Common Vintage Halloween Decorations to Thrift Shop For
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Halloween may be a few months away but you can start thrifting for items NOW to make your Halloween decorating even easier. The items I have listed aren’t exactly “Halloween” items but instead are relatively common items you can find thrifting. If you’re looking exclusively for spooky Halloween items you’ll have to wait until thrift shops get their stuff out in September and October. Here’s my list of creepy fall items to start looking out for now.
If you’re going on a trip this summer check out my blog post on taking a thrift store road trip so you can find the best decor pieces for fall.
Books
Black, grey, brown and orange books fit in perfectly with Halloween decor. I love collecting vintage books that have worn spines but even modern books in the right colors can fit in. Also consider looking for vintage Halloween kids books, you might get lucky and find some about pumpkins, ghosts and witches.
Vintage books is one of my 10 cheap and common vintage items you can find at a thrift store.
Jars and bottles
You can take the most basic jar or bottle and make it Halloween creepy. You can add poison, medicine and ingredient labels to make it look like vintage apothecary jars. Or buy some eyeballs and spiders at the dollar store and fill them up!
Speaking of the dollar store, here’s a video of all the Halloween items I found at Dollar Tree this year. I couldn’t believe how many vintage inspired items they had!
Dominos and dice
Dominos and dice are easy to find at thrift shops and really affordable. Once I collect enough I put them inside the creepy jars I found thrifting.
Vintage photos
It’s always bittersweet when you find old family photos at the thrift store. But instead of having them end up in a landfill, I like to buy them and bring them into my home to appreciate. I’ve been lucky enough to even find vintage photos of trick or treaters! I love looking through vintage photo lots on ebay because you can buy a whole collection at once.
If you need ideas for how to use old photos check out my blog post on different ways to use vintage ephemera.
Vintage cameras
The perfect way to display your black and white photos would be next to a vintage camera! I look for black cameras to display at Halloweentime.
To help you decide what items you should purchase you can read my post about deciding what vintage items you should buy or leave behind.
Costumes and props
Start thinking about your Halloween costumes NOW. I don’t mean shopping for premade costumes that they bring out in October. Shop for clothing, props and accessories that aren’t specifically “Halloween costumes”. For example, our Mary Poppins and Bert costumes were 100% thrifted and not actual costumes.
Candlesticks and tapers
Vintage candlesticks and tapers are always sitting on thrift store shelves. I like to buy white, black or orange tapers for Halloween. For candlesticks you can buy any color and spray paint them or buy gold or silver. They give your house a spooky haunted house feel.
Hourglass
I love putting items that aren’t Halloween related into Halloween decor and then they BECOME Halloween decor. One of those items is a vintage hourglass. I can picture a wicked witch turning it over to time how long it takes to boil newt tails.
Porcelain dolls
If you’re up for something VERY creepy buy one of the haunted porcelain dolls at thrift shops. I almost always see dolls when I’m shopping but (personally) I’m too scared to buy them… haha!
Antique Mirrors
If you find a mirror that’s looking rough then it’s PERFECT for Halloween decorations! Maybe it’s antique and the glass has gotten foggy or it’s looking like a funhouse mirror, that just means it’s ready to haunt your home this October! I just found an antique mirror on the side of the road for free because it’s in really rough shape and I can’t wait to use it in my gallery wall.
Vintage records
Vintage records are affordable and have great artwork. I’ve been lucky enough to find a lot of actual vintage Halloween records. But you can also look for orange and black record covers and anything slightly creepy. Records by themselves without the sleeves are great too for displaying on a gallery wall.
I love collecting vintage records and they are featured in my blog post about 25 affordable vintage pieces to start a collection.
Alright, happy hunting! I hope you can find all kinds of haunted goodies this summer for your Halloween decor. Be sure to read my post on 10 tips for a successful thrift store trip to get ideas on how to find the best items.
