You find an orange extension cord taped to the back of something in the garage, plug it in anyway, and a plastic pumpkin that hasn’t glowed since the Clinton administration lights back up. That moment, standing in a dusty garage looking at a pumpkin that still works after thirty or forty years, is usually where people start wondering if the thing is worth anything beyond nostalgia.
It usually is. Blow molds, the hollow lit-up plastic figures that used to glow on porches every October, are one of the steadiest corners of the Halloween collecting world right now. Companies like Empire Plastics, General Foam Plastics, Union Products, and Tico Toys pumped these things out from the 1950s through the 1990s, and most households that decorated for Halloween owned at least one. That’s exactly why so many are still turning up in attics and estate sales, and why so many are worth checking before they go in the trash or the donation pile.
Value comes down to three things: who made it, how complete it is, and how the plastic and paint have held up. A cracked pumpkin with faded paint is a yard decoration. A clean one with its original cord and factory paint, made by the right company, is a different story entirely. Flip anything you find over and look for an embossed name on the base before you decide which one you’ve got.
Table of contents
- 1. Empire Plastics lighted jack-o’-lantern
- 2. Empire “Pumpkin Man” scarecrow blow mold
- 3. Empire black cat trick-or-treat candy bucket
- 4. General Foam skull head candy bucket
- 5. General Foam “Friendliest Ghost” tabletop blow mold
- 6. Empire ghost with pumpkin and skull
- 7. Union Products owl blow mold
- 8. Union Products ghost with pumpkins blow mold
- 9. Union Products black cat blow mold, Don Featherstone design
- 10. General Foam Grim Reaper blow mold
- 11. Tico Toys green-faced witch with pumpkins
1. Empire Plastics lighted jack-o’-lantern
This is the pumpkin almost everyone who decorated for Halloween between 1960 and 1990 owned. Empire Plastics made these classic lit jack-o’-lanterns in huge numbers, in sizes from small tabletop pumpkins to yard-sized versions two feet across, and they’re still the most common blow mold you’ll run across at any estate sale.
Common doesn’t mean worthless. A clean, working example with its factory paint and an intact cord can bring $25 to $90, with larger yard pumpkins and pieces that still have crisp, unfaded orange paint landing at the top of that range. Faded orange plastic is normal after decades of sun and doesn’t hurt the price much on its own.
What kills the value is a cracked seam, a missing stem, or a base that’s been swapped from a different pumpkin. Check the back or bottom for the embossed Empire mark before assuming you’ve got the genuine article, since reproduction pumpkins sold in recent years have noticeably thinner walls and flatter, less saturated paint than the originals.
2. Empire “Pumpkin Man” scarecrow blow mold
This one is stranger and more charming than a plain pumpkin. Empire’s 1969 Pumpkin Man design puts a classic jack-o’-lantern face on top of a scarecrow body standing in a haystack base, and it’s one of the more whimsical designs the company ever produced for Halloween.
At 14 inches tall, it’s small enough to display on a porch table rather than needing yard space, and clean examples with the haystack base intact typically bring $45 to $70, with a similar version made under the Gregg Products name selling in the same range. Given how many of these turn up in decent shape, this is one of the more realistic finds on this list.
The haystack base is the fragile part. Paint chips and small cracks show up there first, since it’s the section that took the most handling when the piece was set out and packed away year after year. Check underneath for the embossed copyright mark and date, since a legible “Empire Plastic Corp” stamp with a year confirms you have an original rather than a later, unmarked knockoff.
3. Empire black cat trick-or-treat candy bucket
zmanitron via eBay
Not every collectible blow mold is a yard decoration. Empire also made a line of blow-molded candy buckets shaped like a black cat, complete with a carrying handle, that first appeared in the company’s 1994 holiday catalog and stuck around for a few years after.
These are genuinely common and genuinely cheap to find, which makes them a good entry point if you want to start a small collection without spending much. Clean examples with the handle still attached typically bring $20 to $40, and buckets that were kept indoors rather than used for actual trick-or-treating tend to sit at the higher end.
The handle is the part that fails first, since kids swung these things around for years, so a bucket with a solid, uncracked handle is worth more than one where it’s been glued or replaced. Sun exposure turns the black plastic a chalky gray rather than a deep black, which is the easiest way to spot a heavily used example at a glance.
4. General Foam skull head candy bucket
General Foam Plastics ran its own line of trick-or-treat buckets alongside Empire’s, and the skull head version, usually done in green and yellow color combinations, has become a favorite among buyers who want something a little more macabre than a cat or pumpkin.
Clean examples with both eye sockets intact and no cracks around the jaw typically bring $40 to $70. Because these were carried by hand every Halloween for years, most surviving examples show at least some wear, so a genuinely clean one stands out.
The eye sockets and the thin ridge around the jaw are where cracks start, since those are the narrowest points in the mold. Check both carefully under good light, since hairline cracks in dark plastic are easy to miss in a dim garage. A bucket with the original wire or plastic handle still attached and unbroken is worth more than a loose one, even if the bucket itself is in similar shape.
5. General Foam “Friendliest Ghost” tabletop blow mold
This smaller tabletop piece pairs a smiling ghost figure with what General Foam marketed as its “Little Jack” pumpkin, and it’s sized for a porch table or windowsill rather than the yard. Its friendly, rounded design has made it a steady seller among people decorating in a more retro, less horror-focused style.
