Haul-o-Ween in July

Prior to leaving for SDCC, I learned that some stores had already started putting Halloween items out on their shelves. Is mid-July REALLY early for Halloween? Yup. Did I still want to go hunting for Halloween stuff when I returned from San Diego? I sure did.

Last fall, when I wasn’t yet comfortable shopping in person due to the pandemic, I got sucked in to watching Halloween hunting videos on YouTube. Halloween fans go to stores like HomeGoods, Marshalls, Target, and Michaels, and they film the Halloween goodies that they find. Of course, they also film their Halloween hauls.

Now that I’m okay with in-person shopping (masked, obvi), I decided to hit up HomeGoods and Michaels last week to see what sorts of Halloween things were there. I didn’t film anything in the stores, but I bought enough items that I decided to make a Haul-o-Ween video:

Here’s a photo of my late July 2022 Halloween haul, which comprised a couple products from Michaels and several others from HomeGoods:

Halloween July 2022 Hunting Haul

Halloween Haul

I bought two soap dispensers, a coffin terrarium, two packs of pumpkin-shaped votive candles, a Rae Dunn Witch’s Brew mug, a Rae Dunn smoked pumpkin-scented candle, and a Boo pillow with ghosts. Not pictured: a selenite tower that I found at HomeGoods for $19.99. Random, but cool! The terrarium and pumpkin votives are from Michaels and the rest is from HG.

It’s hard to find these items on the stores’ websites as of now. The sense that I got from watching Halloween hunting videos last year is that not all of the items are available online and that it’s way better to shop in person if you’re able. Apparently some items are super popular and fly off the shelves as soon as they’re stocked, like cute ghost mugs with toppers or lids.

The coffin terrarium (I bought the smallest size, which cost $19.99) is currently functioning as a little crystal display case. When fall rolls around I’ll put some Halloween-y figures in it. This would also make a really cute jewelry display case.

Coffin Terrarium crystal display

Michaels & HomeGoods Stock

I took a bunch of photos of the shelves at both stores last week (I only took a couple pics at Michaels). Below you can click through the slide show to get an idea of just how much Halloween stuff is out already. HomeGoods already has a ton of space dedicated to fall/harvest/Halloween decor and goods. My photos are not exhaustive of all the Halloween items I saw!

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While we’re on the topic of this Hallowed Holiday: how do you pronounce “Halloween?” I pronounce it “Hal-o-ween” like the name Hal or “hallowed.” But I hear a lot of folks pronounce the first syllable like “hall.” For some reason, that pronunciation irks me; to be fair, Merriam-Webster says that both ways are acceptable. Is the pronunciation a regional thing? FWIW, I grew up in St. Louis. Let me know in the comments how you pronounce Halloween!