Santa in the window

The biggest hit this year has been the Santa Claus in the upstairs window. A number of people have asked, “how do you do that?!”

Part of me hates to give it away because then it loses some of the magic, but a bigger part of me likes to share how all of this works.

First, I have a DVD player setup with a 3-d like video of Santa that loops. It’s called “Virtual Santa”.  There are other types of these videos as well, such as ghosts or vampires for Halloween.

Next, I have a fairly inexpensive projector that the DVD plays through. The projector is inside the house and projects onto the window.

Finally, I have a translucent material hanging in the window to catch the projected image.

All of this combines to make the cool effect that you see.