Do you remember Halloween decorations from the 1980s and 1990s?

17071 Views 42 Replies 25 Participants Last post by boo who?, Jan 24, 2019

AstorReinhardt

Discussion Starter · Sep 3, 2017

I ask because I'm trying to rack my brain for what we used when I was growing up but since I was an only child and the only one obsessed about Halloween...it ended up mainly being my toys...stuff like Beanie Babies and such.

What about you guys? What did your families use to decorate when you were growing up? Picture examples would be great. Name of items even better.

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FIESTEE23

· #2 · Sep 3, 2017

I remember a lot of grave yards, shaking coffins... I remember my mom and I getting chased by a gorilla... lol.

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patch_of_pumpkins

· #3 · Sep 3, 2017

Jointed halloween stuff https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html? _...alloween.TRS0&_nkw=jointed+halloween&_sacat=0
Cut outs

Cartoon Art Illustration Human Drawing

trick-or-treat Cartoon Illustration Art Pumpkin

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BEISTLE-HAL...574099?hash=item58fc926313:g:dJMAAOSw8GtZTgXY
My strongest memory is the pumpkin leaf bags

Pumpkin Orange Calabaza Jack-o'-lantern Plant

Of course the basic pumpkin buckets and carved pumpkins
Also try watching the beginning of Double Double toil and trouble for ideas, I remember their house was pretty decorated and that was the same era

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disembodiedvoice

· #4 · Sep 3, 2017

Leaf bags lol I do remember when those were really popular, I used to see them in almost every yard. A lot of times the only decoration they had.

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Zombie4*

· #5 · Sep 3, 2017

I remember the dumb plastic mask and plastic costume that you would tie on you. They came in a box. Looking back now...they were quite creepy!!

Comics Fictional character Hero Fiction Superhero

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Madame Leota

· #6 · Sep 3, 2017

My kids were born in the late 80s and early 90s. I don't remember seeing anyone decorate their yard with much more than pumpkins on the porch and and those leaf bags, which we all thought were so clever at the time.

Maybe the jointed paper skeletons on a few doors. In the mid 90s, I started doing some painted plywood cutouts and we became the cool house when we did the ring of sheet ghosts around a tree. It was all very simple stuff in those pre-internet days.

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halloween71

· #7 · Sep 3, 2017

Zombie4* said:
I remember the dumb plastic mask and plastic costume that you would tie on you. They came in a box. Looking back now...they were quite creepy!! View attachment 464433

This was my costume I busted the butt out of it lol I was so excited to see ww still dress up like her.
I also remember the leaf bags and people jumping out of coffins and sugar daddy suckers yummmo

pauly88

· #8 · Sep 3, 2017

I sure do. The leaf bags being one of them. I also remember Kmart and Fedco. (Not sure if anyone remembers that store here)
Had lots neat blowmolds cutouts. And when Casper the movie came out it was so fun seeing stuff of him. I have the Casper where holds candles still.
Oh and the telco and gemmy small animatronics. Boy now that to me is worth more than gold..

LadyMage

· #9 · Sep 3, 2017

My parents bought this house in 93, and bought a bunch of decorations to have a halloween party either that fall or the fall after, and they bought a bunch of decorations for it. Mom dropped most of them off to me last year or the year before when she was downsizing. There was a plastic mat that screeched when you stepped on it, some cardboard cut outs, a ghost that made an electronic woo noise when it detected movement, a couple of candle holders, and I don't remember what all else. I will see if I have some pics.

kakugori

· #10 · Sep 4, 2017

I still have my 90s childhood plastic jointed skeleton - his name's Kooky, and he still makes an appearance on the porch every year. Been repaired a time or two. He's bigger than the paper ones, probably 4'.

Classic witch-hits-a-tree prop is very 90s, probably older.

Paper bag luminaries.

The leaf bags were definitely a thing, starting to see them again.

The battery operated shaking ghosts

Spooky sounds cassette tapes

Definitely the Telco animatronics (I have the witch and Dracula)

Lots of string lights, garland, and Lisa Frank party favors like pencils (I still have to buy pencils every year), erasers, bookmarks, treat bags, etc.

McD's happy meal treat buckets

Seems like more home made crafty decorations. One of my teachers would hang tissue paper ghosts from a tree, and hand out tootsie pops covered with a kleenex as little ghosts.

