The first in-store reports from deal trackers today had Target’s Halloween candy, decor and snacks at 50% off, Walmart’s costumes, candy and decor at half price, and some Walmart Halloween apparel at up to 70% off. Drugstores came in shallower on candy: CVS at 33% off, Walgreens at 40%. Daylight saving time ended overnight, so at least the early shoppers got an extra hour of sleep first.
There’s a lot to clear. The National Retail Federation expected Americans to spend $13.5 billion on Halloween this year, including $4.3 billion on decorations and $4.1 billion on candy. Whatever didn’t sell by last night is now taking up shelf space that stores need for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and they price it to move.
Half off is only a deal on things you’d have bought anyway, though. This is a guide to what’s worth picking up today, what to wait on and what to leave on the shelf, with a few rules for not turning your garage into a second Halloween store.
What today’s markdowns look like
The early numbers vary more by category than by store. Here’s what the November 1 roundups reported:
- Walmart: costumes, candy and decor at 50% off; Halloween apparel up to 70% off.
- Target: candy, decor, food storage, trunk-or-treat items and snacks at 50% off.
- CVS: decor, apparel and treat buckets at 50% off; candy at 33% off.
- Walgreens: decor and costumes at 50% off; candy at 40% off.
- Dollar General: decor and costumes at 50% off; candy at 30% off.
- Kroger: treat buckets and decor at 60% off.
- Spirit Halloween: 50% off the whole store, in store.
Two things stand out. Candy starts with smaller discounts than decorations at the drugstores and dollar stores, so don’t assume every orange shelf tag means half off. And Spirit is a seasonal pop-up, which changes the math: its stores don’t stay open long into November, and its policy says all sales after October 22 are final. No returns, no exchanges, so anything you buy there has to work the first time.
How the discounts usually step down
No big retailer publishes a clearance calendar, and individual stores move at their own pace. Still, deal blogs have tracked the same rough pattern at Target for years: about 50% off the day after Halloween, around 70% off a few days later, and 90% off for whatever remains roughly a week out. Candy and food often follow a separate, slower track.
That pattern gives you a simple strategy. Buy the few things you really want today, because the best decor and the common costume sizes go first. For everything you’d only want at a giveaway price, note the aisle and come back later in the week. By the 90% stage the selection is thin and some stores have already cleared the section for holiday stock, so treat it as a bonus round rather than the plan.
One more wrinkle: the price on a store’s website and the tag on the shelf don’t always move together in the first days after Halloween. If something is worth a special trip, check both, and take a photo of the shelf tag in case the register rings it up differently.
Do the per-ounce math before you grab candy
Halloween candy is priced for October, when demand peaks, and half off a seasonal bag isn’t automatically cheaper than the everyday version of the same candy two aisles over. Most grocery and big-box shelf tags print a unit price, per ounce or per count, in small type next to the big number. That’s the figure to compare.
A quick example with invented numbers. A 20-ounce Halloween mix tagged $10 works out to 50 cents an ounce, and at 50% off it drops to 25 cents. If the regular 10-ounce bag of the same brand is $3.50, that’s 35 cents an ounce, so the clearance bag wins comfortably. At the drugstores, where candy started at 30% to 40% off, the same seasonal bag would land at 30 to 35 cents an ounce, which matches the everyday shelf or beats it by a nickel. In that case, wait for the next markdown or skip it.
What’s worth buying
Candy you’ll eat or bake with this month
Plain chocolate bars, baking-friendly candies and individually wrapped pieces for lunchboxes are the easy wins. Before you buy, flip the bag and read the date. Under federal guidance, a “Best if Used By” date is about quality rather than safety, and the FDA says food doesn’t have to be thrown out after it if it’s been stored properly. Still, candy that tastes stale in January isn’t a bargain.
Store chocolate somewhere cool, dry and steady. The white film that sometimes shows up on chocolate is called bloom: either cocoa butter rising after the chocolate got warm, or sugar crystals left behind by moisture, often from a trip in and out of the fridge. It’s harmless and mostly a texture issue, but it’s a sign the candy was stored badly, so check the bags at the back of the shelf for crushed corners and soft spots.
Decor that isn’t strictly Halloween
The smartest decor buys work past October 31. Faux pumpkins in neutral colors, fall leaves and garlands, warm-white or orange string lights and harvest-style centerpieces all carry straight through to Thanksgiving on November 26. Plain black or orange plates, napkins and tablecloths cost little and work for any party in those colors, including a game day for a team that wears them.
The NRF survey found 34% of respondents planned to buy items they could reuse or repurpose later. Today is the cheapest day of the year to act on that plan.
Next year’s costumes, chosen carefully
Kids’ costumes are the classic post-Halloween buy, with one adjustment: get them a size up. A costume that fits a 6-year-old today will be tight next October. Generic characters (witches, pirates, dinosaurs, astronauts, superheroes that have been around for decades) are safer than whatever was popular this year. Costume pieces such as capes, hats and props also double as a dress-up bin that gets used all winter.
Pet costumes are another quiet clearance category. The NRF expected $920 million in pet costume spending this year, and pet costumes are small, cheap and easy to store, which makes them low-risk clearance buys.
What to leave on the shelf
- This year’s trend costumes. Anything tied to a single movie, show or meme is a gamble on whether anyone will care next October.
- Animatronics and plug-in props you can’t test. A motion-activated skeleton that doesn’t move is just a skeleton. Skip these entirely at final-sale stores unless the box is open and you can see it work.
- Bulky decor without a home. A giant inflatable at 50% off still costs you 11 months of closet or garage space.
- Short-dated or crushed candy. If the date lands in the next few weeks and you don’t have a use for it, the discount doesn’t matter.
- Items at 30% off that you’d only want at 70%. Write them down and wait. If they sell out, you didn’t need them.
- Duplicates. It’s easy to buy a second set of something you forgot you owned. Check before you shop.
Before you load the cart
Take two minutes at home first. Open the bins where last year’s Halloween stuff lives and snap a photo of what’s in them. That photo is your shopping list’s best editor, and it’s faster than digging through the garage while standing in an aisle.
Then think about storage before you think about decor. If what you buy today won’t fit in the bins you already have, the “savings” will include a new bin or two at full price, because plain storage bins aren’t part of Halloween clearance. Label the bin by holiday and drop the receipt inside it. Next fall it will tell you what you paid and why you bought each thing.
Finally, set a number. It’s easy to spend $60 on half-price things you’d never have paid $30 for in September. A cap of $20 or $25 for the whole trip keeps the haul to the pieces you’ll be glad to unpack next year.
