You’ve setup a scary Halloween front yard scene to frighten your neighbors, but what about the lighting? Use these outdoor Halloween lighting ideas to complete the look at night!
- Outdoor Halloween Lighting Ideas
- Halloween Lighting Ideas for Steps & Pathways
- Halloween Paper Bag Luminaries
- Outdoor Halloween Lighting Around a Tree
- Outdoor Halloween Lighting for Windows
- Outdoor Halloween Lighting For A Front Porch
- String Lights for Halloween
- Spot Lights & Up Lights for Halloween Decor
- Colorful Lights for Halloween Decorations
- Lighted Blow Up Decorations for Halloween
- Halloween Jack-o-Lantern Lighting
- Lighting for Halloween Archways
- Projector Lights for Halloween Decorations
- Strobe Lights for Halloween Decorations
- More Halloween Decorating Ideas
- Pin It For Later!
Outdoor Halloween Lighting Ideas
A yard full of scary Halloween decorations is one thing, but if you want to take it to the next level, you’ll need to incorporate some outdoor Halloween lighting effects.
This really helps make your exterior Halloween decorations come alive at night!
Many Halloween decorations can look kind of “fake” in the daylight. But when set with the right lighting, they really can give people a fright as it gets dark.
How do you go about setting up lighting for your outdoor Halloween decorations? Keep scrolling through for some outdoor Halloween lighting ideas that are easy to do.
Halloween Lighting Ideas for Steps & Pathways
Do you have a lot of steps leading up to your house? Or maybe you have a nice pathway in your front yard. If so, consider lighting it for Halloween. This not only helps provide a safe way for guests to get to your front door, but it can also add to the overall vibe of your front yard Halloween decor.
One of my favorite ways to do this is by using Halloween path lights. These are similar to regular path lights, but come in all kinds of different Halloween shapes and colors – orange jack-o-lanterns, purple solar lights, creepy witch head lights and green eyeball path lights, etc.
Halloween Path Lights
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → These are relatively inexpensive as well. Swap them out year after year to change up your look. Or use them to highlight a garden bed for Halloween.
Halloween Paper Bag Luminaries
If you’re looking for a classy & chic Halloween lighting idea, try making simple Halloween paper bag luminaries. These bags are easy to find in bulk in stores or online. Or consider making your own by drawing ghosts, jack-o-lantern faces, witches, etc on the bag.
Fill you luminary bag with a bit of sand and add in a flameless candle for a soft glow. I like the idea of using these bags to line a walkway or the front steps leading up to your house for Halloween.
Halloween Luminaries
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → Outdoor Halloween Lighting Around a Tree
A lot of people have trees in their yard, so it makes sense to use some Halloween light effects on your tree. One way to do this is with string lights.
The tree above has been wrapped in string lights and decorated with flying ghosts. The string lights help illuminate the ghosts and cast shadows onto the scene.
Another idea is to have lighted Halloween figurines surrounding the base of your tree. Ghosts holding hands around a tree are shown in the photo above. Soft orange up lighting helps to add color to the scene and make it look like a creepy gathering in the woods!
Outdoor Halloween Lighting for Windows
What can you do to enhance your front facing windows for Halloween? One idea is to outline them with string lights or rope lights. Purple and orange colors work just fine. Or consider using green or red string lights that you might have on hand for Christmas.
Will you have Halloween decorations in your windows? If so, you might want to add some light to show off your decorations. In the photo above, a pink up light was used to give the monster on the left a glow. On the right, a red back light gives a glow to the window covering.
Outdoor Halloween Lighting For A Front Porch
What’s the best way to light your front porch for Halloween? To start, consider the lights you already have on your front porch. Swap out your wall sconce and overhead light bulbs for orange, purple, green, red, blue or black light bulbs. It’s easy enough to do and really creates a spooky effect on your front porch!
Halloween Light Bulbs
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Lighting your front door for Halloween is very similar to what I discussed for lighting a window. String lights can be used around your door to give it a warm glow at night.
You can also use spot lights or up light to highlight banners on the side of your door or wreath and hanging decorations.
String Lights for Halloween
I mentioned using string lights to outline front porch doors and windows, but there are tons of other ways you can use them in your outdoor Halloween decor. A few ideas include:
- Wrapped around railings, banisters & porch columns
- String light nets draped over bushes & shrubs
- Strung along the edges of your house, roof to outline
- Strung along a pathway or walkway
- Wrapped around Halloween decorations like skeletons
Basically, anyway you can think to decorate outside using Christmas lights in December can also be used with Halloween string lights in October.
Finally, don’t forget about Halloween fairy lights! These can look cute tucked inside of a lantern, a witches cauldron, to highlight a candy bowl or anywhere else that might benefit from small, battery powered lighting.
Halloween String Lights
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → Spot Lights & Up Lights for Halloween Decor
If you really want to have a professional looking Halloween front yard, you’ll need to master the art using up lights on your Halloween decorations. The photo above shows a Halloween skeleton couple being highlighted by a single spot light. Without this light, they might not be seen in the yard at night, however using the light, they totally steal the show.
