Halloween is just around the corner and for those tech-savvy, there have never been so many options. It’s easier than ever to turn your entire home into a fully integrated horror box. and anyone with a little know-how can make fully customizable surprises, for trick or treatment.
What if you have a limited budget? Well, there are ways technology can help. along with plenty of ways to get creative and spooky this Halloween! In this article, we’ll cover some cool lighting projects. under $5 .
1. Creepy glowing eyes
Let’s start with our own basic electronics project. A minimum number of parts are required and soldering is easy enough for beginners as well. The result can be hidden in bushes or a dark window to have the effect of a pair of creepy red glowing eyes staring at you!
The total cost of parts for this simple build is $2.22 bringing this first «craft» decoration under the $5 mark. We’ll also cover how to heat shrink the components, adding basic weather protection to the project, making it the perfect outdoor prop to make your guests feel like they’re being watched!
And don’t worry if you’ve never soldered before because we have a handy soldering guide. !
2. Eye Fairy Lights
Sticking with the theme of the eyes, this time those eyes aren’t looking at you from the dark — they’re looking at you in the light! This quick and tricky build from landeeseelandeedo.com is perfect for kids, using ping pong balls and dollar store lights to create a chain of eyeballs!
This build is perfect for less experienced family members, and if you feel like a little more, you can always create your own fairy lights from scratch.
3. LED mini mouse
A few years ago, this adorable video of a toddler in her LED mini mouse costume became incredible. It’s easy to see why!
Father of Glowy Zoey (known by the moniker YouTube Visual Burrito ) has created a new video describing the process he used to create the costume. It uses LED strips SMD 5050 along with a battery pack attached to black clothing, creating a smooth outline effect. As mentioned in the video, you can choose one color and keep it simple, or connect an LED controller (which comes with most LED strips) to change the color.
This design can be easily modified to create a frame structure or something futuristic, and with simple LED strips costing only $0.80 per meter, they can be an effective tool for anyone on a budget.
4. LED headbands
These illuminated headbands are sure to go with cute rather than scary Halloween accessories, but they can be modified to give a futuristic look to any costume. These types of luminescent props were previously only available as parts of expensive ready-made costumes, but now they are available to everyone in kit form.
