The Comeback of Vintage Blow Mold Halloween & Christmas Decorations
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Bring back timeless Halloween and Christmas memories with vintage blow mold decorations! Learn about the history and what to look out for when collecting these pieces.
Vintage blow molds are highly collectible and quite valuable. Today I'm talking about the history of blow molds, giving my favorite shopping tips and discussing why retro holiday blow molds are so popular in the first place. They are the most nostalgic Christmas and Halloween light decorations and can be really expensive.
What are vintage blow mold decorations?
Vintage blow mold decorations have been a classic part of holiday decorations for over a century, and are still highly sought after by collectors. From witches and ghosts to Christmas trees and snowmen, these hand-crafted decorations are the perfect way to bring back timeless Halloween and Christmas memories.
Blow molds are hollow plastic figures that were generally placed outside. Most of the blow molds everyone is obsessed about have lights in them. But not all blow molds have lights! For instance, trick or treat pails are blow molds but they don’t have a light.
Why are they called blow molds?
Vintage blow molds are handcrafted decorations that are created out of melted plastic. The mold is filled with liquid plastic, then air pressure is applied to shape the plastic into predetermined design patterns. They're available in classic Halloween motifs such as witches, ghosts and pumpkins, but can also be found featuring iconic Christmas images like Santa Clause, snowmen and Christmas trees. Collectors look for both antique pieces -- which are likely to carry over a century’s worth of Halloween and Christmas nostalgia -- and newer reproductions of the originals.
You can watch how blow molds are made in the video below.
Don Featherstone Union blow mold history
One of the earliest and also the most popular and famous blow mold is the pink lawn flamingo which was designed by Don Featherstone. He is the most famous blow mold artist out there and his blow molds are very collectible. A lot of his blow molds will even have his name on them, like my Dracula blow mold. Don Featherstone worked for Union products and made some of the most popular vintage blow molds out there.
Related blog post: Affordable vintage Halloween decorations
Blow mold money saving tip
You can find blow molds discounted if the light is missing. At antique stores, flea markets etc. blow molds will sometimes be cheaper because they don’t have the original light.
Amazon sells replacement lights that work just as well and you won’t have to worry about burning your house down with bad wiring. Plus they’re more energy efficient. If you plug in a lot of blow molds during the holiday season that can really add up. I always keep some on hand at my house for whenever I come across a lightless blow mold.
How much are blow molds worth?
If you have a blow mold and you’re not sure what it’s worth you can easily look it up. I have a blog post where I explain how I find out How Much Vintage Items Are Worth. Some blow molds are really expensive, like the Don Featherstone Dracula. Other’s are super affordable like trick or treat pails. My tabletop pumpkin and black cat blow mold is one of the cheaper lights you can buy. You can see how I style my Halloween blow molds in my spooky fireplace mantel post.
Which blow molds are worth money?
The more unique the blow mold, the better. Most blow molds belong to Halloween or Christmas like the Santa head pictured above. If you find ones that are more unique they can be worth a lot of money. A few years ago I found a Don Featherstone turkey at Goodwill for $10 and I sold it for $200 on eBay. Unique Halloween blow molds like Frankenstein or the Empire witch are quite expensive. For Christmas I have a church blow mold that is quite expensive.
You can watch me hunt for a vintage blow mold at the Allegan Antique Market in the video below.
Why are blow molds so popular?
Blow molds were the most popular in the 1950s-1970s. The past few years they’ve been really sought after and quite expensive. I think blow molds are so popular because they hold nostalgic value. I know that is true of myself and if you’d like to hear the personal story about why blow molds mean so much to me you can watch the video below.
Items that hold the most nostalgia are the vintage items that become highly collectible. Like cookie jars and Pyrex, they remind everyone of their grandma’s house or mom’s house.
Vintage Christmas blow mold decorations
Blow molds are also popular because of movies. In Christmas Vacation, half the movie is about Clark Griswold trying to light up his house for Christmas. He has this gorgeous Santa and reindeer blow mold set and when he can’t get everything to light up he kicks them and smashes them. That set of blow molds is SO expensive online and I’m sure it has to do with the movie. There’s also a scene in the popular Disney+ show Loki with Christmas blow molds.
Vintage Halloween blow mold decorations
You can see them featured in modern day shows like Stranger Things. In season two there’s a scene where the kids go trick or treating and there are vintage tombstone blow molds in a makeshift graveyard in the front yard.
New reproduction blow molds
Blow molds are still being made today and are gaining in popularity! Target has been selling $10 Halloween and Christmas ones and they sell out so fast. I bought the stacked pumpkin blow mold this year from Target for $30 (pictured above) because it looks so similar to a vintage stacked pumpkin blow mold that is really expensive.
Lowes even sells blow molds online! So does Menards and I bought a retro Santa light (The large Santa pictured below) and I got it on clearance in January. I think it’s wonderful that companies are selling new blow molds because it gives regular people the opportunity to own blow molds without spending $200 on a vintage one.
Related content: Free Printable Halloween & Fall Bucket List
For more holiday content you can read about Rare and Valuable Halloween Items and What Vintage Christmas Decorations are Worth Money.
