Branded Halloween Merchandise and Giveaway Ideas

Branded Halloween merchandise works best when it has a job to do on the night: a bag to collect sweets in, something to hand out at the door or the till, a novelty pen that gets a laugh and still gets used. If you can, add one thing people keep once the costumes are put away, such as a mug or a tote with a seasonal design.

Every product in our Halloween collection can be printed with your logo. Here's what we'd order for each kind of Halloween event, and what to check before any of it goes to children.

For shops, cafés and hospitality venues

Something that brings people in and goes home with them.

Halloween week gives a shop or a café a reason to hand something over with a purchase. Branded sweets at the till are the simplest version, and they suit a counter where the gift has to be small enough to give to everyone.

If you're packing purchases, a printed paper bag with a seasonal design turns the packaging into the promotion. A tote bag does the same job for longer, because it gets reused after the week is over.

For schools, clubs and community events

Things that can go to a lot of children at once and still get used afterwards.

Trick or treat trails, school discos and club parties need merchandise that's easy to hand out in numbers. Drawstring bags work as a sweet bag on the night and a PE or kit bag after it, and they have a large print area on the back, so a school or club name is easy to read.

Pencils and wristbands are the other easy choices. Wristbands also help organisers at a busy event, because a different colour for each group makes it obvious who belongs where.

Before you order anything for children, read the safety section below.

For offices and staff parties

A small treat for everyone, and something that stays on the desk.

A Halloween party or a themed day in the office doesn't need much. A bowl of branded sweets and a mug with a seasonal design is plenty, and the mug is still in use long after the decorations come down.

Give everyone the same thing. It's the same rule we'd apply to Christmas gifts for staff, and Halloween is a useful trial run, since the Christmas order is only a few weeks behind it.

For brands running a Halloween campaign or event stand

A giveaway that fits the theme and carries your logo beyond the day.

Novelty works at Halloween in a way it rarely does at other events. Syringe pens and other themed pens get picked up because they're funny, and they get used because they're still pens. Pair a novelty item for the crowd with something better for the people you actually talk to, such as a travel mug or a coloured tote in a seasonal shade.

Our guide to choosing promotional products for an event covers how to give away things people keep.

What should you check when the merchandise is for children?

That the product suits the age group, that nothing in it is a risk to young children, and that sweets carry the information parents need.

Products for children come with rules that other merchandise doesn't. Anything designed as a toy has its own safety requirements, small parts are a hazard for young children, and sweets need ingredient and allergy information a parent can read before a child eats them. Check the product page for age guidance, and if a product isn't intended for young children, don't hand it to them.

The supplier has a part to play too. As members of the BPMA, we're required by its Code of Conduct to make sure every product we supply meets the safety law that applies to it, and to hold our own suppliers to the same standard. Our article on what BPMA membership means explains how that works.

When should you order Halloween merchandise?

As soon as your event date is fixed, using the delivery date on the product page rather than a guess.

Work back from the day you need everything in your hands rather than from 31 October. A school event before half term, or a shop promotion that runs all week, needs its merchandise earlier than the date on the calendar suggests.

You'll see the current delivery date before you order, and your basket shows the delivery options available for each line. The date you select at checkout is guaranteed and locked once your order is placed, subject to normal payment and order conditions. Request a free Visual Proof™ early too. Our in-house designers will show you your design on the product with the price and the delivery date, usually in around 20 minutes, and you can request as many changes as you need before you approve it.

How do you make Halloween merchandise useful after the night?

Choose a product people use all year, and put the Halloween theme in the artwork.

A tote bag, a mug or a bottle with a seasonal design keeps working through the autumn. A product that only makes sense on 31 October tends to be put away on 1 November, however well it went down on the night.

If you're ordering for more than one seasonal event, an autumn design without a date or a Halloween slogan means anything left over can be used again later in the season.

To see what's available, browse our Halloween collection and request a free Visual Proof™ on anything you like the look of.