June 25, 2024

Our guide to streaming with a holiday-themed or spooky overlay

Check out our holiday-themed overlays

Read our top tips for how to live stream your next gaming holiday or festive event, and liven up your content with a free holiday-themed or spooky overlay.

Celebrating a special event or holiday during your live stream helps you connect with your viewers and increase follower engagement. Plus, you can help your audience get into the holiday spirit with a holiday-themed or spooky overlay. In this blog, we share our tips for live streaming holiday events, as well as our top 5 streaming overlays for festivities over the whole year.

How to stream your next special event or gaming holiday

Holidays and special festive events are great ways for streamers to connect and bond with their followers, and allow you to share the unique ways you celebrate. They’re also a great way to add a little more excitement to your usual live stream by building anticipation for an annual event. 

Here are some of the ways you might want to stream your next celebration or holiday-inspired event online:

Get festive with gaming holiday events

For live streaming gaming, in-game holiday events are a great way to enjoy seasonal festivities while boosting viewership. Games like Fortnite and Overwatch usually host special gaming holiday events with exclusive challenges and rewards to build buzz, which means more people will be tuning in to watch live streams. Special events are also a chance to stream games that match the holiday theme, for example, playing horror or survival games on Halloween.

Celebrate local holiday traditions via your travel vlog

Travel vlogs transport your viewers to unique locations, while sharing local traditions, cultures and celebrations. Travel vloggers get the chance to share special local holidays that your subscribers might not celebrate at home – or even know about. Whether you’re in Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day, or passing through Mexico during Cinco de Mayo celebrations, live streaming the event can help share an authentic, local experience with your followers in real time.

Host a holiday podcast or vlog episode

It can sometimes be hard to come up with fresh ideas for your next podcast or vlog, which is why many podcasters stream regular special holiday content. This includes special Christmas episodes, streaming an Easter chocolate mukbang, reading spooky follower stories on Halloween, or even sharing special Valentine’s day advice based on follower questions. This helps followers feel closer to podcasters and vloggers, which encourages viewers to react and engage with your content. 

Live stream your holiday celebrations

With travel, ticket and hotel costs skyrocketing, many people end up missing out on celebrating certain holidays in person. Events organizers invite people to join in your next holiday event virtually by live streaming. Count down to the new year, share holiday parades, and attend virtual concerts with people from all over the world. 

Our top 5 holiday stream overlays

Whether you’re streaming a gaming holiday event, a special Christmas concert, or a spooky podcast episode, a custom holiday stream overlay can help elevate your content. Here are our top 5 free holiday stream overlays for celebrations all through the year:

1. Countdown Until Baseline

A countdown holiday overlay

Count down to New Year’s Eve with uno’s free Confetti themed Baseline Countdown overlay, with animated festive elements. You can also use this stream overlay to build excitement for any special festive occasion.

2. Ireland-themed Lower Third

St. Paddy's day holiday overlay

Share your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and spread the luck with our free Ireland-themed Lower Third overlay, with an optional header, second line of text and image.

3. Hop-themed Lower Third

Easter overlay for holiday streaming

If you’re vlogging Easter-themed cooking or crafts, you can celebrate the holiday with our Hop themed Lower Third overlay. Add an optional header and second line of text to our cute animated banner, or keep things simple.

4. Elegant-themed Lower Third

Mother's day overlay for holiday streaming

Celebrate Mother’s day, weddings, or other special occasions with our free Elegant-themed Lower Third overlay. As with all of our custom free stream overlays, you can add an optional image, header, and second line of text to this floral, animated banner.

5. Zombie-themed Ticker horror stream overlay

Spooky overlay

Planning a spooky podcast? Playing horror or zombie survival games for your next live stream? If you’re looking for the right Halloween overlay, use our Zombie-themed Ticker spooky overlay, complete with a custom message ticker and spooky animated effects.

Try a free holiday-themed and spooky overlay today

Celebrations are a great way to connect with your audience, and adding a holiday-themed stream overlay helps your live stream lean into the theme. Our overlays are free and simple to use, and are compatible with multiple devices and platforms. 

Try an uno holiday-themed or spooky overlay today, or browse through our library of free animated stream overlays for OBS and other streaming software.

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