Visit the Vintage Halloween Store featuring old-fashioned Halloween items from vintage style chenille figures to cutout ornaments and cards to our signature noisemaker rattles--they're Spooktacular! Lots of great items for your Halloween parties and your tricksters and spooksters! (For Vintage Party items in other holiday themes: Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and more, check out The Vintage Party.)

As a child, I adored Halloween--the costumes, the revelry, the trick or treating--it was all such great fun. I saved some of my costumes and others I have photos to remember spooky nights by. We didn't save a lot of our Halloween decorations--much to my chagrin now that I am a collector. In fact, you will find that most people didn't save their decorations like they did at Christmas time. This makes the experience of collecting Halloween memorabilia a bit expensive in that some items tend to be more scarce and even rare.

I am also a seasoned Nancy Drew collector, having discovered eBay in its early stages when I was collecting vintage series books. I discovered some old decorations and costume items at my parent's home and looked to eBay to see if there was anything vintage listed. And I was hooked! There is such a wide variety of Halloween items listed from the pre-1960 category to the modern category and a lot of vintage style items--newly made but with vintage flair.

While this website explores many types of Halloween collectibles (with some value ranges and scarcity notations in the Vintage Collectibles section) and sells vintage style items, collectors can often become overwhelmed in building a collection. It's easy to jump right in and start amassing a little of everything. I decided to focus on several themes I enjoyed--noisemakers, diecuts, books and games. These items are fairly inexpensive for the most part in comparison to the spendy papier mache lanterns and candy containers. While snubbed by some collectors, the plastic items can bring a pretty penny too. Being bitten by the collecting bug, I will too venture into other Halloween themes--I'm enjoying the paper party items right now--the bridge tallies, place cards, and party sets.

The advice I like to give any collector regardless of what you collect, is to do research into what you are collecting. Get a good idea of value and always check the condition of any item--especially those purchased over the Internet. Also, be aware of reproductions which look just like an original vintage item. Many collectors enjoy reproductions at a fraction of the price of originals, however, be sure that vintage collectible you are purchasing is really vintage. Collector and historian, Mark B. Ledenbach has excellent advice to offer on collecting and reproductions at his website.

The following are guides to collecting Halloween and Halloween theme books that I think you will find very interesting and informative. You can purchase these at retail bookstores or online at book sites like Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Vintage Halloween Collectibles: Identification and Price Guide Author: Mark B. Ledenbach, July 6, 2007, 2nd Edition, Krause Publications	Timeless Halloween Collectibles, 1920 to 1949 (Beistle Items) Author: Claire M. Lavin, 2004, Schiffer Publishing	Halloween: Collectible Decorations and Games Author: Pamela Apkarian-Russell, 1999, Schiffer Publishing	Halloween in America: A Collector's Guide with Prices Author: Stuart Schneider, 1995, Schiffer Publishing	Halloween Merrymaking: An Illustrated Celebration of Fun, Food, and Frolics from Halloweens Past Author: Diane C. Arkins, 2004, Pelican Publishing Company	Time for Halloween Decorations Author: Claire M. Lavin, 2007, Schiffer Publishing