Before Halloween

Shops start stacking the Halloween aisle weeks out, which means the costume bin and the seasonal mug display end up next to each other long before anyone's actually carved anything. Here's what's showing up early this year.

Sizing for a toddler fox costume runs small and fast, so the blue fox jumpsuit for ages 3 to 4 is the kind of thing you buy before you need it rather than the week of. It's filed as Carnival wear as much as Halloween, which tells you how flexible a onesie with ears can be. Compare more Verkleedkleding.

Some products exist purely to be a lid. The Snoopy and Woodstock pumpkin tumbler lid is Starbucks doing seasonal merch at the component level, a replacement or an upgrade for a 16oz cup you already own, or the start of one you don't yet. The best Kitchen Storage & Organization.

The Mickey Characters Halloween train runs lights and music and is built to sit on a console table doing exactly that, which is a specific job description for a decoration. It's less about spooky and more about having something to plug in. Compare more Holiday & Seasonal.

Limited editions in minifig form tend to vanish from shelves the way regular ones don't, and the Lego Halloween minifigs are already being sold with that urgency attached. Whether you build around them or just display the figures is your business. The best Jeux de construction.

Starbucks has made a habit of a single themed mug a year that outlives its coffee, and the Halloween cat mug is this year's version, a cat on ceramic doing the seasonal work other brands do with pumpkins. Compare more Tafelgerei.

At 150 feet and a hundred lighting modes, the Govee outdoor lights are pitched as a two-holiday purchase, orange through October and whatever color scheme Christmas asks for after. That kind of range is the whole argument for buying permanent rather than seasonal. The best Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living.