Some Halloween fans are excited about a growing trend called “Pinkoween.” Pink pumpkins, skulls and other decorations let you celebrate the spooky season long before fall.
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Halloween decorations have been hitting shelves since July, but another spooky trend is lurking at major retailers: Orange and black decorations are being overshadowed by… pink?
Visit any HomeGoods store and you’ll see plenty of pink Halloween pillows, pumpkins and pink Halloween coffee mugs. Pink skulls, pink skeletons — including a five-foot-tall one — and pink indoor and outdoor spider webs are haunting Target and Target.com.
Head to any Michaels arts and crafts location and you’ll find it inhabited by pink ghosts, pink hanging bats, pink decorative tombstones, and pink coffin-shaped shelves.
For many, Halloween is pink, so in recent years retailers have expanded the Halloween color scheme for decorations beyond the traditional orange and black. Hence, the “Pinkoween” season has arrived.
What is “Pinkoween”?
“Pinkoween” has nothing to do with politics – it’s a trend to expand the color scheme of traditional Halloween decorations.
“Pinkoween” began to become a retail staple at Target, Walmart, HomeGoods, TJ Maxx and Marshall stores last year and is getting even stronger this summer, said Instagram poster @InTheWorkplace, whose posts include her favorite “Pinkoween” purchase: a $5 Target ghost sculpture she found last season.
“Although the traditional colors are always a fan favorite, there are a lot of people who like pastels (pink, purple, etc.) as well. I personally love the mix of both. The pastels create a more whimsical vibe that I think some people like,” the West Coast artisan told USA TODAY. She’s also created her own pink-cheeked “disco ghosts” with mini mirror balls that she sells on Etsy.
“Pinkoween”: A “sweet but spooky twist” on interior design
Why pink? Classic colors don’t go well with the pink decor in the home of Keiko Lynn, a social media influencer and HomeGoods brand ambassador. But skulls, bats and ghosts in pink hues add “a sweet but spooky touch,” she told USA TODAY.
“I love the idea of taking traditionally spooky elements like skulls, bats and ghosts and spicing them up with pink hues,” said Lynn, who also has a tutorial on making a secret witch’s hat out of pink and green material.
We know Halloween is a lot of fun for many Americans — consumer spending has set records each year for the past three years — $12.2 billion in 2023, according to the National Retail Federation. Of all the holidays, people say they plan Halloween the most: 46% say they plan one to two months in advance, and 12% say they plan more than three months in advance, according to research firm Numerator.
Some love Halloween so much that they start decorating right after July 4, says Mandi Clark, trend and design director at Michaels. The arts and crafts chain used to introduce its Halloween collections in early August, but this year the first of four collections, Hippie Hallow, came out in late June. Two other, more traditional collections — Haunted Forest and Midnight Moon, both launched on July 26 — feature more traditional, spooky colors and items, as does a third, Hocus Pocus, which launches on August 16.
The Hippie Hallow line is part of a “popular ‘Summerween’ trend” that eschews classic orange and black in favor of “pink, purple and softer orange, retro florals, patterned pumpkins, cool ghosts and other nostalgic, playful motifs,” Clark said. Last year’s Sweet and Spooky collection “featured a palette of pastel pink, purple and mint that boosted the viral ‘Pasteloween’ and ‘Pinkoween’ trends sparked by pop culture moments like Barbie, and even exceeded our own expectations,” she told USA TODAY.
These different color schemes “provide decor that better fits the transition from summer to fall, helping customers get into the Halloween spirit faster without feeling like they’re sacrificing summer,” Clark said.
Pinkoween Decoration Ideas
If you want to add a touch of Pinkoween to your decor, there are plenty of tips on social media.
TikToker mariaa_rose posted a video after visiting Michaels, where she found a pink Christmas tree and shelves full of pink decorations. “Everything is so cute,” she said in the video.
When Instagram user @itsdecorable spotted some ghosts wearing pink hats at Marshalls, she had to post about them and other #Pinkoween finds. “I still prefer my pastels/light pinks, but it’s nice to see something different that isn’t orange for Halloween,” she wrote.
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