon lights are stung up like fairly lights. However, because they’ve got bigger bulbs, they’re much brighter — illuminating a whole outdoor or indoor space.
The smart bulb technology lets you change the colour — whether you choose to dazzle trick-or-treaters with stunning Halloween hues or turn up the scare factor of your decorations is up to you.
We recommend the USB Solar Smart Festoon lights that let you choose from a range of thousands of colours from your mobile.
Shop USB Solar Smart Festoon Lights
Icicle Lights
Yes, icicle lights are Christmas decorations. However, more and more people are using them for Halloween too.
Icicle lights coloured a deep purple shade, a striking orange hue or a bright luminous green can be hung in and around the home to bring spooky season to your front door.
Drape them across bushes or around your decorations to create the perfect Halloween scenery in your garden too.
We recommend Lumify USB Solar Icicle Lights — they’ll charge throughout the day, giving you plenty of juicy to show off all your spooky decorations when the sun goes down.
Shop Lumify USB Solar Icicle Lights
Halloween and Other Seasonal Lighting from The Solar Centre
The Solar Centre offers a wide range of Halloween lighting as well as a whole range of Christmas and other seasonal lighting ideas. With so many to choose from, you’ll be sure to find something for your home.
We specialise in solar lighting — that are both good for environment and kind to your energy bill — as well as offering an extensive range of mains powered lights to suit all homes, gardens and driveways.
Browse our range of solar lights now or chat with our experts for help finding the right lighting for you if you’re unsure.
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FAQs
How do you make horror lights?
Lighting plays a pivotal role in creating the eerie atmosphere you’re looking for this spooky season. There are many types of lights on offer, but creating a scary setting requires some creativity.
For example, using spotlights as a form of backlighting through a sheet or curtain can create unsettling silhouettes, adding to the Halloween aesthetic.
Strobe lights can create a disorienting, frantic atmosphere — which is perfect if you’re looking for some dynamism to accompany your decorations. Use them sparingly in specific areas to amplify tension.
Low-wattage, dim light bulbs can help draw attention to your decorations but keep the creepiness of the dark, especially in the front garden or driveway to your home. Perfect for scaring trick-or-treaters.
What are the best colours for spooky lights?
Halloween is about being spooky. With that, you’ll want to avoid warm, inviting colours when lighting your home or garden for the season.
The best colours for your Halloween lighting are:
Orange — It’s a traditional Halloween colour — think pumpkins and jack-o’-lanterns. Orange offers a warm, inviting glow but still spooky, perfect for front doors, driveways, garden paths, or even accent lighting.
Purple — Creates a spooky yet enchanting glow, commonly used in haunted house setups and for a witchy or ghostly theme.
Red — Intense and unsettling, perfect for a more menacing atmosphere. It’s great for highlighting areas meant to feel eerie or dangerous.
Green — Offers an ominous and sickly hue to a home — think zombies and monsters. It casts a ghoulish glow which can add an extra layer of spookiness to your decorations.