How to create a virtual Zoom background for Halloween in minutes

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I used to wear Halloween costumes – even when I started working at home. It was so-so to wear one on Zoom calls, but until this year I didn’t even think of creating a Zoom background for Halloween meetings.

There are a number of websites out there that allow you to download free backgrounds for Halloween, like thebash.com. You can also easily use Canva to create a background as well – including with my newly released Facebook Halloween avatars. Here’s how I did that. First, a quick video overview:

 

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A post shared by Christoph Trappe (@christophtrappe)

In Canva, here’s how to start.

Create a new design, search for “Zoom” and pick the size for Zoom virtual background.

Then simply search photos, templates and even elements in the left sidebar to find some pieces that you might want to use. For example, I searched for “ghost.”

I like one and clicked to add it as a background.

I also added another figure to the background and removed that asset’s background. Simply click “edit image” then background remover. That way you can add other pieces from different images to your virtual background. I ended up not liking the second person on the background, so deleted them. But I wanted to add some text.

Simply click on “text” in the left bar and see what templates are available. With Halloween just around the corner, relevant templates were already showing up at the top.

To add it to Zoom, simply, download the design and then upload it to your Zoom account after you’ve joined a meeting. I prefer to do a test meeting when I upload new backgrounds to see how it looks.

Zoom does have some video filters – like this pirate outfit you see on my face here – but there aren’t really that many options. It certainly would be a fun idea if Zoom would offer seasonal filters – similar to Facebook Avatars

For example, here are the ones Facebook released for Halloween 2021:

To use your Facebook Avatars as a Zoom background, download them using these steps. Then upload them into Canva and follow the steps mentioned above. For example, here’s a background I created using my own avatar for Halloween meetings.

I like this design, but also keep in mind the position of where you are on the screen during meetings. I’m usually slightly off center so probably need to move my avatar over some. This might work:

Here’s how that one looks in an actual Zoom meeting:

Of course, keep in mind whether or not specific meetings are appropriate to have a Halloween background for. Some people -internally or externally – may not appreciate it and others may love it.

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