Skip to main content

Here’s how to throw a killer Halloween party with your smart home

The spooky season is almost here, and if you’re worried about throwing the perfect Halloween party, consider using your smart home to do the heavy lifting. Common smart home gadgets such as motion sensors, light bulbs, and smart plugs make it easy to pull off a horrifying Halloween party for your guests. From assisting with your playlist and movie selections to creating a chilling ambiance, here’s a look at all the ways your smart home can help you throw a killer Halloween party.

Use motion sensors to trigger spooky sounds

Have a smart home security system? Then you can probably rig up your motion sensors to play a spooky noise. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a motion sensor, either — your smart camera can trigger other devices in your smart home when it detects motion.

Just place a speaker on your porch, perhaps tucked away behind a pumpkin or a bit of straw. When a group of unsuspecting kids shows up to ask for candy, they set off the motion sensor on the camera, which triggers the speaker to play the sound of a zombie’s moan or the cackle of a witch. Bonus points if you set up an animatronic hand to rise up out of the straw.

Let smart lights set the mood

Thanks to your smart lights, you can cast a ghastly glow over your entire home. The moment guests walk in the door, they’ll be greeted by the glow of your lights. You could even set up the lights in one particular room to glow red.

Smart lights let you take things even further. Almost all smart lights have special effects you can use to cause them to flicker. Implement these effects throughout your home to immerse party guests deeper into the theme of your party. If you have an individual smart light that you can plug in through an extension cord, you can even use them to light up your pumpkins.

Let Alexa suggest a movie for you

Your Echo can serve as the control center for your entire party, changing the lights as needed to keep up the mood. At the same time, you can ask Alexa to suggest a movie for you. If you’re not a fan of over-the-top scary movies and prefer something a bit more lighthearted, just ask.

There are numerous Alexa Skills like Movie Recommender, MovieBot, and others that can suggest a movie to you. If a Scooby Doo marathon sounds more up your alley than a Scream marathon, Alexa can help you find the perfect flick that won’t have you sleeping with the lights on.

spooky halloween lighting haunted house

Rock the night away with the Rocky Horror soundtrack

A good party is comprised of several different elements: Tasty food, the proper atmosphere, and great sound. You’ll want background music of some kind playing at your party, especially if you don’t have movies showing. It can be tough to find the right music for a Halloween party, but thanks to services like Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, and more, you can play the soundtracks of your favorite movies.

There are also numerous fan-made playlists you can tap into. After all, what’s a Halloween party without someone playing Thriller at max volume?

Use smart plugs to power up fog machines

It might not be a dark and stormy night in your neck of the woods, but it sure can be a foggy one. If you use a smoke machine to make the environment just a bit spookier, a smart plug is the perfect way to control the machine. You can activate it from your phone.

Even better, you could have the plug turn on when someone triggers a motion sensor in a different room. Imagine starting to walk down a hallway, only for it to be flooded with fog. It makes it easy for you to turn your home into a haunted house in the best possible way (minus all the actual ghosts.)

October is just around the corner, and with it comes the perfect time to celebrate your love of the macabre. Let your smart home help you throw the perfect Halloween party this year or make your porch the spookiest one in the neighborhood.

Patrick Hearn
Patrick has written about tech for more than 15 years and isn't slowing down anytime soon. With previous clients ranging from…
Philips Hue and SmartThings teamed up to make your smart home better
Philips Hue and Spotify

SmartThings, Samsung's connected smart home platform, has announced a stronger partnership with Philips Hue and support for an expanded number of products. Hue worked with SmartThings to certify an additional 155 products as Works With SmartThings, or WWST.

So what does this mean in everyday terms? Basically, it's become easier for companies like Philips Hue to link products with SmartThings. The Certification by Similarity program, as it's called, allows companies to "certify" entire product portfolios with ease.

Read more
The Anker Solix F3800 Plus is a portable power station with enough juice to run your entire home
Anker Solix F3800 Plus in a home

After launching the Solix F3800 in 2024, Anker is back this year with the enhanced Solix F3800 Plus. Built with enough power to run all the electronics and appliances in your entire home, it looks like the ideal company to have around during emergencies and outages.

Featuring a 6,000-watt AC output to run large appliances such as washers, dryers, and air conditioners, it’ll keep your home running as intended even when the grid is unavailable. The unit offers a capacity of 3,840 watt-hours, though it can be expanded by attaching up to 12 optional battery packs for a staggering maximum capacity of 53,760 watt-hours. So no matter how much energy you need, you can scale up your power station to handle all sorts of equipment.

Read more
Google’s Gemini AI can now control your smart home devices
The Google Nest Learning Thermostat in stainless steel.

After spending a bit of time in Public Preview, Google is rolling out its Google Home extension for the Gemini app to everyone. This will allow you to control smart home devices using Gemini, including tasks like turning on smart lights, checking your smart thermostat, or adjusting the volume on your speakers.

The Google Home Extension will be rolling out over the next few weeks, and once you've made the update, any compatible devices synced to your Google account will be accessible via Gemini. If you try using commands in the Gemini app that aren’t supported, your smartphone will automatically launch the Google Home app to complete the command (such as accessing camera actions and smart lock features).

Read more