Halloween Zoom Background

I am part of the culture squad at my work and last year because of the pandemic all of our in person events had to become virtual. I started to look for ways to make our Halloween party more fun and Zoom backgrounds became a big part of that. I helped my coworkers make funny backgrounds, we all dressed up, virtually got together & had a fun time!

I thought I would share the fun with the Instructable community! This Instructable will show you how to make Zoom backgrounds using Google Slides & will show you how to use the Zoom video filters to make a quick costume. It will also point you in the direction if you would like to take a deeper dive into some more elaborate virtual costumes.

• A Google Account
• This Google Slides Halloween Zoom Background Template

First you will need to make a copy of the Google Slides Halloween Zoom Background Template

This is where the fun starts! Go into your copy of the Halloween Zoom Background Template & take a look a the different background designs then pick out one that you would like to play with.

Note: The white person outline is there to help remind you that on a Zoom call that part of the design will probably be blocked out. So don't put anything important there.

• Start clicking on everything to see if things can be copied or moved to make them more funny
• When you click on an item you can resize by pulling the corner tabs in and out
• To rotate things there is a handle, or dot on a line, at the top middle point of the selected item, that you can use to rotate it
• Sometimes things will get blocked because they are in front or behind another image the way you fix that is to click on the item go to Arrange/Order and pick move to back or move to front
• What if you want to put a picture of yourself, a friend, a pet or anything you can imagine? Well what you will need to do is click on the image that you want to replace and an option at the top right named Replace image will appear, click on that and navigate to the image or photo that you would like to replace it with!

My favorite part of Halloween is being surprised by everyone’s costumes & their creativity! So don't forget to look at slide 2 of the template and see if there is a funny costume that you can use for your background. Leave a comment below if you would like more costumes. Maybe I could do an instructable on how to make them!

Don't forget the text. This can make your background funny and really "Lift your spirits!" Here are a couple links to puns and jokes That could help spice up your project.

Now your masterpiece is complete! How do you get it out of Google Slides & into Zoom?

• Remove the white person outline
• Go to File/Download/JPG image (jpg. current slide) This will will download a JPG file to your computer

Here is the tutorial from Zoom on how to change your background!

• But if you are familiar with Zoom go down to the video icon and click on the up arrow beside it
• Choose Virtual Background
• Click on the + button on the top right of that dialogue box
• Navigate to your Halloween themed background that you just created (probably in your downloads folder)

To make your quick virtual costume while you are still in your video settings click on the Video Filters & Studio Effects and play around with those options. This may actually be the funnest part of this project! If you want to get more creative here is a Zoom post showing how to used video filters including adding third-party filters & here is a blog showing some more creative ideas for Zoom Halloween costumes & tricks. I really hope you have fun with this project & have a happy Halloween!

Did you love this project as much as I did putting it together? Do you not want it to end? It's like reading a good book or watching a wonderful movie. Well, I would love to see all of the funny creative things that you come up with for your Zoom backgrounds. It would be great if you would come over to the Halloween Zoom Background Sandbox & add some of your creations there. If you come up with any great ideas when you are making your Zoom backgrounds you are welcome to add them there so others can enjoy! if the ideas are good I will add them to the Halloween Zoom Background Template for everyone else to play with in the template!