There’s something I absolutely love about Halloween decorations and illustrations from the mid-century. The playful, kitschy vibe, with less focus on gore and more on fun, brings me so much joy. With that in mind, today’s post celebrates the season with a collection of vintage Halloween decor and illustrations from the 1940s-1960s.

Let the fun begin!

1950s Vintage Halloween Advertisement for 7up. Fun Vintage Halloween Art / Illustration.

Disclosure: Some of the links on my blog from Etsy , eBay are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

NOTE: If you click on any of the items featured below and they are not available, don’t fret! Hit the search button and see what else is on the websites. There are 1000’s and 1000’s of items being listed daily.

Mid Century Halloween Decorations & Illustrations

TRICK OR TREAT! Two 1950s vintage candy bags for trick or treating featuring fantastic Halloween illustrations.

I’m a big fan of the black cat with the witch.

1950s Vintage Halloween Art: Vintage Halloween Candy Bags wiht a Cat with Witch, Kids trick or treating to a Haunted House dressed in Halloween costumes.

Source: Etsy-VintagePrairieHome

1950s Halloween Cardboard Cutouts-Attractive Party Decorations.

1950s Halloween Party Decorations - Vintage Halloween Art as seen in 1950s Halloween Cardboard Cutouts

Featuring a cute witch owl and a carved pumpkin. These are indeed “attractive” Halloween decorations.

1950s Halloween Party Decorations - Vintage Halloween Art as seen in 1950s Halloween Cardboard Cutouts Featuring a cute witch owl and a carved pumpkin.

Source: Etsy-TremblaysAntiques

1940s paper cups with Halloween illustrations of bats, owls, moon and pumpkin with a witches hat. Love these!

1940s Vintage Halloween Art: paper cups with Halloween illustrations of bats, owls, moon and pumpkin with a witches hat

Source: Etsy-AdvertisingCollector

“For My Secret Pal on Halloween” – 1950s vintage Halloween card of two adorable witches having tea together (I guess they are not supposed to be friends?).

Further Reading: Halloween Roundup: A Collection of Vintage Halloween Ads, Photos & More

1950s Vintage Halloween Card featuring an illustration of two witches having tea together. See more Vintage Halloween art at the Vintage Inn Blog. — Source: Pinterest

1950s / 1960s Modern Mystic Eye Pendulum Game. Just ask the Mystic Eye a question and your answer will appear! Made by Clark Publishing Co.

Vintage Halloween: 1950s / 1960s Modern Mystic Eye Pendulum Game. Just ask the Mystic Eye a question and your answer will appear! Made by Clark Publishing Co.

Source: Etsy-NothingButAntiques

How can you be scared by this guy? You can’t! Impossible! 1950’s black cat top hat die cut Halloween decoration.

1950s Vintage Halloween-1950's black cat top hat die cut halloween decoration. Fun Halloween Art.

Source: Etsy-MysteryMisterAntique

‘Calling All Girls’ October 1958 magazine cover featuring an illustration of a girl in a Skelton costume going thru her trick or treat bag while her adorable dachshund, hides under the ottoman.

About: YM was an American teen magazine that began in 1932 as two magazines—Compact, which was aimed at older teens, and Calling All Girls, which was intended for younger girls (with a cover that always featured the signature dachshund) and pioneered the signature embarrassing-moments column, “Say Anything” (Source).

1950s vintage magazine cover from Calling All Girls featuring an illustration of a girl dressed as a skeleton for Halloween with her dachshund, from 1958.

Here is one more Halloween illustrated magazine cover from ‘Calling All Girls’ this time from October 1960 featuring a girl dressed as a Tiger and a feature on “Giving an Old-Fashioned Halloween Party”.

Further Reading: Vintage October Magazine Covers

Halloween illustrated magazine cover from 'Calling All Girls' this time from October 1960 featuring a girl dressed as a Tiger and a feature on "Giving an Old-Fashioned Halloween Party".

Source: Etsy-cheeseboyproducts

What a fun 1950s paper party plate with the most wonderful of Halloween illustrations on it. Love the colours and the placement of the graphics.

1950s vintage Halloween party plate featuring Halloween illustrations of a black cat, a scarecrow, haunted house and a bat. Fun Mid Century Halloween Art.

