You know how holiday clearance sales usually mean the same thing as after-Christmas sales? And how candy gets big discounts after holidays like Valentineās Day and Easter have come and gone? Well, the timing of Halloween clearance sales is nothing like that. Let me explain.
The days after Halloween are way too close to Early Black Friday deals, so putting Halloween on clearance that late is a no-no. Stores need room for all that Black Friday inventory way in advance. After all, they canāt have jack-o-lanterns hanging around when theyāre trying to make room for TVs and singing Santas in early October (or before).
Thatās why some stores start putting Halloween stuff out as early as July. While there are a few stores that will hold onto their Halloween inventory through mid-November, most are trying to clear their spooky goods by Oct. 31.
That means that while you can find a bit of Halloween clearance after All Hallowās Eve, youāre gonna find the bulk of it during the month of October. And exactly when (and what) to shop for during Halloween clearance sales depends on the store, as Iāll show you below.
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1. Target Halloween clearance sales start a week before Halloween.
Yup ā Target starts marking down their Halloween items a full week before the holiday even arrives! During the seven days leading up to Oct. 31, expect to see markdowns of up to 30%.
If thatās not cheap enough for you, you can always wait for the big day to come and go. That way youāll be able to load up on next yearās items (or whatās left of it) for less. The day after Halloween, prices get slashed to 70% off.
Target Halloween clearance sales move fast, though. Thatās because Target ā like so many other retailers ā has started running early Black Friday sales super early. They need to clear that shelf space for winter holiday inventory.
Best things to buy: Targetās Halloween clearance decorations.
If youāre looking for home decor that looks like it came straight out of a horror movie, Target is not the place for you. The selection of Target Halloween decorations is plentiful, but itās mostly just cute and not incredibly scary. But Halloween clearance decorations are the most likely thing youāre going to find at Target after the holiday is over.
TIP: Prior to clearance sales, Target does also have Halloween costumes at affordable prices, along with tons of great deals on Halloween candy. Keep a particularly close eye out for BOGO offers on these items starting in mid-September through early October. While the prices may be great after the holiday, too, the inventory is almost nonexistent. Great prices donāt matter if the item you want is out of stock!
2. Walmart Halloween Clearance always launches on Nov. 1.
Walmart Halloween clearance deals kick in on Nov. 1, and like Target, the inventory goes fast. Youāll find prices slashed by 50% off the day after Halloween, with prices dropping to 70% off just 3 ā 4 days later.
Best things to buy: Walmart clearance Halloween costumes and decor.
Items will be pretty picked over, but the best things to shop for are Halloween clearance decorations and clearance Halloween costumes at Walmart. The Walmart Halloween costumes, which normally retail for $25 ā $30, are usually marked down to somewhere between $4 ā $8. Decor, including any leftover inflatables, will get similar discounts.
Hereās what weāre finding in our stores for 50% off:
3. Spirit Halloweenās clearance sale is super short.
Spirit Halloween stores arenāt even around for very long after Oct. 31, so youāll have to hurry if you want post-Halloween prices.
That said, you can find clearance items before Halloween, too. Just look for the wall at the back of the store. Another good way to identify clearance items is that the prices will end in ā.97ā or ā.98,ā while full-priced items end in ā.99ā.
But Spirit Halloween isnāt your cheapest option for clearance Halloween costumes.
Honestly, if you can find a costume at Target or Walmart, itās probably cheaper than the one youād buy at Spirit Halloween. The regular prices are just plain higher. That said, during the post-Halloween clearance sale, prices can get a lot more competitive ā even if the sale itself is incredibly short.
TIP: Sometimes Spirit is the only place you can find a particular costume. For example, in 2022, the only place licensed to sell Hocus Pocus costumes was Spirit Halloween. So you might pay extra for that exclusivity.
4. Costco Halloween clearance isnāt really a thing.
Costco has some incredibly popular Halloween items. From the Disney Halloween Village at Costco to their giant animatronics, the warehouse is one of the most popular destinations for Halloween shopping.
Their items are so popular that they tend to sell out before Halloween even gets here ā which means they sell out before clearance can even start. Plus, bulk candy items come at a great price, but theyāre usually packaged so that they can be sold in bulk at any time of year. So youāre not going to see as much Halloween candy clearance pricing as you would at other retailers.
If youāre able to get your hands on some great prices at Costco in the days after Halloween, mad respect to you. But itās going to be more of a treasure hunt than a reliable shopping strategy.
TIP: If youāre looking for the lowest prices on Costco Halloween costumes, shop the week before Halloween. The selection of clearance Halloween costumes is gonna be slim, but their prices in years past have dipped as low as $9.97 per costume.
5. Do not wait for Skelly to go on clearance at Home Depot ā he wonāt.
If youāve been dreaming of buying one of Home Depotās 12-foot skeletons, youāre gonna wanna figure out a way to get your money together this year. Home Depot has officially retired Skelly for good.
