Petco's 2011 Halloween Merch: Favorites

You know what the difference is between Halloween decorations that are for humans and Halloween decorations that are for pets?

Squeakers. 


While shopping in the month of October for the coolest Halloween wares, I was surprised to find a few cool things at PETCO of all places. 

Seems that you can take a perfectly good Halloween decoration, add a squeaker noise-maker inside and suddenly it's a "Chew Toy."  Amazing. 

Though the post didn't make it in my 2011 Merch posts in October, I can at least tip you off now to what I thought was cool and maybe it'll turn up on eBay if you're interested. 

Take that first image for example:  a stack of four jack o' lanterns in totem-pole formation with the top of the heap sporting a witch's hat.  If I saw that decoration in Target, I would have thought "Hey, that's kinda neat.  Simple.  Classic.  Black and orange, just like I like it." 
But I picked it up in Petco and found out it's a dog chew toy. 

Same with this one. 
I thought this line of skulls was pretty awesome.  They're some sinister looking skulls.  No silly-faced, googly-eyes here. 
Plus the ones done in red stitching look like they've got bleeding mouths which is sort of sinister too.
Best of all:  the bottom skull is a Scream-like Ghostface.
Seems a shame to have a pet rip it to shreds. 

Next I was drawn to this very Burton-esque skull guy. 
Again I say to you, check out the skull guy offered at Hallmark in my post HERE.  Now compare it to the stuffed guy to the left. 
Same look, right?
The difference? 
This guy's got a squeaker. 

I also took a liking to this furry friend. I'm not sure why.  I think it's because you usually find skeletons with pumpkin heads, but rarely do you find a pumpkin with a skeleton head. 
It looks like a scary Muppet. 
Like it's Elmo's Halloween-cousin... er... "Hellmo."
Oh and in case you thought I forgot to mention it:  has a squeaker.

Lastly, but certainly not leastly,  were these multicolored rubber skull and crossbones.  I must have picked these up 6 or 7 times.  I don't know if it was the matte finish to the rubber, the bright monster colors, or the classic skull shape and face but I liked these a lot.
About the size of a tennis ball, their purpose is to hide a treat in them and then your dog chews the heck out of it trying to get the treat inside.  It's like giving a dog a Rubik's cube.  They love it.
Best of all:  NO SQUEAKER. 

These would look great sitting on your desk as a paperweight.  (Side note:  Do we even NEED paperweights anymore?  Are there big gusts of wind coming through climate controlled, non-window-opening office buildings taking your unfiled papers into a swirling floor mess?  Who are we kidding with this paperweight nonsense?) 

I'll say this:  the skulls were certainly popular.  After hemming and hawing for 4 days, I went back to Petco to snag a skull (this is the middle of October mind you) and the skulls were gone.  Sold out. 

Good run this year Petco.  I liked your Halloween wares this year.
Oh, and Petco---one note though:  don't put squeakers in everything.

For one: they're dangerous.  Dogs chew through the item and then choke on the plastic squeaker.
For another:  just call them "tug toys" or "pull toys." 

Dogs will still chew 'em and do their thing and those of us who want to use them as Halloween decorations won't have to explain why there's a squeaker in the middle of our hanging decorations.