Smart home technology isn’t just good automating your lights and using your voice to add items to your shopping list. Those with a lot of creativity – and a lot of time – have been using timers and motion sensors to create amazing holiday light shows for years.
Nowadays, these light show power-users can take advantage of smart plugs to turn their shows on and off, and even to monitor how much emery they are using (though I’m guessing these people are in it for the entertainment factor, and don’t care how much energy they are using).
To celebrate the holidays, and smart home automation, I’ve collected my favorite holiday light shows here for your viewing pleasure (those with sensitive to flashing lights and loud noises should turn back now):
Halloween
Thriller
This video was uploaded to YouTube in 2010, and it features a light show from Riverside CA with thousands of lights. The highlights include pumpkin faces that lip sync, and strobe and flood lights. While the entire show is fantastical, my favorite moments are the simplest moments: the 0:40 mark at the beginning of the show, and the 5:45 mark at the end of the show.
Five Nights at Freddy’s
This video is from St. Louis, MO and was posted last year, and it’s a ton of fun. There are lots of moments that are crazy, with fast beats and lots of flashing lights, and those moments are balanced by quieter ones that have simple beats and ominous lighting. The props in this show are handmade – which is pretty impressive. They paint the life-sized characters with UV reactive paint, which is how they get them to glow in those black lights.
Ghostbusters
This video is also from Riverside, CA and was a 2015 show. We see the talking pumpkin faces again, which makes me pretty happy – I think those are great. The colors in this show are pretty great, and I did find myself watching this one a couple of times.
Christmas
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
A Christmas Rock Melody
Though less than three minutes long, this video from a display in South Dakota makes me think I could like the holidays. The music is hard and fast, the 3D castle backdrop is awesome, and the corresponding lights are just plain fun to watch. The story goes that this light show raises (or did raise, it was from 2011 and I didn’t research to see if it is still up and running) money for the Make-A-Wish foundation, so that makes it more awesome.
Star Wars
While I don’t want to be this person’s neighbor, I totally respect their light show. This five minute show includes lightsaber sounds and lights to match it. This house is in Tracy, CA and the video was posted in 2014. It’s another one that works to raise money for a good cause, so maybe their neighbors don’t hate them that much. Maybe. But unlikely.
Happy holidays all you home-automation loving people!
