It doesn’t matter if you are decorating for trick-or-treaters, a grand Halloween party, or just like to share your home with ghosts – this time of year, your house needs to look its Halloween best. We have AtmosFX Decoration ideas for every area of your house – heck, even the bathroom!
The Approach
It’s no secret: The approach to any house is the most important Halloween decorating real estate there is. This is where everyone goes all-out, and for good reason. This is how the entire neighborhood gets to see your handiwork!
An easy way to decorate your front yard is by projecting some Sinister Shadows onto your lawn. Your trick-or-treaters will be looking around to see what is causing them!
But even if you aren’t creating a full-blown Halloween decoration display in your front yard, remember that a single decoration can go a long way when it comes to welcoming – or scaring – your guests. For instance, for a greeting they’ll never forget, place a single 3DFX Form at your door with the Brooding Butler from Halloween Hosts Decoration Collection projected onto it. Add the Sprite Motion Sensor Media Player and the Butler will always come alive exactly at the right time!
Another great option is to do what Bob Gallo of Miami, Fla., did. He cut shower curtains into 8-inch strips and weighted them at the bottom, and then hung them from his archway. The result is a clever projection screen that kids, or other guests, can walk through as they enter your home. (Bob used Bone Chillers 2 Decoration Collection, by the way.)
The Garage
Think of your garage this way: It is a giant movie screen. Where else do you have such a large unbroken canvas on which to display AtmosFX Decorations? Put it to work! The easiest way to do so is simply project onto it from the outside – Paranormal Passage Decoration Collection looks great here. Just make sure to protect your projector from the weather.
Another option is open your garage and hang AtmosFX Window Projection Material from the inside. (It has grommets on it, making it easy to attach more than one together.) Then, place your projector safely inside your garage and rear-project your decoration display onto it. That’s exactly what Marc Orfitelli of Southington, Conn., did – his crisp projection of the Halloween Monster Bash Decoration Collection (among others!) is a fantastic way to welcome people to your home.
The Front Door
For those with glass front doors, or a glass screen door, a simple doorway projection is a fantastic way to set the tone the moment guests arrive on your doorstep. Simply place Window Projection Material over the glass, and project onto it from the inside. Any AtmosFX Decoration that has “Doorway Mode” will work here – but we particularly love Trick ’r Treat Decoration Collection because it has a digital door that opens and closes, revealing the menacing Sam on the other side.
Hallways and Stairways
Hollusion effects work great for Halloween parties – especially if there are hallways or corridors in your house that people will walk by, but not necessarily walk through. The top of a staircase works particularly great because it often is a focal point of the house, but people typically don’t wander upstairs at a party.
At the end of a hallway or at the top of the stairs, tightly affix AtmosFX Hollusion Projection Material in the doorway or arch. Place your projector behind it – preferably at a slight angle so people cannot see the light from the bulb – turn down the lights, and display something ethereal and spooky onto the Hollusion Projection Material. Any of the three Ghostly Apparitions Decoration Collections will work fantastic here. So does Legends of Halloween Decoration – especially if you use scenes that include the Grim Reaper. With the lights down low, your guests will never see the material – only the mysterious specters that appear to have materialized from thin air!
Living Room
For any Halloween event, this is where the action happens. Because most of your guests will spend a lot of time in this room, this is the place for something special.
Either UnLiving Portraits or UnLiving Portraits: Halloween Hosts decoration collections are a great way to create a show-stopping Halloween decoration. For those who have time, adding a frame to a TV or monitor, hanging it on the wall, creates the illusion that a painting is haunted. Add the Sprite Motion Sensor Media Player, and anyone who approaches this mysterious piece of art will receive quite a jolt! (Click here to see how to make this.)
Even if you don’t have the time (or skills) to build a frame around your TV, there are similar great options. Both UnLiving Portraits or UnLiving Portraits: Halloween Hosts can be loaded onto a tablet or a digital picture frame and placed amongst the family photos.
Or, create the proper spooky environment with an animated background projected onto the wall like Hall of Haunts or Crypt of Creeps?
Kitchen
If partygoers aren’t congregating in your living room, then they’re probably in your kitchen. Why do people always wind up there? Regardless, if you want to let people know that there’s some hot stuff taking place in the kitchen, you can always project the flames of Inferno Decoration Collection onto the walls or ceiling. And if you want to clear your guests out to other parts of the house, it does convey the idea that if they can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!
Family/TV Room
Don’t let a TV go to waste during a party! While all AtmosFX Decorations are optimized for playing on a television, there’s a particular digital decoration that is sure to grab your guests’ attention: Creepy Crawlies 2. You can make it appear as though you are watching an old horror movie – Nosferatu – when snakes, rats, tarantulas or spiders seemingly break through the television screen! And Phantasms and Blood Walls have these types of decorations too!
Backyard/Patio
Speaking of Creepy Crawlies 2, here’s another great way to deploy the decoration to startle those partygoers who wander out to your backyard deck or patio. Place your projector up high so that it shines on the ground. Then, those same snakes, rats, tarantulas or spiders will appear to break through the ground, scurrying at your guests’ feet. Place some uncooked macaroni on the ground and the crunch will really freak them out!
Another great option for projecting onto the ground is Spectral Signs Decoration. The “Fearful Footprints” individual decoration will make it appear that someone – or some thing – is leaving ectoplasmic footprints on the patio.
The darkness of the backyard makes it a great place to set up another Hollusion effect. Simply hang Hollusion Projection Material from a tree, arbor or clothesline. Hide your projector somewhere discreet and out of sight (under the deck works great) and train your projector beam onto the material. Any AtmosFX Decoration Collection that offers “Hollusion Mode” will work great, but if you want to scare your partygoers off the porch and back into the house, we are certain Phantasms, Bone Chillers, or Macabre Manor will do the trick. (Be warned: They’ll probably return, bringing others back outside so they get frightened, too!)
Bathroom
Ah yes, the bathroom. If you really want to create an effect where nobody will expect it, then this is the place. After all, the shower curtains or shower doors are often semi-opaque, just like AtmosFX Window Projection Material. If you have a smaller projector – pico projectors work well – you can place it in the shower to create one last scare. Just make sure you have a mop and bucket nearby, just in case!
It is Halloween party season! How are you decorating for your party or for the neighborhood trick-or-treaters? We want to see it – send us your photos and videos using this simple submission form!
