Michaels Classic Vintage Halloween

 

Here we go with a theme I love! That classic orange and black, vintage-inspired look. You'll have to bear with me and my blog formatting on this one. I uploaded most of these photos off my phone and the spacing is just weird. 

          I'll start us off with some floral accessories and picks. 

These remind me of some old party favors from the 20s or 30s.

I actually made some very similar jack-o-lantern picks myself, except I made mine out of foam.

 This is part of a garland.

              

 

How about this goofball? This is a close-up view of a pretty large spider decoration.

I thought a lot of what is coming up next had a vintage paper maché look.

I really liked these antique looking soda boxes. I have seen very similar wood bottle containers in actual antique stores, probably for Coke or beer. I think they did a great job with the designs and fonts. The sayings are cute too.

These popcorn boxes are made of metal, which surprised me. I expected them to be papery, but these will last a lot longer! I think these circus-themed designs could pair up well with that "Bound by Magic" theme from a previous blog post.

A countdown to Halloween dial. You just turn it around like the dial on a clock.

Just look at that shelf of patterned old-timey goodness! I'm actually noticing things now that I didn't at the time. Those ghost candles are pretty cute. 👻

This looks like a DIY project waiting to happen. If you had some plates, candlestick holders, and scrapbook paper.

         

How fantastic are these next three!? Again, I've seen similar wall decorations that are actual antiques.

  

 

I like these three as a set. Probably the cat is my overall favorite in this skeleton, jack-o-lantern, cat theme Michaels has going.

 

Probably a candy holder:

    

     

These last two are lanterns.

For those of us who are into the Halloween classics, this is pretty great stuff! 🎃

A simple trick for a glowing pumpkin

That treat bucket of mine is glowing pretty brightly and I have an instant way for you guys to get that bright of a glow. I was at Dollar Tree a few days ago and saw some little lamps. They're pretty cool for $1.50! You light them up with either 3 AAA batteries or a USB A to USB C power cord. This lamp doesn't include either of those. You can buy the cord and a USB to wall plug adapter at Dollar Tree, though.

Something cool about this lamp is that it has three settings - cool light, warm light, and neutral light. You know, like the basic light bulb choices. You tap the top of it once to change settings. There's a dimmer feature on it too but I haven't tried that yet.

I would like the option to recharge the lamp with the cord and then have it powered for a while. You need to either have it plugged in or filled with batteries to see light. For my purposes, I don't mind having it plugged in, but there might be another time I'd like the lamp to be mobile without needing batteries. 

This is the cord I got at Dollar Tree. It's a perfect pumpkin orange, isn't it? 

I like these novelty cords with some little rubber design at the end. Usually, it's a tiny piece of food. You plug the cord into the back of the lamp, like this:

This is the actual plug adapter I bought at Dollar Tree. It has one USB port in it. You can't necessarily  expect to see these at the store on every trip. It's sort of hit or miss. Whenever I do see one of these, I get one.

I had this old Halloween treat bucket already, and the lamp fits inside of it perfectly. 

The cord just hangs over the back and plugs into the wall. 

I'm getting a good glow and I don't have to worry about real candle safety, having batteries run out, or needing to recharge anything. I know I could put a regular fake candle in there, but I just haven't gotten as much brightness out of those. 

So, if you already have a treat bucket, cord, and adapter plug on hand, this could be a quick and cheap decoration for you too! 🎃

Spirit Halloween ~ All Aboard the Spooky Subway!

Hey guys! OK, This is going to be a first. I decided to take all these photos on my phone because the lighting in Spirit Halloween was looking overexposed with my regular camera. I think these phone pics turned out better and loading pics off my phone is way faster than loading them off my camera. So, I might be doing this again. Let me know if these photos look different size-wise or off center in any way. They're looking normal to me in preview mode. 

I'm starting with some of my favorite photos: the vintage/classic inspired masks. This may be my favorite photo from that day. Is this jack-o-lantern a specific character I'm not aware of?

This clown looks like he's off an old piece of advertising or a candy wrapper. You know those vintage paper candy bags? Something about his coloring makes me feel like he could be on one of those.

This guy is from Goosebumps. I had to do some googling to refresh my memory on him. His name is Curly the Skeleton, and if you'd like to read a little trivia about him, here's a link: 

Goosebumps Fandom ~ Curly the Skeleton 

That Goosebumps page looks like something fun to explore.

I've never tried press-on nails from a store that I can recall. Wait, maybe I have a vague memory of sticking some on with little pieces of tape when I was kid. I don't know. I'm sure they do it differently now. If I was going to stick some store nails on, these would be the ones I'd try. How cute are these with the miniature googly eyes!? I didn't even know there were googly eyes this tiny. 

This is the kind of blingy mask I say I'm going to craft each year. I do have a lot of rhinestones on hand.

This crow mask is made up of individual "feathers". I thought it was beautiful. This is the kind of photo that my usual camera was having trouble with. There's all that black on black under funky lighting.

