Halloween Outdoor Lighting Ideas: 25+ Spooky Ways To Light Your Yard

Looking for some ways to add spooky outdoor lighting to your Halloween decorations this year? These ideas are sure to make your yard the best one on the block!

If you’re looking to amp up your yard this Halloween, you’ve come to the right place.

I’ve always believed that the right lighting can make or break a Halloween display.

Since I’ve been decking out my place for Halloween for years, I’ve learned a thing or two about making my home the go-to spooky spot on the block.

And lighting has always been my secret weapon.

So if you’re ready to level up your Halloween game, this guide’s got a ton of lighting tips and tricks to get you going.

From picking out the coolest colors to using floodlights, string lights and solar torches to set the mood, I’m sharing all of my favorite Halloween outdoor lighting ideas.

1 | Use colored flood lights for atmosphere

If you only do one kind of outdoor Halloween lighting, colored flood lights should be it.

They can provide broad light across a scene, or highlight a specific feature depending on how you position them.

You can vary the color to provide a different feel for different sections of your yard. (We’ll talk more about color later on).

Pointing the spot light at light-colored props like skeletons, tombstones and ghosts will make them look like they glow in the dark.

Try not to use too many black items as they absorb the light and don’t show up as well at night.

For even more flexibility, you can buy LED spotlights that allow you to change the color. Then you can re-use them in all kinds of different lighting situations (like Christmas and garden lighting in addition to future Halloween displays).

These low watt LED flood lights that plug in and have a remote* are my favorites. They’re inexpensive, stay on the same color you set them to after you have turned them off and provide enough light without being too bright.

I have also started to use these ones* that come with 4 spot lights spread along one light string.

They’re similar to the originals in that you can still set the color. But they all have to be set to the same one. Some come with a remote and some use an app on your phone to control them. (Although both work, I prefer the remote. The app can be a little flaky at times).

The big benefit of them is that they only take up one electrical socket. So you don’t need as many extension cords.

Because they are so versatile, I use these two options almost exclusively in my Halloween graveyard.

2 | Add String Lights For Accent Colors

These string lights are the same kind of lights that everyone uses for Christmas, but in Halloween colors.

I like to use them to outline trees, cover bushes and along the fence and walkway so everyone can see where to walk.

They’re also great for stringing over arbors to make the outline show up better.

Or if you want to add a bit more spookiness to your arbor, drape some white creepy cloth over it and add a flood light to make it glow (in addition to the string lights).

Like the flood lights above, string lights also come in an LED version* with a remote to set the color.

They are quite a bit more expensive than the regular kind.

But they are cheaper to run (since they are LED) and you can use the same ones for all of the holidays.

After Halloween, I leave them up on the bushes and trees and just change the colors to Christmas ones.

Not having to take all the Halloween lights down and put up all the Christmas ones saves me a ton of time! So I have switched all of mine over.

Tips

To make the most of your lighting, be sure to choose the right colors.

Blue, green and purple lights tend to be eerie and ghostly. Which adds the perfect spooky atmosphere for a front yard Halloween cemetery.

While orange and red are more fiery, like pumpkins and flames.

I like to combine the orange and red lights as accent colors with the blue and green since the contrast really makes them stand out.

And they are usually bright enough that people can still see where they are walking.

Try to stay away from too much white light for Halloween as it tends to drown out the other colors.

3 | Replace porch lights with colored bulbs

Change out the bulbs in your porch and garage lights with colored light bulbs.

This still provides light for guests coming and going from your house, but doesn’t overwhelm the rest of the yard with white light.

You can also use it as back lighting for a Halloween banner which makes the sign really stand out.

4 | Make A Cauldron Boil

If you’re going with a witch theme, you can also use Halloween outdoor lighting to make a cauldron* look like it’s boiling using a mister*.

Put a shallow dish with water in the cauldron and add the mister.

The water should cover the top of the mister by about ¼” for the best mist effect. (If it’s too deep you won’t get any mist).

Add some coiled up orange string lights under the cauldron to make it look like it’s simmering on coals.

Then add some witches and you have a whole scene.

The light from the mister will also help to draw attention to the cauldron.

5 | Set Out Luminaries

Luminaries are bags with words or designs printed on the front of them that are lit from within.

You can buy them pre-made from the store (I got the Enter If You Dare ones from grandinroad.com*…they are usually available for the couple of months before Halloween).

Or if you are interested in making your own, this video from Southern Living shows you how.

6 | Use Halloween Path Lights

Halloween path lights perform 2 important functions in your Halloween outdoor lighting scheme:

• looking spooky (obviously)
• putting some light on the ground so people can see where they are walking.

This will prevent anyone from tripping over your decorations or cords.

