Mid-Century Modern Halloween Decorations

We don't go overboard on Halloween decorations. In fact, last year we only had jack-o-lanterns. But we wanted to add a few decorations this year and I wanted to try an keep with the mid-century modern exterior. I found a few mid-century modern Halloween decorations that I like:

Skel-A-Mingos seemed like a natural fit

These mummy lights were too cute to pass up

And I'm planning on making a giant rope spider web on the front porch, something like this

Easy to put up and take down, low-key and with a little mid-century modern flare. These seem like the perfect Halloween decorations for us.

My Mid-Century Modern Art Toys

I've decided to share my art toy collection. Some of them will look familiar from my post on mid-century modern art toys. And, as I mentioned, some of them definitely don't fit the mid-century modern look we're going for. But, I'm still going to find a way to integrate them into our decor so I can enjoy them on a daily basis.

I few notes before the pictures:

1. You might think this is a big collection, but I assure you, compared to other art toy collectors, it's pretty small.
2. The way I keep it small is by having a pretty strick "only one piece per artist" rule. I like the rule because it keeps my collection diverse and keeps me on the lookout for new artists. As you'll see below, I've broken this rule once and I'll explain why.
3. There are a few non-art toys (eg toys you could find in a toy store) in my collection too. I just like them and think they're well designed and/or they're connectioned to some pop culture that I enjoy (Star Wars, etc)
4. Most of these toys have sold out long ago, so if you do like one, you'll probably have to hit ebay or some other secondary market site to buy it.

So here's my collection, in no particular order. Hope you like it.

Blue Mr. Wiggles by Tara McPherson

Baby Eating Crocodile by Amanda Visell

Lulu by Camille Rose Garcia

Brown Sour by Brendan Monroe

Jeremiah the Innocent by Daniel Johnston

Captain Sturnbrau by Jon Paul Kaiser

Companion: Resting Place by Kaws

HMV Nadsat by Kaws
This is the one artist that I have two pieces from. Kaws is really hard to find in the States and usually extremely expensive on any secondary market. I found this Nadsat dispensor (essentially Japanese Pez) on our Honeymoon in Japan and picked it up because I never thought I'd be able to find another Kaws piece. Except I got a Resting Place Companion (above) a few months ago. It's not the most impressive piece in my collection, but I'll never get rid of it because of the Honeymoon tie.

Max from McFarland Toys

Mego World’s Greatest Superheros Hulk

Dunny by Michael Michael Motorcycle

Yellow Peleda Owl by Nathan Jurevicius

Nigel by Kathie Olivas

Pantone Kubrick

Pink & Green Supersize Me by Ron English

Blue Fatima by Sam Flores

Scurvy Nevil by Greg Simkins

Star Wars Stormtrooper Room Alarm

Super Teeter by Joe Ledbetter

Mystic Serpent by Todd Schorr

Yujin Human Dissection Model Gashapon Japanese capsule toys
Another purchase from our Tokyo honeymoon. These are toys that come in capsules, like you would find in American grocery stores. There are entire stores filled with those machines and various toys. I thought it was so weird/fantastic that these were actually a toy that I had to buy two. I got the liver and part of the spine.

Mighty Muggs Chewbacca

Simpsons Comic Book Guy Worst Episode Ever

American McGee’s Alice Caterpillar

Tigerlily by Tim Biskup

Possessed by Luke Chueh

'80s Travel-Themed Nursery Posters

Gallery 1988: Venice has a collection of new work by Tom Whalen & Dave Perillo: Around the World in an 80's Daze. The theme of the show is locations of '80s movies and TV shows done in the style of vintage travel posters.

Any of the posters would be perfect for an '80s kid setting up a travel-themed nursery for their own kid.

Many of the posters have sold out already, but some are still available at Gallery 1988's store.

Mid-Century Modern Art Memory Game

We have the Alexander Girard memory game, which I thought was the best memory game out there. But, if I had known about the Modern Art memory game, I might have bought it instead. I love Girard, but modern art, on little tiles, that my kids can play with and memorize — there's something very appealing about that.

The Mid-Century Toys of Growing by Design

The MoMA is really firing on all cylinders lately. Not only did they recently pick up the Frank Lloyd Wright Collection, but they have the Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900-2000 exhibit currently running. And their website is showcasing some outstanding mid-century modern design and mid-century toys, including (of course) LEGO and the Eero Aarnio Puppy.

And they have a they have a little video about some of the cutest toys I've ever seen: The toys of Libuše Niklová.

If you happen to be in New York, you can check out these and many other cute mid-century kid things in person. Lucky.