[Zombie Pumpkins!]

By the end of July, Michaels has most of their Halloween items on the shelves. Much of it is the same as last year. But I'll share some photos of my findings. First, I'll show you what I bought:



The metallic skull is a tealight holder (the top of his dome flips open). But the material apparently isn't safe for real flame. It says right on it, "For LED tealight only!" I have a flickering LED pumpkin light in mine. The actual-size skeleton hands are sturdy resin, and make good props for placing around your jack o' lanterns for photos. Or they could be good hands for your life-size grim reaper prop (assuming you don't mind him having 2 left hands). The book is meant to look aged, and it's actually a hollow box. The front cover opens as a lid, and is held closed with a magnet.

Now I'll show you what I didn't buy. First, we have the foam pumpkins (which I'm sure to buy soon enough). I won't talk about all the varities here. To learn more about this year's Michaels faux-kins, see this post: Michael's 2012 Foam Pumpkins (Gemmys)



Next to the foam pumpkins are all the necessary tools. No new inventions this year. Among these implements I would recommend the Jack O' Ripper scoop for gutting pumpkins, the Artificial Pumpkin Saw for cutting real or foam pumpkins, and the Creative Versa-Tool for cutting foam pumpkins.



Various tonics and potions in bottles. I prefer the black bottles with the aged labels, over the more colorful varieties...



Skulls with much bling...



Changing portraits, tombstones, curly witch shoes...



Some sparkly jack o' lanterns and spooky trees. I love the sculpt of the tree, but it's a shame that it's covered in glitter. All you have to do is look at it, and the glitter flies everywhere. Touch it and your hands will look like you murdered a pixie.



Various signs for hanging, staking in the ground, and even pillows...



Sculptures of books, supposedly holding spells, hexes, curses and rituals. I thought these were pretty cool...



The cute figurines and table knick-knacks...



I always like their faux-stone busts. This year we have a male and female bust that talk to each other. Eyes light up and jaws open as they speak...



They have a number of larger, light-up decorations. Such as this candlabra, spider, and witch hat...



Here's the skull I bought, with the metallic paint job. Also available as a slightly smaller skull on a black pedestal...



More skull themed candles and candle holders, pretty classy...



Again, the annual collection of Spooky Town village pieces. Some clever ideas for haunted buildings. I don't collect these, but I'm guessing some are new...



Over on the crafting side of the store, we again have the paper mache items for painting. Skull masks, small full skulls, witch hats, and skull/pumpkin boxes...



Also some wood things for painting. A haunted (bird) house, coffins, skeletons and signs...



I'm not sure if these are new, but I don't remember seeing them before. Rather large plaster sculptures, meant to be painted with acrylic paints. Varieties include skulls, witch heads, haunted houses, jack o' lanterns and face-less pumpkins. A potentially fun project, but these are pretty heavy and breakable...



Foam haunted houses for the kids to construct...



More foam stickers, masks, etc...



Party favors and games...



Obviously not everything is out on display yet, as evidenced by this aisle...



This empty aisle will soon hold some of the larger decorations for hanging around your haunt. Items you can expect to find include 18" witches, reapers, skeletons and ghosts. Bags of eyeballs, skulls and bones. A 60" hanging bat. A 30" plush spider. Basically, this sort of stuff...



So what do you think of the offerings from Michaels this year? Do you have any favorites?

[zombombie]

I say it every year, but I hate that the UK doesn't do Halloween in such a big brilliant way as the States.

Anyway - Thanks for sharing! You go above and beyond with the picture taking and documenting And I really think Kanye is going to have a great Halloween with thos bling skulls

[pagemaster1993]

I say it every year, but I hate that the UK doesn't do Halloween in such a big brilliant way as the States.

Anyway - Thanks for sharing! You go above and beyond with the picture taking and documenting And I really think Kanye is going to have a great Halloween with thos bling skulls

You could rent or buy a house here and take a vacation during the month of October.

This year I am going to buy some of those cardboard skulls and paint them up, and also plan on buying a few of those wooden coffin jewelry boxes to paint up.

[zombombie]

I say it every year, but I hate that the UK doesn't do Halloween in such a big brilliant way as the States.

Anyway - Thanks for sharing! You go above and beyond with the picture taking and documenting And I really think Kanye is going to have a great Halloween with thos bling skulls

You could rent or buy a house here and take a vacation during the month of October.

This year I am going to buy some of those cardboard skulls and paint them up, and also plan on buying a few of those wooden coffin jewelry boxes to paint up.

If I could afford to do that pagemaster, I'd move out there!

I actually bought a couple of those craft skull here a year or 2 ago and my wife and I painted them up in a Dia De Los Muertos style... I think I posted pics here.... Anyhoo, they're pretty great to get and paint

[blueikaos]

Touch it and your hands will look like you murdered a pixie.

This is hysterical. I love glitter- but that seems a little over the top!

I know where I am headed after work. My wallet hates Halloween season!

I wonder if my Fiance will be mad if I spend some of our saved wedding funds on some stuff. j/k .... maybe.

[ghostface]

It all looks great! Can't wait to get some foamies.

[Raven]

I bought some stuff a few days ago, but did not see any foam 'kins. I am going to head back tomorrow and see if they have them out yet. I also have a few craft projects in mind to pick up some stuff for. I love the plaster items, I'm thinking I might need one of the skulls, among other things.

[blueikaos]

Just got back from Michael's. They didn't have nearly as much as you posted.

I got a mini wood coffin and that's pretty much it.

My dollar store had some stuff out too and I got some black "cheesecloth".

Can't wait for my Michael's to add some more!

[wookie66]

Love Michaels and that they put all of their stuff out before everybody else but my official Halloween shopping wont start until Spirit opens up. Everytime I go in there I end up buying something.

[Starparty]

And for those of you with smart phones, Michael's has an app that spits out a lovely pile of coupons that can be scanned right from the phone! I have already cleaned my local Michael's out of the large orange foam pumpkins (ok, there were only three on the first truck) but I got 40% off of two and 50% off the third already!

Right now there is a 25% off your entire purchase coupon out there too.

At mine they have a new set of 25 mini lights that run off of AAA batteries in orange and purple, and are auto set to be on for 8 hours, off for 16. I'm thinking two sets of those hung up in my rear window, a mini carved foamie behind each backseat head rest, a ZP window decal and VOILA! a rolling advert for ZP goodness.

[ghostface]

Love Michaels and that they put all of their stuff out before everybody else but my official Halloween shopping wont start until Spirit opens up. Everytime I go in there I end up buying something.

Spirit is my favorite place to shop on Halloween. Great store.

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

I visited a couple Michaels stores near me, and they had pretty much the same items out (and same items not out). And basically in the same locations around the store too. But I guess every Michaels isn't the same, since some of your local stores don't have it all out yet.

Starparty, thanks for the tip about using coupons right from a smartphone. That's handy. And of course, you can print weekly coupons from their site.

[Raven]

I went today and picked up a white foam 'kin for an idea I have.. it wont be carved. I did not see any of the paint yourself plaster items, which is what I really wanted. They did not have all the village items out yet either. I'm looking for some tombstones from that for another idea I have.. I'll have to head back in a few days as they usually run out of the Halloween things quickly. I might hit up Hobby Lobby this week and check out their stash.

[sloaner]

RD- are you planning on making a little grave yard diorama inside the foam kin? I saw someone post pictures of that before and it looked cool.

[pagemaster1993]

Is it just me or do their prices go up each year. Last year the craft pumpkins were $20.00 I believe and this year they are $25.00. The only thing I did not see go up in price was the wooden and cardboard stuff.