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It's time for a change! I've been running small business-focused Halloween Hunting posts since 2020, and every year it's looked the same: one small shop, one Friday, 10 products.
I love that shop-spotlight format and I'm keeping it around, but this year I'm also giving the series a bit of a refresh.
Instead of always digging up one new business a week, some Fridays this season I'll be rounding up several small shops at once, organized by category — so instead of "everything from Shop X," you're getting "six great places to find Y!"
Same mission (small businesses over big box stores), just a format that's a little easier for me to keep current and hopefully more useful for you when you're hunting for something specific.
Kicking off with the category I always start with myself when decorating: the house itself.
Here are six small shops worth adding to your cart before the mass-produced stuff hits the shelves.
Halloween Hunting: Home Decor
Cabinet of Curious Clay
Lindsay Keating (featured in the 2024 fall issue) has been throwing pottery in her Pennsylvania studio since 2015, and her decorative pieces — cauldron mugs, dark little bowls, sgraffito-carved details — have the kind of handmade texture that no mold-injected decor piece can fake.
If you want something that looks like it belongs on a witch's actual shelf rather than a seasonal display end cap, this is it. Shop Cabinet of Curious Clay →
October Road Designs
Based in Cary, North Carolina, October Road Designs has been on Etsy for 16 years and it shows — Star Seller status, a huge catalog, and a retro-vintage aesthetic that leans into Sleepy Hollow and Headless Horseman imagery rather than the usual skeleton-and-cobweb defaults.
Their signs, pillowcases, and tumblers are an easy way to bring that old-school Halloween postcard feeling into a room. Shop October Road Designs →
Blue Raspberry Charms
Emma Herman, out of Michigan, makes garlands, banners, and plaques using actual scanned vintage ephemera rather than reproductions built to just look old. Six years in and a Star Seller with thousands of sales, her made-to-order pieces are the kind of thing that feels like it came out of someone's attic in the best possible way. Shop Blue Raspberry Charms →
12 Months of October Co
A one-person operation out of Virginia with seven years on Etsy and a devoted following, 12 Months of October Co makes rustic, hand-cut wood signs with just enough dark humor to keep them from feeling twee. If your decorating style is more "haunted farmhouse" than "cutesy pumpkin," this is your shop. Shop 12 Months of October Co →
Vintage spooky company
Gary Filipiak has been making original vintage-style monster and Halloween artwork out of Upstate New York since 2017 — cutouts, magnets, stickers, all drawn in a classic mid-century monster-movie style. It's the kind of art that makes you nostalgic for a Halloween you may not have even lived through yourself. Shop Vintage Spooky Company →
Emmaley and me
Kim, working out of Santa Rosa, California, turns repurposed vintage quilts and grain sacks into quilted ghosts, embroidered witch hats, and shelf-sitters that read more "cherished heirloom" than "seasonal decoration." Seven years in with a perfect rating across hundreds of reviews, this shop is proof that Halloween decor doesn't have to be spooky to be special — sometimes soft and worn-in is exactly the mood. Shop Emmaley and Me →
Why I love Halloween home decor
What ties all six of these together isn't a single aesthetic. It's that every piece was made by an actual person who cared about the details, instead of stamped out by the thousands.
If you're decorating this season, I'd rather you fill your shelves with six different makers' work than one big-box haul. It'll look better, and it'll mean more.
Want more small biz home decor picks? Check out these past Halloween hunting features:
