Halloween parties are great. When else do you have an excuse to eat unusual amounts of sweets while watching a marathon of The Simpsons episodes, and maybe partaking of a beverage that is a) smoking and b) served out of a cauldron?
This year, let’s make this a Halloween party to remember by performing some mad science with a Raspberry Pi or Raspberry Pi Pico to make everything a little more… eerie.
You won’t need strikes of lightning for this, just some long USB leads and/or batteries. Let’s get spooky.
Holiday light show
While, yes, technically these are Christmas-themed lights, you just need to switch the light colours and music to make it truly Halloween-themed.
It uses LightShow Pi, which is a popular library for syncing up music to programmable LEDs to make your whole setup seem in sync. We imagine it would look quite scary with the Monster Mash playing.
Poplawski Holiday Frights
A huge project full of outdoor Halloween decorations controlled online by people around the world might sound chaotic – and it is – however that’s also a big part of the Halloween spirit, surely?
What started off as Christmas-themed lights was turned spooky for October. One credit to activate one thing was around 10¢ (8p). However, you don’t have to make yours pay-to-play.
DIY Interactive Performing Pumpkins
These 3D-printed pumpkins use projections to serenade you with some scary songs, and people passing by can even select different moods for the melodies. While this may sound like a bit of a weather hazard for the projector, this particular project allows you to keep it inside, safe from the elements.
There’s a very detailed tutorial on the DIY Machines site, including wiring diagrams and code, etc. Pretty much any projector will do, with a little tweaking.
Remote-controlled Billy
Depending on the kind of party you’re throwing, you might not want to greet your guests with this guy from the Saw movies as they walk through the door. Otherwise, it’s a fun little thing for people to play with. Maybe you can build a Kermit on another one and have them duel like it’s Pi Wars?
This is actually not a bad step up from some robot kits, and you could make the doll or find one on Etsy or something.
Possessed Portrait
While it may be a little conspicuous to suddenly have a giant portrait in your home, it would at least fit a Halloween aesthetic. Either way, whenever a friend goes to inspect it, they won’t expect the picture to move and scream at them.
This works largely on the same hardware principle as a magic mirror, albeit without the reflections and kind messages. Finding an antique (looking) frame might be the way to go as well.
Haunted Jack-in-the-Box
This one can be hidden away in your home, just in sight of the party guests. Until… suddenly it starts and scares the living daylights out of someone. This uses an actual Jack-in-the-box, so make sure it’s one you’re happy to modify with some 3D printing first.
It also makes for a very effective scare, so perhaps gauge the level of scare-ability of your guests before subjecting them to it.
Mulder
There are pumpkins outside, so how about something a little different inside? This interactive skull may look a little jovial, but it can also be quite scary. The eyes, jaw, and neck move so it can track people before giving a terrifying owl hoot.
You can also remote control it just in case you want to give a custom scare to your friends.
Halloween voice changer
Want to be really anonymous at your Halloween get-together? Then having a Raspberry Pi mask your voice on the fly is the way to go. This tutorial not only shows you how to do the software and electronic hardware, but also how to install it into a mask so you can actually wear it.
With some modifications, you can give yourself a custom voice profile, whether you want to be Darth Vader or Bane.
Time Circuit and Flux Capacitor
You could try and cosplay as a time-travelling Irish sports car if you have enough cardboard and room to manoeuvre. However, it’s a bit easier to cosplay as its inventor, with props from the car. These recreations use Raspberry Pi and seven-segment displays in a fun way that can be used for a lot of portable projects, and portable costumes.
The web page has a detailed tutorial on how to build the time circuit and such, although you’ll need to find your own Doc Brown outfit.
Face-changing projection mask
From the maker of the haunted Jack-in-the-box comes this incredible projection mask that uses a small DLP projector hooked up to a Raspberry Pi connected via a stick. The projector sits in the chin of the mask and uses projection mapping on specific videos so that they show up as they would on a screen. It’s a very clever mix of hardware and software.
Disco ball
No one will miss you at the party if you’re walking around with many strips of LEDs attached to your person. This one can work on its own, but you can also hook it up to your house’s light show if you want for some wonderful synchronised costuming.
There’s lots of LEDs, chicken wire, foil, and some 3D-printed parts to make this, although you could always use the tech for something else.
