What Everyone is Buying for Halloween This Year

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Happy Orange Tuesday, my spooky little friends! Haven't heard of Orange Tuesday yet? That's all about to change.

Orange Tuesday is the first Tuesday in September, as proclaimed by HalloweenCostumes.com, and it marks as the official start of Halloween prep and decorating. (They also do a TON of promotions and sales today, so if there’s something you’ve been eyeing…now is the time to add to cart.)

So it feels like the right day to talk about what people are actually buying! HalloweenCostumes.com just released its 2026 Halloween Survey, and buried in the costume data is a question I couldn't stop thinking about: which decoration are you most likely to purchase this year?

The answers are a pretty good snapshot of what American front yards are going to look like in about six weeks. I'm going through the list, top to bottom, with what the numbers say and what I'd actually spend money on in each category.

Some of these I own. Some I've been eyeing for years. One of them I'm going to try to talk you out of. 😂

If you're shopping the sale today, consider this your list.

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Jack-o'-Lanterns: 32%

No surprise. A third of people put the pumpkin first, and I'm one of them. It's the one decoration that works at every price point, from a $6 grocery store carve to a foam one you'll be pulling out for the next decade.

My rule: buy one good fake one for the spot you can see from the street, and carve real ones for everywhere else. The fake one earns its keep in year two.

Here are a few over at HalloweenCostumes.com I love:

• 12-inch light up smiling pumpkin

• 16-inch realistic light up pumpkin

• Light up teal pumpkin

Animatronics: 19%

This is the number that surprised me. Nearly one in five people is planning to buy an animatronic this year, and that's a category where the entry price is usually north of $100.

I get it, though. Nothing else on this list stops people on the sidewalk. If you're going to do one big splurge, this is the one with the highest return in neighborhood gossip.

A few things I've learned the hard way: check the height against your porch ceiling before you buy, plan for an extension cord, and if it's motion-activated, know that the mail carrier will be triggering it at 11 a.m. every day for a month.

If you missed it, earlier this summer HalloweenCostumes.com partnered with real people to create a new line of animatronics! Here are two of my faves, available for preorder:

• Gourdgeous the Vintage Pumpkin Witch by @witchywoman.11

• Halifax the Hungry Photo Booth Reaper by @horrorpropsdave

Ghosts and Hanging Props: 13%

The most underrated category on the list, in my opinion. Hanging props are cheap, they pack flat, and a few of them in a tree do more work than most of what you'd put on the ground.

Cheesecloth ghosts have had a real moment the last few years and I don't think that's going anywhere. If you want to make your own, I've linked a tutorial.

Prefer your ghosts store bought? Here are three I’d have in my home:

• 7-foot dark floating ghost

• 3.5-foot holding hands white ghosts

• My fave: Little Leroy the scooting spirit

Skulls and Skeletons: 12%

Skeletons are the workhorse of Halloween decor. You can pose them. You can dress them. You can put one in a lawn chair with a beer and a tiny hat and get more Instagram comments than your animatronic ever will.

If you don't own a posable skeleton yet, this is the year. Buy one good one instead of three flimsy ones. This would be my pick.

Spiders and Webs: 9%

Spider webbing is the cheapest way to make a porch look finished, and most people use it wrong. Stretch it thin. (No, thinner than that! Yeah, there you go.) If it looks like cotton balls, keep pulling. Grab some here.

Inflatables: 12%

Okay. Here's where I lose some of you: I know inflatables are polarizing. I also know that 12% of people are buying one this year, and that a good inflatable is genuinely delightful, especially if there are kids on your street.

My issue was never with the inflatable. It was with the sad, half-deflated version at 3 p.m. on a Wednesday.

So if you're going to do it: get one with a decent fan, anchor it properly, and put it on a timer so it's only up when it looks good.

Bonus points if you go BIG and buy one of these guys, ready to tower over your trick-or-treaters at 25 feet tall each:

• Colossal inflatable Beetlejuice

• Halloween Michael Myers inflatable

Tombstones: 3%

Three percent. Three! The lowest on the list, and honestly the most personally offensive number in the whole survey.

I understand the case against them. Cheap foam tombstones blow over, they fade, and the puns are the same seven puns every year. But a well-made tombstone, or better yet a homemade one, is the single most atmospheric thing you can put in a yard. It's the difference between "decorated for Halloween" and "something is wrong with this house."

I'm on a mission to get this number up. Join me with one (or, um, all?) of these picks:

• 24-inch angel of death tombstone

• Three piece 20-inch gothic tombstone set

• Six piece tombstone set

What I'd Buy If I Could Only Pick Three

If you're starting from nothing and want a porch that reads as Halloween from the sidewalk, this is the order I'd buy in:

1. A posable skeleton. Most versatile thing on the list.

2. Stretch webbing and one big spider. Cheapest way to tie it together.

3. One tombstone. For me. For the 3%.

Then, once you've lived with those for a season, decide whether the animatronic is worth it. You'll know.

Survey data is from the HalloweenCostumes.com 2026 Halloween Survey.