Halloween Spot Lights & Flood Lights
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → To achieve this look, you’ll need an up light, a way to power it using extension cords and a little bit of skill. As the even approaches, plug in your light and place it several feet in front of your decorations. Play around with the angle of the light until the effect is just right.
Colorful Lights for Halloween Decorations
Don’t think that Halloween lights all need to be a single color. Some of the craziest Halloween front yard displays make use of a variety of different colored lights such as the display shown in the photo above.
Creepy reds, paired with purple, orange and green lights really make this yard come to life! The lights overlap and blend in with each other for a powerful effect.
When lighting up Halloween decorations, don’t be afraid to play around with shadows. Sometimes it’s the areas that aren’t lighted that give the most effect. The skeletons in the photo above are illuminated in a way that still shows some darkness – really creepy looking!
Lighted Blow Up Decorations for Halloween
Love them or hate them, you have to admit that blow up, inflatable Halloween decorations offer a fairly straight forward way to decorate for Halloween. Just place them where you want and inflate them to size – simple!
Many of these Halloween inflatables come with built in lighting effects. You can also add a few spot lights to your inflatables for even more of a glow. The giant Ursula blow up in the photo above has a purple spotlight that really illuminates her face. I love the inflatable eyes on either side of the porch steps as well.
Halloween Inflatables
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
The inflatable ghosts in the photo above lights up his own corner of the yard in a creepy blue vibe. While lots of Halloween lighting is fun, sometimes having just a few strategically placed lights throughout your yard is even creepier since more of the yard is in darkness.
Halloween Jack-o-Lantern Lighting
You might not think of using jack-o-lanterns for outdoor Halloween lighting ideas, but they certainly have their place. They’re such a classic Halloween decoration, that you can’t go wrong with displaying jack-o-lanterns in your front yard for Halloween.
To light a jack-o-lantern, you can buy special light “disks” that can be placed inside. Many of these come with remote controls that can be used to turn the light on and off or produce special effects.
Honestly, you can get the same thing with many of the flameless votive and tealights that are sold on the market today. Or consider going old school and using wax candles to light your jack-o-lanterns.
If carving a bunch of pumpkins sounds daunting to you, use foam pumpkins instead of real ones. Start with a few and add to your collection year after year. Here’s a fun story of a woman decorating her yard with hand carved foam pumpkins each year: Crazy pumpkin lady’ gets Lynbrook in the Halloween spirit with elaborate jack-o’-lantern display
Lighting for Halloween Archways
Archways have become a popular Halloween front yard decoration in recent years and it’s easy to see why – they make for a great way to frame your front door or front walk and welcome guests to your house for Halloween.
If you’re going to do an archway at your place this year for Halloween, make sure it gets the attention it deserves with the right lighting. Spot lights, string lights and flood lights all help to bring a Halloween archway to life at night.
If your arch is a blow up, see if it comes with built in lighting so it can be seen in the dark.
Projector Lights for Halloween Decorations
You’ve probably seen projector lights being used to illuminate houses for Christmas. But you can also use these lights for Halloween lighting effects too. Projector lights are designed to be pointed upward towards a flat surface where they can cast a colorful glow with shapes & patterns.
Halloween Projector Lights
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Many projector lights will change colors and cast different projections as time goes by. The first photo above shows the house covered in a purple glow, while the next photo shows a wide variety of colors. Which one do you prefer for an outdoor Halloween lighting effect?
Strobe Lights for Halloween Decorations
Similar to projection lights are strobe lights which can be used to create different “moving” effects on you Halloween decorations. Strobe lights can bother some people though, so you want to be careful with how and where you use them. But they can really bring your decorations to life.
Another popular effect to use with strobe lights is fog machines. Fog machines help create a creepy vibe in front yard cemeteries or for creatures that might pop out of a coffin or from behind a tree. A true must have to make the most of your scary Halloween scene.
What are some of the outdoor Halloween lighting ideas you’re thinking of doing this year? Share them with us below in the comments!
More Halloween Decorating Ideas
For more Halloween decorating inspiration, tips and styles, check out these posts:
- 13 Popular Halloween Front Yard Ideas For A Spectacular Look
- Popular Halloween Decor Trends for 2024 You Need to See
- 12 Simple Halloween Garden Decor Ideas For A Frightening Look
- 14 Cute Ways to Decorate for Halloween That Aren’t Scary
- 13 Super Scary Ways to Decorate Your House for Halloween
- 13 Classy Halloween Decor Ideas for a Luxury Look
- The Best Halloween Front Porch Ideas To Make Your Home Look Festive
- Amazing Retro, Vintage Halloween Decor Ideas For A Nostalgic Look
- What’s Your Halloween Decor Style? 5 Popular Ways to Decorate
- 14 Thrilling, Unusual Halloween Candle Ideas You Need to See
- 14 Simple, Easy Farmhouse Halloween Decor Ideas You’ll Love
Pin It For Later!
Leave a Reply