When Does Halloween Clearance Start? The 2026 Holiday Clearance Calendar

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Halloween clearance starts November 1, which falls on a Sunday in 2026. At Target, decor and costumes drop to 50% off that first day while candy starts at 30%, most stores reach 70% around November 3 or 4, and 90% has landed on November 5 two years running. Candy never goes past 70%.

One thing to fix before you plan anything: the deep discounts do not wait until November. Target has been marking Halloween down about a week before October 31, starting at 30% off. Home Depot put Halloween decor at 50% off online on October 27, 2025. So if you see a decoration you love in late October, it may already be marked down.

The other correction: people describe 90% off as a sale window that lasts a day or two. That's not quite what happens. 90% is the last markdown tier before the merchandise gets pulled and sent to salvage. The tier itself can sit on the shelf for several days. What happens fast is the stock disappearing, usually within a day or two of hitting 90%. At Target's Christmas clearance in the 2025 to 2026 season, 90% started January 7 and everything was gone from the shelves by January 11. Four days, not 48 hours.

If you're shopping in store, that's where the depth is. Target's Halloween clearance page had 38 items live when we checked in September 2026, and online rarely goes deeper than 50%. The 70% and 90% tiers are mostly an in-store event. Keep an eye on what's surviving to the bottom tier this week as the season turns.

The two-track ladder: candy runs behind decor

Seasonal clearance at Target runs on two parallel ladders, one for non-food and one for food and candy. This is the pattern trackers and shoppers have observed year after year. Target has never published it as policy, and stores vary.

The middle food step is the fuzzy one. Different trackers put it at 30% and others at 50%, and shoppers report it genuinely varies by store. In November 2025, one store had candy at 70% on day three, level with the decor, while other locations still had it at 50%. So the usual pattern is candy running a step behind, but not always.

What holds everywhere: food and candy top out at 70%. Across Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's and Easter observations, Target's chocolate never goes up to 90% off. Easter chocolate in particular has never been seen at 90%.

What is Target's Halloween markdown schedule?

Here's the observed schedule, built from dated sightings in 2024 and 2025:

That November 5 date isn't a guess for its own sake. 90% hit on November 5 in 2024 and again on November 5 in 2025, confirmed by dated shopper reports both years. November 5, 2026 is a Thursday. Two data points is not a promise, so if you show up November 6 and find nothing left, that's the variance.

Target publishes none of this. No retailer publishes clearance timing. The percentages come from people walking the aisles, and your store can lag or lead. The in-store scanner is the only truth. Scan anything you're serious about, because shelf tags go stale faster than the register.

Target's own Halloween news for 2026 is about assortment, not clearance: nearly 70% of the collection is new, 60% of the decor is under $10, per Target's August 2026 announcement. Cheap, new-heavy assortments are exactly what ends up in the 90% bin on November 5, so the calendar logic holds. For more on how the tiers work outside the holidays, see Target clearance finds worth a trip.

What is the best time to buy Halloween candy?

Candy starts at 30% off at Target on November 1 while decor sits at 50%, and it reaches 70% around November 5 to 7. It never hits 90% at Target. That 70% mark is the ceiling.

Deeper candy deals exist elsewhere. Walgreens candy was scanning at 80% off by November 4, 2025, per shopper reports, which is the deepest candy number in this whole dataset. Kroger banners typically have Halloween candy around 50% off starting near November 1.

The tradeoff is selection. Shaped chocolate, the stuff with pumpkins and ghosts on the wrapper, does not restock. If you need a specific candy for an event, buy it early at 30 to 50% and accept the smaller discount. If you just want cheap chocolate for the freezer, the first week of November is your window.

What store has the best Halloween clearance?

Depends what you mean by best. Highest starting discount? Michaels, which opened at 70% off on November 1 in the observed pattern, moving to 80% by the end of November. Shop Michaels Halloween decorations if you want a head start on next year.

Fastest to 90% in 2025? Walgreens, reaching it by November 4, one day before Target. That's a detail almost nobody mentions, and it matters if you have a Walgreens nearby. Check the shelf tags against the register too: in 2025, some Walgreens items were marked 50% and 60% but rang up at 90%.

Walmart runs later. Shoppers found 90% off Halloween there on November 7 in 2022, November 11 in 2015, and social reports put it around November 10 in 2025. So roughly a week to 11 days after Halloween, meaning the 90% tier at Walmart is thin pickings. Walmart.com hit 75% on November 8, 2025. Check Walmart's Halloween deals page but treat it as an early look, not the bottom tier.

Home Depot starts early, at 50% off online from around October 27, 2025, and reaches up to 75% in stores during the first week of November. Online discounts usually don't go past 50%. Lowe's has been reported at 50% about two weeks before Halloween and up to 75% as the day approaches, though that tracking is older and varies. No 90% tier has been recorded at Home Depot for Halloween.

Kroger banners carry candy around 50% from early November, with nothing deeper documented.