Source: Etsy-VintagePrairieHome

One more cute Halloween party plate for this post, because the Mid-Century Black cats are the best! Also the illustrations of the kids heads in their costumes is fun too, but I really love the cats.

1950s Vintage Halloween party decor-1950s party plate with Halloween art of a Black cat and kids in Halloween costumes.

Source: Etsy-AdvertisingCollector

If you have a party plate, you must have a party hat! Otherwise how will anyone know there is Halloween party going?

1940s party hat with a very happy witch illustration that is flying out of the hat. Cute!

1940s vintage Halloween: 1940s party hat with a very happy witch illustration that is flying out of the hat

Source: Etsy-frannyfindstreasures

The cute owls and witches illustrations seen above has been added to this 1950s witches costume sewing pattern featuring a hooked cape & skirt (so adorable!).

1950s Vintage Sewing Pattern-Girls Halloween Costume for a witch featuring a hooded cape & skirt and witches & owls.

Source: Etsy-studioGpatterns

1960s Scarecrow with pumpkin and a haystack honeycomb centerpiece.

Who ever invented the ‘Honeycomb’ decoration is a genius as it is by far one of my favourite vintage party decor items.

1960s vintage Halloween Decor-A Scarecrow Pumpkin Honeycomb Centerpiece.

Source: Etsy-VintagePrairieHome

“How To Run a 1946 Halloween Party’. I have shared this in another Halloween blog post and I STILL really wish the pamphlet was intact as I would have loved to have heard the suggestions on how to run a successful party.

1940s Vintage Halloween Pamphlet on how to run a 1946 Halloween Party featuring illustrations of kids in Halloween costumes at a Party. Fun Halloween Art. — Source: forces of geek

Black cats with yellow bow ties must of been popular. Vintage Mid Century 1960’s Litho printed crepe paper Halloween party decoration.

1960s Vintage Halloween Decoration-Black Cats with yellow bow ties. An authentic Vintage Mid Century 1960's Litho Printed Crepe Paper Halloween Party Decoration

Source: Etsy-frannyfindstreasures

Vintage 1960s Halloween Noisemaker by US Metal Toy featuring an illustration of an owl, cat, witch and pumpkin.

Source: eBay

One more noisemaker to end this post due to the illustration being so stunning – A 1950’s US Metal Toy Mfg. Co. Halloween tambourine noisemaker.

1950s Vintage Halloween: A 1950's US Metal Toy Mfg. Co. Halloween tambourine noisemaker featuring a Halloween illustration of a pumpkin with kids in Halloween costumes dance around it

Source: Etsy-TheVintageCrateTVC

Thanks for dropping by friends! Are you a fan of Halloween? Do you like the cute images of the season or the scary? Share any thoughts on this topic in the comment section below.

Further Reading: Vintage Halloween blog posts 1920s-1960s (archived).

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Liz

Celebrate Halloween as we explore the fun photos of classic Halloween parties (for adults) from the past.

This blog post will look at a collection of fun vintage Halloween costumes, the parties themselves, and the cool photographs that truly capture the spirit of the holiday. You will be amazed at the level of creativity people had back then, with costumes ranging from simple to elaborate, and sometimes just plain silly.

So come join me on a trip down memory lane to explore the wonderful world of vintage Halloween parties!

1950s vintage photo of a 1950s halloween party for Adult featuring Halloween decorations and Halloween party poster and lots of people in halloween costumes.

Disclosure: Some of the links on my blog from Etsy , eBay, are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Vintage Photos from Adult Halloween Parties 1940s-1960s

A 1967 Halloween party featuring a woman dressed up as Mae West and I’m going to assume the man is a fan (share your ideas in the comments section)?

Our Mae West costume in this photo is fantastic!

1960s vintage halloween photo from an adult halloween party in 1967. The couple is dressed up as Mae West and her fan.

Source: Archive.org

The next few images are from the same 1967 Halloween party as the one Mae West attended above.

2 Parisians walk into a halloween party and they are the life of the party! “Happy HOLLOWEEN!”

1960s vintage halloween party photo featuring a couple dressed a two french people. Photo is from a basement party in 1967.

