For the Love of Vintage Halloween Decor

It’s that time of year…the ghosts and goblins are gearing up for a night of candy and fun. Costumes and jack o’lanterns have been around for hundreds of years, and they range from sweet and simple to creepy and macabre. If this is your favorite holiday, you may already have a collection of Halloween decor, but whether you do or don’t, here’s a quick guide to collecting, displaying and storing some pieces from the past…and present.

The frightening tale of Stingy Jack (who later became Jack O’Lantern) – a figure who was rejected by both heaven and hell, and doomed to roam about with a glowing lantern for a head – arrived in America with Irish immigrants.. By Victorian times, Halloween began to incorporate children’s activities into the holiday, including dressing in costumes and trick-or-treating. By the 1940s, commercially-made costumes and masks replaced homemade costumes. In the ’60s, boxed costume/mask sets were carefully selected by children intent on trick-or-treating for candy dressed as their favorite cartoon character or super-hero. At the same time, adult costume parties became en vogue, and instead of masks, parents opted to dress as their chosen character, including makeup and wigs.

It can be difficult to find much true vintage (let alone antique) Halloween decor. It’s been a celebrated holiday for a long time, but until recently, most of the decorations were paper or perishable (carved vegetables including beets, turnips and of course, pumpkins.)

One beloved vintage Halloween decoration is the blow mold, and you may find them in shapes of ghosts, pumpkins, and black cats, among others. In the same vein, plastic molded buckets for trick-or-treaters were mass-produced. A few vintage styles were more rare, and are now more valuable.

So how can you decorate for Halloween, vintage-style?

If you have storage space, dishware, especially my favorite Fiestaware, produces annual dish patterns for Halloween. There are also many sources for Halloween-themed table linens, pillows, rugs, towels, and even shower curtains.

Mix in a sprinkling of vintage (or vintage style) paper decorations to lend a vintage vibe.

Use postcards to decorate your table, mantel, or other areas of your home.

Find some lacy crocheted doilies and dye them black (make sure they are 100% cotton for best results) and use them as cobweb-esque placemats.

Use items like these vintage chenille pumpkins and paper art pumpkins as a nod to the past….and the present.

If you are so inclined, curate a collection of well-made quality decor and make sure to tuck it away safely when the season is over. Store it in a closet, instead of the attic or basement. Protect paper items by storing them in acid-free containers. Who knows? Perhaps we’ll be the generation to start a tradition of handing down vintage Halloween decor to our children and grandchildren!

Photos courtesy of Pinterest and Re-Invintage