Your website may be serious business and an integral part of your marketing plan as well as your patient education or community engagement efforts. But it might also be a place for fun. If so, there are some Halloween WordPress plugins that can help you share the fun.
We tried out a few.
WordPress plugins are one of the great things about WordPress. They’re pieces of code that provide extra functionality automatically. Some are complicated to install and configure, but these holiday options are simple and fun. Have your web team add them just for the weekend!
DW Halloween
This simple Halloween plugin adds flying bats, floating pumpkins, creepy cats, or your own custom animations to your website.
Choose from many options or upload your own files.
Then customize your message. A dentist’s office might remind patients to brush their teeth after devouring Halloween candy. A vet’s office might choose to show a cat and invite kids to trick or treat at their office. A doctor’s office might link to their Pinterest page of healthy Halloween treats.
Once you’ve crafted your message, just hit Publish and the creepy creatures will show up on your website. Unpublish them after Halloween. This is an easy way to add a little spookiness to your website.
This plugin hasn’t been updated in years, so it might misbehave, though we tested it for 2020 and had no problems. If you use it, delete it after Halloween.
An alternative, which is also out of date, is Halloween Panda.
This is a little more on the goofy side, but has lots of options.
Halloween countdown plugins
There are quite a few Halloween countdown plugins. The one shown above will automatically count down to Halloween wherever you put the shortcode. Halloween Countdown Widget will create widgets to add to your sidebar or footer, complete with a goofy cartoon vampire.
If Halloween is important for your business, as it might be for a cosmetics company or salon, this could be a fun way to create a sense of urgency about those Halloween virtual party preparations. You could also create a Halloween event or special, from a costumed online class at your gym to a bone density special coupon at your clinic. Adding a count down calendar at your website can focus attention, and these plugins make it easy.
You could also choose a basic countdown plugin, add your own graphics, and use it for many occasions throughout the year.
WPR Halloween Scare
Add this plugin’s shortcode to your sidebar and you’ll see nothing in the sidebar. When someone visits your site, however, they’ll see static, like the “no signal” screen on an old TV. Gradually, the image of a frightened woman appears and chirps “Help me!” in a creepy little voice. The image disappears and your site is back to normal… except perhaps that you have convinced your visitors that they’ve received a communication from someone who is in grave (or at least spooky) danger.
The Halloween Scare plugin is part of a tutorial developed by Aryan Duntley of WorldPress Revolution.
I’ve included it in this post because it’s clever and unusual, but I don’t see any business or professional use for it.
Other options
While there are other Halloween Plugins in the repository, all of them (as of this writing) have a warning that they haven’t been updated recently. We’ll watch for updates or new plugins, but right now, you might as well choose one of these.
Want to do something to mark the occasion, but these plugins don’t quite work for you? There are other options:
- Add seasonal content to your website.
- Catch the seasonal wave with analytics data.
- Use a Halloween-themed popup to promote your seasonal specials.
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