Spray painted hay bales!

A house in our neighborhood was the original Halloween house doing the haunted yard thing. I remember the classic caged gorilla, and one year they built a volcano over the top of their fountain. Really wish I had gotten to know these people.

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disembodiedvoice

· #11 · Sep 4, 2017

pauly88 said:
I sure do. The leaf bags being one of them. I also remember Kmart and Fedco. (Not sure if anyone remembers that store here)
Had lots neat blowmolds cutouts. And when Casper the movie came out it was so fun seeing stuff of him. I have the Casper where holds candles still.
Oh and the telco and gemmy small animatronics. Boy now that to me is worth more than gold..

Oh my gosh pauly88 !! I had forgotten about Casper, I went crazy over the merchandise, it was so cute. I still have two pairs of Casper PJ's and I had the cutest Casper Keychain, kept it for years and years and then my son lost it, it was attached to keys no less, that was 10 years ago at least and I still haven't found those keys, I think of them from time to time just because of my long lost little Casper....sob

Collected all these guys from Pizza Hut too, still have them somewhere.

Figurine Toy Souvenir Baby toys

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spooky night

· #12 · Sep 4, 2017

I think that's when the real "haunter" thing started. When I was growing up we only had cardboard decorations around. Then they started making these really cool animatronics and that's when I got hooked into decorating. I started collecting the life size Jason, Michael Meyers, Freddie, etc. and would think of different scenes I could make around them. I tried to collect them all, and in the beginning I did, now they make so many I could never keep up with them all.

mb24

· #13 · Sep 4, 2017

For me, I remember merchandise and costumes more than decor.

Vinyl costumes- E.T., Strawberry Shortcake
JOL pails
Blow molds
Inflatable Head costumes

AstorReinhardt

Discussion Starter · #14 · Sep 4, 2017

disembodiedvoice said:
Oh my gosh pauly88 !! I had forgotten about Casper, I went crazy over the merchandise, it was so cute. I still have two pairs of Casper PJ's and I had the cutest Casper Keychain, kept it for years and years and then my son lost it, it was attached to keys no less, that was 10 years ago at least and I still haven't found those keys, I think of them from time to time just because of my long lost little Casper....sob

Collected all these guys from Pizza Hut too, still have them somewhere.

View attachment 465457

I used to have Casper!

AstorReinhardt

Discussion Starter · #15 · Sep 4, 2017

People keep mentioning blow molds...anyone have picture examples? There are a lot of blow molds out there...

pauly88

· #16 · Sep 4, 2017

AstorReinhardt said:
People keep mentioning blow molds...anyone have picture examples? There are a lot of blow molds out there...

Here is some examples.

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pauly88

· #17 · Sep 4, 2017

disembodiedvoice said:
Oh my gosh pauly88 !! I had forgotten about Casper, I went crazy over the merchandise, it was so cute. I still have two pairs of Casper PJ's and I had the cutest Casper Keychain, kept it for years and years and then my son lost it, it was attached to keys no less, that was 10 years ago at least and I still haven't found those keys, I think of them from time to time just because of my long lost little Casper....sob

Collected all these guys from Pizza Hut too, still have them somewhere.

View attachment 465457

Good golly I had Casper and stinky (I never got the others) I used them as bath toys when I had my bubble baths. I didn't know they were puppets silly me (I was 8 at the time) However I bought the Casper not too long ago to bring the more young kid in me.

About you're key chain I hope you do find it somehow

ferguc

· #18 · Sep 4, 2017

What i remember were the 60's era blow molds (haunted house, pumpkin man ) , Beistle cutouts or some other brand (we had life size skeleton on door and black cats in windows), Kleenex ghosts, making garland chains out of construction paper, a scarecrow made out of dad's old clothes, motionettes, carved pumpkins, and all the costumes in boxes galore (Collegeville and Ben Cooper). A rubber mask of some sort. The plastic pumpkins.

LadyMage

· #19 · Sep 4, 2017

Pretty sure this guy is from that era. Just picked him up from a local thrift store. I have a sign and another blow mold that I know are from that era, but they're buried currently in my storage, and I apparently don't have any decent pictures of them.

Ear Skull Bone Art

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mohawk640

· #20 · Sep 4, 2017

Telco

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