That means not only will you want to scoop him up if you find him in stock, but you also donāt want to wait to get the best deal. Youāre highly unlikely to find Halloween animatronics clearance deals that include Skelly this year. And in 2024, you wonāt get another shot.
More Home Depot Online Clearance Deals:
Related: Hereās where you can buy a giant skeleton for under $299.
6. Catch Loweās Halloween clearance at 60% off a week before Halloween.
Loweās is particularly not cool with holding onto their Halloween inventory into the month of November. So if you want to hunt for Halloween inflatables clearance deals, itās wise to shop before Halloween actually rolls around.
About two weeks before Halloween, youāll start seeing prices marked down by 50%. As Oct. 31 gets closer, youāll see discounts as high as 75% off. Remember, though ā theyāre trying to clear shelves. If you really want an item, you might not want to wait until the sale gets better. Because if you do, it might be out of stock.
TIP: Be sure to sign the kiddos up for Loweās free (spooky) trick-or-treat event.
Best things to buy: Loweās Halloween inflatables and pneumatics.
Loweās is one of the first stores to bring pneumatic props to the masses. Pneumatics are essentially decorations that use the power of an air compressor to simulate sudden or human movements (aka jump scares). A good example is Loweās Haunted Living 2-foot Grandpa.
Loweās Halloween sales are also known for their ānormalā animatronics and inflatables ā theyāve got quite a large selection. The biggest thing to watch out for is that sometimes Home Depot has lower prices on Disney inflatables specifically.
Here are a few of the best Loweās Halloween clearance deals we saw about a week before Halloween:
Disney 6ā² Mickey Mouse Candy Corn Hat Inflatable, $17.50 (reg. $69.98) ā 75% off
Disney 3.5ā² Hocus Pocus Winifred Inflatable, $17.99 (reg. $44.98) ā 60% off
Haunted Living 36ā³ Animatronic Ghost, $39.99 (reg. $99.98) ā 60% off
Disney 8.99ā² Animatronic Jack Skellington Inflatable, $42.25 ($169) ā 75% off
Haunted Living 10.5ā² Ghoul Inflatable, $59.60 (reg. $149) ā 60% off
7. Take your time with Big Lots Halloween clearance.
Unless thereās a hyper-specific item you want from Big Lotsā Halloween line, your best bet is to wait to shop after the holiday so you can stock up for next year. Technically, Big Lots Halloween clearance kicks off in mid-October, but the discount is only 20%. Youāre better off waiting until Halloween comes and goes.
Usually, the days after Halloween is when youāll see prices start to go down by 50%. By the time Veterans Day rolls around, prices are typically a whopping 90% off at Big Lots!
And unlike other stores, Big Lots usually still has plenty of Halloween inventory lying around in mid-November. With the 90% markdown, youād be hard-pressed to find an item that costs more than $5, with most items well under the $2 mark.
TIP: Big Lots sells a lot of Halloween home decor, so thatās usually what youāll find in the clearance section. Before Oct. 31, youāre more likely to spot some additional items like costumes and inflatables. In 2023, weāre psyched to see that thereās a Nightmare Before Christmas line at Big Lots!
8. Shop JoAnn Halloween clearance with a calculator.
Craft stores caught a lot of heat for how marked up their Halloween prices were last year. They blamed inflation, but it got super out of hand. Decorations you could have picked up at Big Lots for under $20 were going for $50 or more at places like Joann. In some cases, they went up above $100!
Weāre relieved that it looks like JoAnn Halloween prices have come back down to Earth this year (so far). But youāve also gotta remember that craft stores do tend to have inflated sticker prices ā because they run a lot of sales that give you a huge percentage off.
For example, in years past you could get pricing like 70% off Halloween items two weeks before Halloween itself. Thatās a pretty sweet deal.
But youāre gonna wanna bring a calculator with you. Because 70% off doesnāt mean the same thing as 70% off at Target if your base prices start out higher.
9. Hobby Lobby Halloween clearance is really just Fall items.
Hobby Lobby doesnāt actually sell Halloween decor because ofā¦something about Satan? I dunno. My understanding of Samhain (the ancient holiday Halloween eventually evolved from) is that it predates Christianity by quite a bit ā so Iām not sure how it would even be possible to have its origins in the worship of Christianityās demons.
But, hey. Weāre all allowed to have our own beliefs, and one of the many controversial ways Hobby Lobby expresses theirs is by not selling Halloween items.
Youāll still be able to find steep percentage-off discounts on fall decor items like pumpkins and other harvest items leading up to and in the days following Oct. 31.
Expect discounts of 50% ā 90% off during Hobby Lobbyās Fall clearance.
Right around spooky season, Hobby Lobbyās Fall decor starts to go on mega sale. Which is good, because like Joann, they have a history of some pretty jaw-dropping markups. Hereās an approximation of the potential Hobby Lobby sale schedule for Fall clearance:
End of August through about a week before Halloween: 50% off
About a week before Halloween through the first week-ish of November: 66% off
Second week of November through the week before Black Friday: 75% off
Week leading up to Black Friday: 90% off in-store only
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