I can't stop laughing at "The Menacing Man" because he's not very menacing! I think I'd title this picture something like "Moody 80s Musician" or "Tired Goth" :) I'm sure these wig models get a kick out of their photos if they go into a Spirit Halloween. This guy is probably modeling a number of wigs in the store.

I thought this wig was pretty. I'm surprised they labeled it as "Victorian". It looks more like something from the 1700s, doesn't it? I bet this wig could be used as part of a number of ghost costumes.

I smile every time I look at this one. There's something so funny to me about an adorable baby being dressed as Ghost Face. 

Speaking of scary/adorable combinations! I haven't seen M3GAN, but I know the general concept, and have seen the dancing. Is it scary? It sounded like a potentially scary movie plot. 

Here are a couple of my favorite costume/accessory sections. Here we have the Hippie display. I noticed that was a pot necklace after taking a closer look at my photos. I think at the time I thought Hawaiian lays had been put in the wrong section!

The 80s/90s section is always nostalgic for me! Although I'm seeing neon colors coming back in regular clothes and decor now. Still, some of these outfits are a trip down memory lane.

Funnily enough, this is the one thing in the store that scared me. It only scared me because it caught me off guard! I realize it is a very cute prop. If you don't recognize this, it's Zero's little tombstone from Nightmare Before Christmas. When I walked past it, a bunch of little barks sounded and it lit up. I jumped and went Aah! But then when I tried to get a pic of it lit up, it would turn off. Go figure. I think it took three times of me setting this off and quickly hopping down to get a picture.

There was an inflatable section, but they were all still in their boxes. I'd seen most of them before, and you probably all have too. This Pumpkin Scarecrow was new to me, though. It looks like he lifts his head on and off. At least I hope he does that. Maybe he holds it up at all times. I've seen some that move. A neighbor has a small inflatable pumpkin that a ghost pops out of and I've seen cats that pop up too.

The scary pumpkin section:

How cute are these ghosts with their candy corn bikini tops?

The themed decoration sections were out again, like Disney's Haunted Mansion. I don't remember those grinning gargoyle candleholders from last year. So those must be new. And I think the girl with the umbrella was on a lamp last year. Now she's on a suncatcher. They actually had a number of suncatchers out, although I didn't photograph the others.

Then there was the Beetlejuice section. I was sure I was looking at a plastic mask of Miss Argentina, but now I'm seeing that she is a door knocker. Next time I'm in the store I'll have to press that button and see what she says. 

I remember this Beetlejuice mask from last year. I think it's pretty good! It has stubble, mold, and everything!

And how about Adam's "stretched face" mask above him?

It would be a great couple's costume if one person wore Adam's stretched face and the other person wore Barbara's:

There was also a Spongebob section. I didn't understand some of what was there, but then I'm not a diehard Spongebob fan, just a casual one. :)

A section I really couldn't explain to you is the one with a Squid Game theme. But I did appreciate this super large-scale figure. I don't even know how tall she was, or if she was for sale. Or.... who she is. 

Her eyes moved and she said something. Should this be a scary character? She seemed like a giant doll.

Spirit Halloween is going with a spooky subway theme this year. The neon words actually scan across the top, like on a city bus. There are some fun details here, like the little skull logo and the "tracks". The animatronics were either surrounding the subway or inside it. 

It was honestly pretty creepy to step inside, especially while alone in the store. It had that dingy public transit vibe, although not as dingy as reality. How am I just noticing that upside down torso now? I must have wandered right past him. I was probably so taken with that giant rat at the end, that I missed some other details.

Do you guys remember Rats of NIMH? I was reminded here. This rat's eyes glow and he moves around making rat-like noises.

I don't know what this next creature is, but it was one of my favorites! It's kind of a crow/gargoyle I think. Next time I'm in the store, I'll have to check out its name.

This one is for sure my #1 favorite animatronic. I always like the classic jack-o-lantern scarecrow characters. 

He has great viney hands. His face and lantern light up and he moves from side to side.

This guy wasn't fully assembled yet. I have high hopes for him. My guess is that he's going to be a leaper. It looks like he starts out low to the ground and then shoots up. I recognize the candy bowl scarecrow behind him from last year. That one actually got me! He makes a sudden movement that probably really scares kids if you sit him out with a bowl of candy.

This clown spins in a circle. 

I think this reaper is the actual Spirit Halloween mascot. He said some creepy stuff that I can't recall. 

These glassy-eyed animatronics look lifelike enough to get to me. I'm sure he'd be even more effective in someone's yard at night.

The clown holds a box, says a sassy phrase or two, and then...

Pop! Goes the scary monkey. Then it slowly lowers back into the box. 

I really don't remember her deal. I think she says something, then screeches, and then her head spins around. 

Here we go exiting Spirit Halloween to go back into the mall. It feels like a different world out there. In keeping with the subway theme, you can enter and exit through this gate. 

So, there are my highlights from Spirit Halloween this year. Is this more or less what your Spirit stores have to offer? I'm sure they're all slightly different based on where they're located. If things go like they did last year, the store will keep updating their merchandise and I may have more to share.💀