Working examples in clean condition are worth around $110. Because it’s a tabletop piece rather than a yard decoration, it typically saw less direct sun exposure than larger figures, so the paint on surviving examples tends to be in better shape overall.
Check that the pumpkin element is still attached and hasn’t been separated from the ghost body, since these were designed and sold as one connected piece and a solo ghost without its pumpkin is worth noticeably less. The face paint on the ghost is the first thing to flake, so a crisp, fully painted smile is a good sign you’ve found a well-kept example.
6. Empire ghost with pumpkin and skull
Empire made several tabletop-sized ghost figures carrying a jack-o’-lantern and a small skull, in sizes ranging from about 13 to 23 inches, and they’re some of the more frequently found figural blow molds from the company’s catalog.
Complete, corded, and lit examples typically bring $50 to $100, with the smaller tabletop sizes at the lower end and the larger 23-inch version pushing toward the top. Because Empire made so many variations on this ghost-and-pumpkin theme over the years, prices stay fairly consistent across the different sizes.
The skull accessory is the piece most likely to be missing entirely, since it was a separate attachment on some versions rather than molded as one piece, and a ghost without its skull sells for noticeably less. A working original cord adds a little value, though most buyers care more that the piece lights up at all than whether the cord is period correct.
7. Union Products owl blow mold
Union Products, the Massachusetts company better known for Don Featherstone’s pink flamingos, also made a small run of Halloween owl blow molds, embossed on the base with “Leominster,” the town where the company was based.
At 14 inches tall, this is a manageable size for indoor or porch display, and clean examples typically bring $75 to $100. It’s a genuinely findable piece rather than a grail, since Union Products owls turn up regularly enough at estate sales and secondhand shops that patient buyers don’t usually wait long.
The orange and brown paint on the owl’s face and wings fades to a flat, dull tan after years outdoors, so a piece with real color contrast still visible is worth seeking out. Always check for the Leominster mark on the underside, since newer decorative owls sold at big box stores in recent years are shaped similarly enough to cause confusion at a glance.
8. Union Products ghost with pumpkins blow mold
This larger Union Products piece shows a ghost figure standing between two jack-o’-lanterns, and it’s built to the same sturdy, thick-walled standard the company used for its Christmas and Easter lines.
A complete, working example carries a value of about $175, with typical clean examples landing between $100 and that figure depending on paint condition and whether the original cord survived. Union Products pieces tend to hold their value well because the company’s molds were built for outdoor durability, so more of them survived in decent shape than some competitors’ more delicate designs.
A replacement cord doesn’t hurt the price much, since most buyers plan to rewire an old blow mold for safety before displaying it anyway. What matters more is the ghost’s body itself, since white plastic shows cracks and yellowing far more visibly than the darker figures on this list, so any structural damage stands out immediately to a buyer.
9. Union Products black cat blow mold, Don Featherstone design
poodlepickers via eBay
Don Featherstone, the designer behind the plastic pink flamingo, also put his name on a line of Union Products Halloween figures, including a black cat in an arched, spooked pose that became one of the company’s signature Halloween pieces starting in the early 1990s.
Clean, working examples typically bring $100 to $175. The arched-back pose is the one collectors specifically look for, since it’s more dynamic and recognizable than the simpler sitting cat designs other companies produced around the same time.
Black paint shows every scratch and scuff, so a piece with deep, even color and no dull patches is worth more than one that’s been rubbed down to bare plastic in spots over the years. Check the underside for the Union Products name and, ideally, Featherstone’s signature molded into the base, since that combination is what separates this specific cat from the many generic black cat blow molds other companies made.
10. General Foam Grim Reaper blow mold
This is one of the more elaborate figural designs General Foam produced, combining a skeleton in a hooded shroud, a tombstone, and a small owl into one grouped scene rather than a single standalone figure. It’s a genuinely different look from the friendlier pumpkins and ghosts most companies focused on.
Complete examples with all three elements intact and working typically bring $100 to $250, though a worn example missing some of its original paint is worth under $100, which shows how much condition swings the price on this particular piece.
Paint on the skeleton’s ribs and skull fades and flakes faster than on the surrounding tombstone and owl, since those raised details caught the most sun. Because the tombstone and owl were sometimes separate attachments rather than one molded piece, check that both are present and original to the set rather than mismatched replacements, since a lone skeleton without them is worth considerably less.
11. Tico Toys green-faced witch with pumpkins
Tico Toys was a division of E. Rosen and Rosbro Plastics, based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and its green-faced witch design, usually shown alongside one or two small pumpkins, is one of the more recognizable Halloween witch figures from the 1960s and 70s.
Clean, complete examples typically bring $100 to $300 depending on size and how vivid the green face paint has stayed. Smaller tabletop versions sit at the lower end of that range, while larger yard-sized witches with strong color reach the top.
The green face paint is the whole draw here, so check carefully for fading toward a dull olive or gray, which happens fast with direct sun exposure. A Tico Toys mark on the underside, sometimes alongside a Rosbro or E. Rosen stamp, confirms the maker, since the general shape of a pointed-hat witch has been copied by enough companies over the decades that markings matter more than looks alone.
