It’s that time of year, when the neighborhood starts getting all spookied up for the little ghosts and princesses, the little Blueys, the Barbies, the Spidermen, who’ll be ringing our doorbells next week.
Each year, Halloween yard decorations seem to keep getting more elaborate and more technology based – not to mention more expensive. And if you’re a Halloween yard-decorator, you’ve probably had your decorations up for a few weeks already. But if you haven’t, it’s not too late! So we took a look at what’s out there.
Ever since they introduced us to Skelly, the 12 foot skeleton, in 2020, Home Depot has been coming up with enhancements and variations on a theme. This year’s version of Skelly now has glowing LED eyes that can be customized. Theoretically, this is so that Skelly can be used for other holidays, although I don’t know what other holidays a 12-foot skeleton applies to, but that may just because I’m lacking in imagination here. If you’re the type who doesn’t mind having a 12-foot skeleton outside your front door year-round, Home Depot offers a Santa costume for Skelly, and the Skelly LCD eye kit provides a range of remote-controlled eyes , including
Valentine’s Day hearts and fireworks for the Fourth of July You If you’re looking for a more technically advanced skelly, there’s an animatronic version available.
If you’ve been there/done that with Skelly, or just want a companion piece for it, Home Depot has a 12-foot Animated LED Levitating Reaper that appears to float and utters a number of creepy phrases. And if 12-foot is a bit too tall for a yard decoration, Costco has a 7-foot flannel-shirt wearing werewolf. It comes with LCD eyes and sound effects, and all of it’s activated by a motion sensor. (Let’s hear it for embedded systems!) You can go shorter still at Lowe’s, with a 6-foot tall animatronic deep-sea diver from Lowe’s, that like its larger kinfolk, has glowing eyes, makes noise, and moves around.
By the way, all of these items may cut into your candy budget, as they’re all in the $300+ range. Boo!
Of course, $300+ is nothing compared to the Distortions Unlimited Scare Wolf. “The frightening werewolf animatronic lunges at unsuspecting bystanders. A hose in its mouth blasts air for a viscerally interactive experience.” All this and more for $5,250, which makes the $340 Costco Werewolf seem like a bargain.
You can take your scary creatures indoors for a lot less money, with digital downloads of all kinds, including AtmosFX’s talking scarecrows.
There are all sorts of other techie Halloween decorations out there. LED! Animatronics! Holographic! Witches! Bats! Eyeballs!
If you’re into multiple holidays, however, a good way to simplify your decorating life is to install permanent outdoor LED lights and change the color scheme. The eufy E22 lighting system is AI-powered. You can choose the “occasion and the mood,” and the algo will do its thing and create a new look and feel for whatever holiday and season you want to celebrate.
Halloween decorations have certainly come a long way from the days of the pumpkin carved into a Jack O’ Lantern and set out on the front stoop. (Quality varied with the skill level and age of the carver!) Or when decorating meant Kleenex ghosts dangling in the windows.
Anyway, it’s time to make sure we have enough candy for the kids that’ll come by. (With a bit left over for ourselves, of course.)
Happy (Technical and Non-technical) Halloween.
Sources: CNET and The Gadget Flow