By Tracey Dowdy

‘Tis the season – for ghosts, goblins, and sugar highs. And while we love our smart-home devices year-round, Alexa can really shine at Halloween. From spooky sounds to trivia night, these Alexa skills can make your Halloween boo-tiful. 

• Set the mood by saying, “Alexa, play Halloween music,” or link your Spotify and choose from one of the zillion music or sound effect playlists. 
• Use one of Alexa’s many scream skills to scare the daylights out of trick or treaters. Bonus, it’s also great for repelling door to door solicitation and political campaign volunteers. 
• Ghost Detector uses “highly advanced technology” to detect spirits and specters and allows you to catch one ghost per day. As you earn in-game currency, Ghost Bux, you’ll soon be able to unlock gadgets, missions, and adventures. 
• If your little one has yet to master the meaning of a calendar, let Alexa handle the question, “How many more sleeps until Halloween?” Just say “Alexa, open Halloween Countdown,” and thank the robot gods for one less question to answer. 
• Check out the ultimate Halloween trivia quiz. Alexa will test your knowledge of both familiar and obscure facts. 
• Still haven’t settled on a costume? Use Alexa’s Halloween Costume Ideas skill to narrow down those options. 
• Alexa’s Haunted House is a choose-your-own-adventure for kids or adults that takes you through a haunted house on – what else? – a dark and stormy Halloween night. Because you control the story based on your choices, you can have multiple adventures. 
• If you’re up for a challenge, try an Escape Room. Just tell Alexa to “Open the escape room,” and you’ll have your choice of escaping from jail, an office, or a car. Using voice commands, you can search the room, solve puzzles, inspect or pick up items, and see what your options are. The clock is ticking – can you escape in time? 
• Halloween Feel the Pressure is a family game that asks a spooky question based on a specific letter of the alphabet. Questions get more challenging as you progress through the game, and you’ll need ten correct answers to win. 

Tracey Dowdy is a freelance writer based just outside Washington DC. After years working for non-profits and charities, she now freelances, edits, and researches on subjects ranging from family and education to history and trends in technology. Follow Tracey on Twitter.