7 | Add solar Torches

These solar torch lights* that look like they have flames inside are perfect for a Halloween graveyard.

I like to use them like path lights, so they outline where people are supposed to walk.

To make them taller, I stuck the end of them in a PVC pipe that I painted black and made into a fence with some chain.

When Halloween is over, I put them out in the backyard as real path lights. So they’re functional all year round.

And since you don’t have to plug them in, you can put them anywhere.

8 | Or solar lanterns

Or if you’re looking for something smaller, these old-fashioned lanterns* are also solar powered.

So you can put them where you want them and don’t have to turn them on manually or use up another electrical outlet.

9 | Put Out Pumpkins

Whether you use a real carved pumpkin or plastic ones that you plug in, no Halloween scene is complete without at least one pumpkin.

I try to place them in unlikely places so they are a bit of a surprise.

But they also look good in front of tombstones as part of your graveyard display.

10 | Add Strobe Lights

Buy some inexpensive mini strobe lights to add a spooky blinking effect.

I prefer the ones with plugs for my outdoor display because they can be turned on and off at the outlet (at the same time as all of the other lights).

However, you can also get these strobe lights* that are specific for Halloween which come with spooky Halloween sounds and are usually battery operated. Since there is no cord, you have a little more flexibility on where you can place them.

In either case, I like to put them in bushes so that the strobe creates spooky lighting effects with the branch shadows.

11 | Add Eyes To The Bushes

Make it look like people are peeping out of your bushes by installing these flashing light-up eyes*.

These lights are easy to install and add the creepy factor to any of the bushes in your yard.

12 | Hang neon signs

Neon signs are another way to add some spooky lighting to your yard haunt.

Especially if you can find one that matches your theme, like the “No Vacancy” sign from my haunted hotel graveyard.

13 | Use Moving Light

A kaleidoscope spot light* creates this really cool-looking orange and purple mixture of lighting.

Reflecting it off some white creepy cloth* over an arbor makes your entry way glow.

Or project it through some tree branches to get a spooky shadow pattern behind it.

These spot lights are similar to regular flood lights except the light rotates like a kaleidoscope and it often has a mixture of colors.

The lights create a wave effect that makes the shadows look like they are moving.

14 | Add a Lightning Machine

The next one of my Halloween outdoor lighting ideas is to plug your lights into a lightning machine*.

A lightning machine doesn’t really create lightning, but it does cause all of your lights to flicker on and off to sound. Which gives your yard the look of lightning.

So if you’re planning on adding spooky music or sound effects to your outdoor decor, consider plugging all of your lights into a lightning machine for added drama. (It works really well with thunder sounds.)

Place the lightning machine near a speaker and make sure that the sound is loud enough that the machine can pick up the beat (otherwise it will look like it’s not working).

15 | Project holographic Ghosts In Your Windows

Next on the list of Halloween outdoor lighting ideas is to add some holographic images to your Halloween decor.

To make Halloween spirits come to life, try projecting a phantom video in your window. This one is behind my Halloween cemetery and looks very realistic!

I use a Halloween holographic video* and a video projector* to create ghosts that float in and out of view in my window.

To set it up, hang a semi-transparent piece of fabric (like this one*) on the inside of a window and project one of the videos onto it from inside the house.

The video comes with 8 Halloween holographic videos so you can play different ones for different years. (You can see what they look like on the linked page above).

The projector is really inexpensive and works great for these Halloween videos.

But if you want something that you can use for other things (like outdoor movie nights), you might want to consider a slightly more expensive one (like this one* that I use now).

16 | Make ghost props glow

If you prefer to use ghost props, lighting them properly will make them glow and look like they are floating.

Uplighting is the best way to do this.

Position a spotlight at the bottom of the ghosts that is pointed directly up at them. Blue or green usually gives the eeriest effect.

Yep…I use those same LED spot lights* for this, too.

17 | Use lighted props

These days there are a ton of Halloween props available, and a lot of them come with their own lights.

Like this carriage that I got from Home Depot (which unfortunately they no longer carry).

The problem with most of them is that they’re battery operated, which used to be a bit of a show stopper for me. (I’m not running outside every night to turn them on and them turn them off again.)

But then I found these gadgets that replace the batteries with a plug-in version. And they come in different sizes so you can get the one you need:

• replacement for up to 4 AA batteries*
• replacement for 2 AAA batteries*

18 | Or add lighted inflatables

Similarly, there are many inflatable Halloween decorations that are lit internally to make them stand out.

Like this inflatable sandworm* that I used as part of my Beetlejuice decorations.

19 | Uplight Some Dead Branches

Just like in regular landscape lighting, uplighting is a great way to add atmosphere to your yard. And atmosphere is definitely what you want for your Halloween yard haunt!

