As the days get shorter and the weather cools, the eerie chill of Halloween is in the air With smart home devices, your home can be Halloween-ready From spooky smart lights to motion-activated candy dispensers, here are some tips for making your smart home a neighborhood favorite

These connected gadgets can be scheduled and remotely controlled to help bring the scares, whether you're at home or out shopping for the best picks for your boo basket See how the following smart home gear can make your life easier as the holidays approach

The best smart lights can add some serious charm to your home Set your outdoor smart lights to automatically come on at sunset and turn on your favorite colors Most smart light apps offer control over individual segments and bulbs, as well as preset animated themes For example, Govee's Permanent Outdoor smart light flashes orange and purple lights in a Halloween setting

Feel free to steal a play from my book and use the smart light app to sync the effects and make the LEDs dance to the music; if you've never seen a house jump to the beat of the Scary Spooky Skeletons, this could be the year to change that! This could be the year to change that Smart pathways and string lights can draw attention to your yard, and adding headstones and skeletons can transform it into a cemetery Set it up with the best smart speakers and you can play spooky sound effects and tunes throughout the season

Outdoor smart plugs are an affordable and easy way to smarten up existing plug-in decorations Inflatables, string lights, animatronics, and even fog machines can be scheduled to turn on and off at specific times If you want to activate it on the go, remote power control allows you to activate it from your office and return to your haunted house It's super versatile, as it can be used all year round

With a motion sensor, motor, and smart plug, you can distribute candy from a bucket every time someone approaches the door The sensor can instruct the smart plug, which powers the motor, to temporarily turn on or off Create this routine so that when the sensor detects movement, the trigger turns the motor on

This can be a DIY project that can be tackled in several ways I have seen ingenious Redditors connect a slow-speed hardwired electric drill to an auger that pushes candy through a chute Others have connected the bottom door of a candy dispenser to a linear actuator that pulls the door open and drops the candy into the box

To make your front door more festive, you can customize the sound of the Ring video doorbell: bats, ghosts, howls, screams, creepy organs, witch cries, monster growls, eerie laughter, cat screeching, door creaks, and more with the Ring app, You can choose from a wide variety of tones If you want to take it a step further, Doorbell also supports custom quick replies that you can use when heading to the door These include:

If you have a front-facing window and smart curtains or blinds, you can place scary props behind it that will pop out when trick-or-treaters approach If you had the money to buy a life-size Jason Voorhees statue that your neighbors have, you would be able to slowly unveil it to the unsuspecting trick-or-treaters and have a blast Plus, it's a great way to make sure the kids only take one from the candy bowl when you're away

Simply bind your smart curtains or blinds to motion sensors in the “Routines” or “Automation” section of your smart home app When the sensor detects motion, it can open the curtains to reveal a figure through the window and then return the curtains to their closed position after a few seconds