Halloween is quickly approaching, and I (as always) am super excited about it! Halloween is one of my favourite times of the year, and, like many of you, I always do my best to make the most of it and enjoy all of the festivities thoroughly. In the spirit of having a safe, fun, and smart Halloween this year, today we’re taking a look at a number of Smart Home devices (like smart lights and smart speakers) that can enhance your Halloween and make it fun, safe, and just plain better in a variety of different ways. If Halloween is a big favourite with you, read on to see how smart home products can help to make this year’s event safer and more fun than ever!
Setting the Scene for a Smart Halloween
Smart lights for spooky indoor and outdoor effects
And speaking of Smart Lights, those are another surefire way to set the perfect Halloween mood. For example, you can create a spooky colour theme (both indoors and out) by setting your smart lights to glow in spooky colours like pumpkin orange or eire dark purple. Most smart lighting setups allow for theme building in their apps, so design your spookiest Halloween theme and get ready to enjoy the festivities.
There are many products to choose from that allow you to set the colour and intensity of the lights. You might select products that already fit with other products you own. For example, if you have love your Ring cameras, you might want to stay with Ring for your smart lighting needs. However, there are many different brands of smart lights available to choose from and most have a useful app so you can set the tone of your halloween display inside or outside your home.
Many people have Philips Hue lights in their home and the Hue app has some interesting settings specifically for Halloween. In fact Philips has a webpage with numerous lighting ideas to help you get started that I suggest you check out.
Imagine the faces of your trick-or-treating visitors when they enter your perfectly haunted house-like backyard. There are numerous different smart light product options available to choose from at Best Buy, and virtually all of them give you over 16 million different colour options that will help you to create a fun and freaky atmosphere.
Smart speakers for scheduling and controlling spooky sounds with your phone
One way to create a fun and spooky atmosphere throughout your home and yard this Halloween is by using a dedicated Smart Speaker to send scary sounds into the night air. Imagine the incredible sound effects—many of which may be streamed directly from the Internet, that you could pump into your back yard using one of these powerful connected devices.
I just checked YouTube for some great sound effect videos and found plenty of examples there that are sure to make the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up. One really fun video was filled with ominous wind, creepy crying, spooky organ music, scary cat sounds, and the most wonderfully blood-curdling screams imaginable! It went on for over 28 minutes and made me wish that Halloween night was tonight.
Typical smart speakers also have useful features such as multi-room magic (a Google Home speciality) that allow you to connect multiple speakers together to create stereo output of your favourite Halloween songs and scary sounds. What’s more, smart speakers may be used to control all of your other smart home devices as well, including smart lights.
And speaking of Smart Lights, those are another surefire way to set the perfect Halloween mood. For example, you can create a spooky colour theme (both indoors and out) by setting your smart lights to glow in spooky colours like pumpkin orange or eire dark purple. Most smart lighting setups allow for theme building in their apps, so design your spookiest Halloween theme and get ready to enjoy the festivities.
Imagine the faces of your trick-or-treating visitors when they enter your perfectly haunted house-like backyard. There are numerous different smart light product options available to choose from at Best Buy, and virtually all of them give you over 16 million different colour options that will help you to create a fun and freaky atmosphere.
You can also control every aspect of your Halloween smart lighting with your iOS or Android based smart phone (or similar device) and the specialized app that corresponds to whichever brand of lights you’re using. This includes being able to turn them on and off (including setting schedules), change the colours they glow in (as mentioned above), and even change their tone or contrast. Alternatively, you can use IFTTT (If This Then That) applets to automate the entire spooky process—you can even make your smart lights pulsate if you think it will add to the effect you’re going for.
Smart Halloween Safety and Security
Another benefit of smart lighting at Halloween (and particularly Smart Outdoor Lighting) is the safety factor. That is, smart lighting allows you to illuminate your paths and walkways to help visiting trick-or-treaters to see their way to your door and prevent them from falling over anything in your yard. For instance, by installing a set of outdoor path lights (such as the Philips Hue Calla Smart Outdoor Pathway Light Base Kit), you’ll ensure that the pathway to your door is always well lit at night and easy to follow on even the darkest of Halloweens.
Note: To make use of Philips Calla Pathway Lights, you need to acquire and use the Philips Hue Bridge, otherwise your lights won’t work.
And then there’s the security factor, which lights can also contribute to, but they shouldn’t be relied upon solely to protect your home… It’s called trick-or-treat for a reason, and sometimes people get a little over-enthusiastic when it comes to having fun on Halloween. Don’t fall victim to a yard full of toilet paper—protect your property with smart outdoor Security Cameras.
Security cameras can not only catch bold pranksters in the act of potentially vandalizing your home, but they may also dissuade them from even trying something in the first place. Moreover, most of today’s top smart security cameras also provide night vision, which could be particularly useful at Halloween. For instance, many cameras allow you to see for up to 100 (or more) feet in the dark, giving you a clear view of any ghouls, ghosts, or goblins that may be lurking in the shadows…
Happy Halloween!
As you can see, there’s much more to Halloween than simple candy and costumes. Safety is always a significant concern when numerous strangers are marching through your yard at night, but so is fun and festivity! Keep your trick-or-treating guests safe and having fun while also protecting your home and property with a reasonable mix of Smart Home devices that are collectively designed for comfort, safety, convenience, and fun. Happy Halloween!