Place a spotlight at the bottom of whatever you want to light, and then point the light up to highlight your object.

In this case, I stuck some dead branches in a large tub and hung some white creepy cloth* from them. The blue flood light* makes them glow.

If you can place your light so that it hits the leaves of a tree as well, that will give your yard even more of a spooky factor.

As I have mentioned before, I use these low wattage LED Flood Lights* for all of my Halloween spot light needs.

They are relatively inexpensive. You can change the color of the light any time you want with the remote control. And they can be re-used for other events throughout the year.

20 | Create Silhouettes

Backlighting is another traditional landscape lighting method that works for Halloween too.

It’s fairly easy to create a fence silhouette just by putting most of your spot lights inside the fence.

If you have props that work well as silhouettes (like these crows), lighting the scene behind them will make them stand out.

21 | Add Misters to an Outdoor Bird Bath Or Fountain

If you have (or can add) an outdoor water feature, misters* give you two-for-one spookiness.

They add light to the scene as well as providing mist.

I like to put a couple in the birdbath to transform it into a spooky Halloween misting cauldron.

Just make sure they are only covered by about a quarter of an inch of water. Otherwise they probably won’t create any mist.

22 | Use Creepy Cloth To Reflect The Light

The next entry on my list of Halloween outdoor lighting ideas is white creepy cloth*, which isn’t actually lighting at all. But it definitely makes the lighting show up much better in the yard.

And in case you haven’t noticed, I use it A LOT in my Halloween yard haunt.

Part of the reason is because it looks…well…creepy.

But the other part is that creepy cloth is great for reflecting light.

It looks like it is glowing in the dark, even though there aren’t any black lights in my yard.

This arbor effect was created with a blue spotlight in the front, orange string lights over the arbor and a kaleidoscope spot light* behind the arbor.

It doesn’t matter what color of light, you are using, it will show up better when it is being reflected by a surface that adds texture and spookiness to the scene.

And creepy cloth* adds both of those qualities!

Make sure to get the white kind, since the grey and black ones don’t reflect the light nearly as well.

Creepy cloth can be re-used every year, so it’s a good Halloween decorating investment.

23 | Lay Net Lights On The Ground

To really make a Halloween graveyard stand out, try laying down some net lights.

I used blue lights to make it look spooky. Green or purple would have a similar effect.

If you can find dim white ones, they could also work. Especially if you have fog floating over the top.

Combining them with spot lights really makes your Halloween props (like this skeleton) stand out.

24 | Light An Underground Crypt

Okay, so this isn’t really underground. But it gives the illusion that it is.

I created this by wrapping the outside of a palette with this brick scene setter*.

Then put an LED spotlight* on the inside.

And positioned a few skeleton hands to make it look like they were trying to escape.

25 | Put Everything On A Timer

As much as possible, I try to use plug-in lights and accessories for my Halloween outdoor lighting.

Then I can put them all on an outdoor timer* and don’t have to worry about making sure everything is turned on every night.

You can also get a stake version that has 6 outlets* which gives you even more outlets for all the extension cords.

26 | Buy Lots Of Extension Cords

Speaking of extension cords, if you’re using a lot of lights (like I do), you’re going to need some multi-outlet outdoor extension cords.

This multi-directional one* is one of my favorites.

The other great thing about the timers and extension cords, is that you can use them again for Christmas or any other time you want to have lights on a timer.

Hopefully you’ve found some Halloween lighting inspiration that you can use in your own yard.

27 | Waterproof the connections

Nothing is worse than getting all of your Halloween lights set up perfectly, only to have them all go out because some water got in one of the plugs and tripped the breaker.

Especially on Halloween night. (Ask me how I know!)

So if you have problems with this, you’ll probably want to invest in some extension cord covers.

They come in different sizes: This one for small plugs* (like the two-prong plugs of regular string lights) and this one for larger plugs* (like the three-prong plugs on extension cords.

If you have a whole bunch of connections to make in one spot, you might also want to invest in a couple of these boxes* that can keep a multi-plug extension cord dry.

Well, that’s it for my Halloween outdoor lighting ideas. Hopefully, you’ve found some inspiration to set up your own spooky display.

Sources

Click the images below to buy the products:

Other Halloween Outdoor Decorating Ideas You Might Like

• Halloween Fog Machine Ideas: How To Make Low Lying Fog
• How to Create a Spooky Halloween Graveyard
• How to Create Spooky Halloween Planters
• Beetlejuice Halloween outdoor decor ideas

Or browse all of our Halloween outdoor decor ideas.

Have comments or questions on ways to create spooky Halloween outdoor lighting? Tell us in the section below.

Sharing is caring!