Home Depot got an early start on the Halloween season when they announced their 2023 Halloween collection in a virtual showcase July 11.
The home improvement retailer is celebrating their tenth anniversary of offering unique seasonal decorations with a new lineup of yard display items as well as returning favorites like the pumpkin twins, stack-o-lanterns and the Hocus Pocus Sanderson Sisters inflatable.
But the retailer also announced a partnership with Disney to offer a line of Nightmare Before Christmas and Little Mermaid inflatables, all available online now and in stores by Labor Day.
Halloween Every Night spoke to Home Depot’s senior merchant of decorative holiday Lance Allen about this year’s line.
Halloween Every Night: This is the tenth anniversary of Home Depot’s Halloween decoration collection. Can someone tell me how this started and how it’s grown over the years?
Lance Allen: Since releasing our first Halloween collection a decade ago with a few dozen products, we have worked hard to continuously elevate our seasonal collections, releasing larger-than-life animatronics, investing more in quality and innovation, as well as introducing an industry-leading collaboration with Disney, to offer more than 200 top-of-the-line items.
HEN: How much work collectively goes into putting one year’s collections into the stores nationwide?
LA: We pride ourselves on offering the most innovative and highest quality décor on the market. From consumer research to weather testing and more, the prep work for each new year’s collections takes an immense amount of time and effort and spans many months and even years in advance.
HEN: I’m sure you sell a lot more lumber and lightbulbs and sinks, but it seems like this is really good business for you each year, is it not? How would you say each year’s Halloween collections do for Home Depot’s overall business?
LA: Our goal is to bring solutions to life by offering everything people need to outfit their homes in a way that reflects their personal style. In being a go-to destination for every step of the way – and that includes seasonal décor as well. Through our Halloween collections, we’re able to attract more shoppers and strengthen existing relationships with our longstanding customers who know us for and have come to expect the exceptional offerings we provide each season. That said, we like to think that our reputation precedes us as our Halloween product launches are known to sell out extremely quickly.
HEN: Are there trends in certain states or regions of the country that you’ve noticed over the years as far as types of decorations or specific items, etc.?
LA: You’d expect regional trends in this category, but that is one of the amazing things about Halloween. Our customers have so much creativity and they find a way to create amazing displays no matter the space they have to use or their climate.
We have seen Skelly, hanging out on a fire escape in Chelsea, looking out to sea from a crow’s nest in the Carolinas, hanging out at the beach in Jacksonville and worked into countless displays throughout the yards of LA. Halloween is about having fun and going over the top to entertain your family, friends and neighbors. Have fun with the Predator of the Night looking off of a Greystone roof in Chicago, hiding behind the trees in the Blue Ridge Mountains or watching over prairies in Texas, there is no right or wrong way to celebrate.
HEN: We cover a lot of what are called “home haunters” in the L.A. area. One family we know even partnered with Home Depot last year on their now-famous home haunt. I’m curious what kind of interaction or input you get from home haunters?
LA: We are constantly listening to customer input, leaning into the latest trends and are always on the lookout for inspiration to create products that surpass all expectations. Taking Home Haunters’ feedback into account is no exception. Their dedication, enthusiasm and creativity never fail to impress us and is a driving factor to why we work so hard to push all boundaries. We highly value their insights and suggestions.
