Thread: Halloween party lighting

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Hi All!

I'm throwing my fourth annual party this year, and one of the aspects I really want to ramp up a bit is my lighting. For the past three years, I've relied on orange and purple Xmas lights strung through the rafters of my basement, along with a couple of black lights and other glowing props. It sets a nice dim tone for the room, but it's a bit two-dimensional. I really want to add more depth and texture to the lumination, so I'm interested in hearing what your favorite lighting effects are? Are there any tride-and-true methods I should use, or principals I should keep in mind when setting up my lighting? What's worked well for you?

Ditto on the halloween/x-mas lights. we string orange & purple ones too. We also use a LOT of candles and you can go wrong with lots of store bought jack'o'lanterns. We also take out the regular bulbs in our basement and use red bulbs. It gives the room more light without taking away the scary effect. We use a few strobe lights as well around certain props. Kind of "highlights" our work. You can see some of the effects of our lighting in our Halloween Party Album '08 off of my profile page. Hope this helps!

Thanks Witch Hazel! Your pics look awesome. I've thought about using lots of candles in past years, but since it's an adult party I'm wary of mixing open fire and alcohol. I've thought about using some of those "flicker" lightbulbs to imitate the look, but I'm not sure if it would look cheesey.

My theme this year is "The Haunted Forest", so we're building a couple of great looking trees. Maybe I should stick to black lights for the ceiling, and green glow sticks around the floor? Kind of a glowing purple and green atmosphere?

Flicker bulbs definitely don't look cheesy! If you have a chandelier or some type of wall-mounted hallway lighting, they work perfectly and look completely awesome.

You can still do real candles - putting them in JoLs will keep them protected. The hurricane lamps or lanterns - still protected.

if you have props there you can also use lights put on this to help the basement

FrankiesGirl, total noob question... what does JoL stand for?

Originally Posted by EdwardScissorhands

FrankiesGirl, total noob question... what does JoL stand for?

Jack o lantern.

Btw, I just picked up a few JoL's at Good Will. Can't beat the $2 price tag including the light cord and bulb.

I second that thought, V-gan! You can do a lot of different things with flicker bulbs and they don't have to look cheesy!

Here is a shot of some I made using flicker bulbs.


You can check out my detailed tutorial at the link to my website in my signature.

Jack O'Lanterns. Should've figured that one out right away