Source: Archive.org

A man dressed as a bartender and a woman as a 1920s flapper pose for a picture at the same 1967 party (gosh this looked like a good time!

1960s vintage photo of a a man dressed as a bartender and a woman as a 1920s flapper pose for a picture at a 1967 party.

Source: Archive.org

The invisible man and a top hot wearing happy go lucky fancy dressed man also attended the 1967 Halloween party.

1960s vintage photo of The invisible man and a top hot wearing happy go lucky fancy dressed man at 1967 Halloween party.

Source: Archive.org

Last photo from the 1967 party and this fun couple all “decked out” in playing cards. What a fun costume if they are going as “decked out” (I thought card shark at first, but that did not make sense).

1960s vintage photo from 1967 of a Adult Halloween party featuring couples in vintage halloween costumes, like this couple covered in playing cards.

Source: Archive.org

1940s vintage photo of a adult Halloween party from October 1941 featuring a man dressed as cowboy, women as maids, spanish man, a boxer (maybe a wrestler) and other costumes. So fun!

1940s vintage photo of a adult Halloween party from October 1941 featuring a man dressed as cowboy, women as maids, spanish man, a bee and ladies with fantastic 1940s hairstyles.

Source: Etsy – JakeRoeBucks

1950s Halloween party featuring three fantastically dressed ladies. One is “Miss Burlap”, another is a Lucky Strike Box (this brand featured many times had a beautiful model on the ad), and another lady is a “don’t mess with me” cowgirl. How fun!

Further Reading: Fun & Wacky Vintage Beauty Pageants & Pageant Queen Titles

1950s vintage photo of a halloween party featuring a woman dressed as lucky strike cigarettes a woman as a cowgirl and another woman as a beauty pageant contestant..Miss Burlap.

Source: Pinterest

1940s photo. Another cigarette box costume (Old Gold Cigarettes), but this time with a matchbox and…?? I have no clue what the middle costume is but what creativity!

1940s vintage Halloween party photo featuring a cigarette box costume and a matchbox.

Source: eBay

Halloween party for the troops, October 25, 1943 courtesy of the Florida State Archives.

Personal note: I LOVE the 1940s hair in this photo.

Source: nationalww2museum.org

At this 1950s Halloween party, everyone is having fun and letting loose.

1950s vintage photo of a 1950s adult Halloween party featuring 3 women and a man. The man is in Lederhosen, while his partner is dressed in a dirndl skirt and peasant blouse. A woman is dressed up as a man in front of a woman in an eastern european outfit.

Source: Archive.org

At this 1960s party there is a hillbilly, and two lovely ladies in cute costumes. Everyone is so happy even our party pooper with no costume, guy.

1960s Halloween party vintage photo featuring a hillbilly, and two lovely ladies in cute costumes. Everyone is so happy and having a good time it looks like.

Source: eBay

1957-Our costume wearing ladies are in need of some diner food and shoes off at the end of a fun night.

1950s vintage photo of people dressed up in Halloween costumes at a diner.

Source: Etsy – Therescuedphoto

I feel like this party was pretty wild from the state of our “chef” and the look of the room. Good times at this 1950s party!

1950s vintage photo of a Halloween Party featuring guests in Halloween Costumes like a chef and a man in lederhosen.

Source: eBay

No costumes for the 1950 ‘Carrier’ Company Halloween party, just some Halloween decor and well dressed staff & their partners.

Further Reading: The Vintage Work Christmas Party

1950s vintage photo of a company halloween party featuring a halloween tablecloth and people gathered around it for a photo in early 1950s fashion circa 1950

Source: biblio.com

Thanks for dropping by friends!

Will you be dressing up for Halloween? Or going to any costume parties? Share any thoughts on this topic in the comment section below. I love hearing from my readers.

See other costume inspiration here:

The below images from the 1940s-1960s will supply you with some fun ideas on what to wear to your halloween parties if your looking for a ‘vintage halloween costume’ idea.

Further Reading:

Liz

Category: Halloween

Mid Century Halloween Decorations & Illustrations

Mid Century Halloween Decorations & Illustrations

Relive the Spooky Fun of Vintage Halloween Parties (1940s-1960s)

Vintage Photos from Adult Halloween Parties 1940s-1960s