It's the Great Pumpkin Playing Cards

Today marks the 60th anniversary of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! If I had to be stranded on an island with only one piece of Halloween media, this is it.

 

I happened on this deck at a local Dollar Tree. It was in a counter display with Beetlejuice and Scooby-Doo. I wasn't expecting much for $1.75 but how can you say no at that price?

 

I like what they did with having Linus' letters on the Jokers. I was surprised at the quality when I took these out, then I looked on the back. These are made by Aquarius who also make a lot of the recent Star Wars decks I have. These are usually $9-$10. Score!

  

 Aquarius makes the kind of decks I love collecting because they put unique images on every card. No matter what you're favorite moment is from the special, you'll find at least one card here for it.

 

 And there's no shortage of my favorite part, which is Snoopy as the Flying Ace!

 

Happy 60th, Great Pumpkin!

 

Swing by and see all the Countdown to Halloween blogs!

 

Now Hear This - Halloween 2026 The Reckoning

Now Hear This is coming to you a day early for reasons that will be apparent tomorrow (stay tuned!).

 

 

You know the drill: click on the album cover to go to its Bandcamp page where you can purchase it or listen for free.

 

The Goldstars contacted me through the blog to let me know about their latest release: The Halloween Album.! 13 tracks of garage rock dedicated to the most awesome holiday. This one isn't on Bandcamp but you can still listen to/grab it for free. 

 

 The Monster Mashup series comes back strong with the 22nd(!) compilation album of assorted artists giving their spin on maniacal mashups. Be sure to check out Volume 2, they're both FREE!

 

Halloween at High Noon rises from the grave for their annual October offering. This year's The Grim Dark features 22 different artists bringing you an assortment of electronic music. This one would be great for party background listening.

 

Speaking of rising from the grave, It Came From the Desert! is also back. Volume 4 is a compilation of 25 artists that plays like a Halloween night broadcast radio show complete with a host and listener call-ins.

 

Our final (?) audio treat for 2026 is reconthuse's 2023 Dark Voices in Strange Places, a Halloween/autumn themed mashup album bringing 13 tracks of pop, rock, EDM and more. You may recognize some of the songs but you've never heard them like this!

 

Be sure to check out all the Countdown bloggers by clicking the link below. 

 

Spooky Playing Cards by Puckator UK

 Puckator is a UK based retailer and I picked these up early in the season so I don't even remember where/how I found them. They're easy enough to find if you want to pick them up.

 

 I think this is the first deck I've had that has purple cards! The cards themselves are really nice and have a linen finish. They're a bit thicker than your regular playing card.

 

 Most of the number cards are standard but these have some extra art on them. I'm not sure what the decision process was in choosing these specific cards to get a little ghastly glow up. The art style reminds me of sticker sheets from the 80s.

 

 All of the face cards have unique art featuring ghosts, black cats, graves, and cauldrons.

 

 

Even though this one doesn't have art on every card, it's a pretty good Halloween themed deck from the purple cards to the cutesy art style. You could probably even come up with a game where the numbered art cards have special abilities.

 

Hitch a ride with the ghostly gentleman to see the participating Countdown to Halloween blogs.