Trick Or Treat, Smell The Halloween Decorations

With a witch air freshener, your can fill your home with the smell of a wretched old woman.

This Wizard brand witch air freshener has survived years of storage in hot attics without melting. This (wax?) figure is missing a sliver of her back, but considering she is from the early 1980s, that's not too shabby. She only has a tiny bit of fragrance left. This kind of air freshener used to be quite common, and there were other holiday pieces to "collect."

For some reason, my Halloween decorations have a very distinct "Halloween" aroma. I cannot explain this phenomenon. Accordingly, my Easter decorations have an "Easter" scent, and my Christmas decorations have a "Christmas" aroma.

Of course, my Halloween decorations include fast food toys. Among my favorites are a set of small, stuffed characters from Hardee's that can be squished into their plastic environments.


This Cat, Goblin and Ghost were created by Hallmark Cards and distributed in Hardee's kid's meals in 1989. There was also a Bat, but I did not get him. Yes, I frequently had the cat's eyes peering out of the pumpkin's eyes.

In 1991, McDonald's had a Happy Meal featuring the animated NBC Saturday Morning series, "Gravedale High." I actually got these at a flea market around the time they were first released.


This short-lived show starred Rick Moranis as a teacher at a high school populated by monsters. The vampire is Vinnie Stoker, a cool "Fonzie" type character, and with the turn of a knob, he swivels back into his coffin. Frankentyke sticks out his tongue when you push his arms. Cleofatra the mummy is a weeble-wobble style toy. Sid the Invisible Kid's hands and feet move when you push a lever on the back of his locker.

In 1984, a company called Mark 1 in Chicago released Scratch & Sniff Iron-ables. These have "3M Microfragrance Coatings."


This Werewolf and Frankenstein Monster still smell like---something. I could never pinpoint what the scent was supposed to be. I got these from a long-closed dime store chain called TG&Y. Mark 1 did a lot of great character artwork, including cards and stickers for Q*bert and other characters.

Scratch 'n sniff stuff was really big when I was a kid. The most popular item was easily stickers. The ones people remember the most were Stinky Stickers from Trend Enterprises.


This checklist is from a time when the line had 88 stickers. All sorts of holidays were represented, including Halloween. The Ghost had a coconut smell (of course!). The Witch had a Licorice Stick scent (I'm not a fan of licorice). The Skeleton allegedly smelled like "Bone" and the Bat smelled like "Cave." Um, what?!?!

I did not encounter all the stickers on this list. Click on the picture, then click again to zoom in. My "WTF?" list includes "Space," "Phone," "Crab," and "Rope."