And the store most people don't think about: Hobby Lobby doesn't sell Halloween at all. It runs fall decor instead, and that fall clearance hits 90% off in stores during Black Friday week, which for 2026 means Monday, November 23.

Does Spirit Halloween go on clearance?

Spirit Halloween publishes no markdown schedule, and its stores typically don't stay open long after October 31 anyway. The company opened more than 1,550 locations for 2026 per its own season announcement, and clearance timing is store-by-store.

There is one documented data point. A widely shared photo of a posted sign at an Albany-area store in 2025 listed costumes at 25% off on November 1 and everything at 50% off on November 2. Other trackers have reported Spirit starting around 50% and reaching as much as 75%. That's the whole sourced picture: one store's sign, plus general reports. If you see a Spirit still open in early November, walk in and look, but assume whatever's there is gone within days.

The other Halloween retailer people ask about is Party City, which no longer exists as a standalone chain. Since April 2026, Party City operates as shop-in-shops inside more than 700 Staples stores, plus partycity.com. There's no clearance history under the new ownership to project from, so nobody can honestly tell you when those locations will mark Halloween down. Check Amazon's Halloween clearance search if you won't drive; Amazon has no post-holiday ladder, but leftover stock does drift into markdown.

When does Christmas clearance start?

Christmas clearance starts December 26, which is a Saturday in 2026, at 50% off at most mass retailers. The craft and home improvement stores start earlier, which is the pattern trackers have watched for years: Michaels around December 3, Lowe's around December 9, Hobby Lobby around December 15, Home Depot around December 18.

Here's the full 2025 to 2026 season as it was actually observed, with store-to-store conflicts left in because they're real:

Every date in that table is an observation from the 2025 to 2026 season. Retailers announce nothing in advance, so the 2026 to 27 dates below are projections from the pattern, not facts.

What is Walmart's Christmas clearance schedule?

In the 2025 to 2026 season, Walmart went 50% off on December 26, 75 to 80% on December 29, and shoppers found 90% on January 5, January 6, and January 10 depending on the store. That spread is normal. Walmart clearance timing varies more location to location than most chains.

For 2026, expect 50% on Saturday, December 26, with select items discounted from around December 23, and the deepest tiers in early January. The two-week window between Christmas and mid-January is when the decoration prices bottom out.

One distinction worth knowing: a Rollback at Walmart is a temporary price cut on an item that will return to regular price, typically within 90 days. Clearance is a permanent markdown on discontinued or seasonal goods that will never come back. When you're deciding whether to wait, only clearance is going to keep falling. And check the Walmart markdowns worth driving for in the app, not the shelf sign, because the app price is what rings up.

Target no longer gets to 90% first

This is the thing most clearance guides still have wrong. For years, Target was the reliable first store to hit 90% on Christmas clearance. In the 2024 to 2025 season, some Target stores hit 90% on December 30, and the widely circulated guidance at the time said Target reached 90% by January 4 while Walmart took about five more days.

The 2025 to 2026 season broke that pattern. Target sat at 50% from December 26 through January 2, went to 70% on January 4, hit 90% on January 7, and had everything pulled by January 11. Meanwhile Walmart reached 90% at some stores as early as January 5. Three independent trackers recorded the same stall, so the reversal of Target's lead is solid. Whether Target always lags now, or whether Walmart always jumps early, is one season of data. Say it with us: one season.

The practical advice holds either way. If you want the deepest Christmas discount, check Walmart and Target the same week in early January, because you can no longer predict which one blinks first.

When should you buy clearance Christmas decorations?

For price, shop the first week of January. In the last observed season, Hobby Lobby hit 90% around January 2, Walmart between January 5 and 10, and Target around January 7. That's when decorations cost the least they will ever cost.

For selection, shop mid-December. Lowe's was at 75% by December 18, Michaels at 70% the same day, and Hobby Lobby at 60% from December 15. At those levels you still get a real choice of trees, inflatables and garlands. By the second week of January you're choosing between two broken yard stakes.

A caveat on Hobby Lobby that trips people up every year: the 50% off Christmas sale that starts September 1 is the store's normal rotating weekly ad price, not clearance. You can see it live in Hobby Lobby's weekly ad, which had Christmas decor, trees and floral at 50% through early September 2026. The clearance ladder doesn't start there; the first true clearance step is the 60% in mid-December. Also know that Hobby Lobby's base pricing leaves room for those big percentages, which is a polite way of saying the 90% number is bigger than the savings sometimes.

Every other season, by date

Halloween and Christmas get the attention, but the same ladder plays out on every seasonal holiday. Here's what was observed:

Notice the shape: about four days from the day-after 50% to the 90% floor for the smaller holidays, longer when Christmas inventory is heavy. Valentine's 2026 hit 90% on Thursday, February 19, with food and candy at 70%. Easter 2026 went 50% on Monday, April 6, 70% on April 8, and 90% on Sunday, April 12 at most stores, with chocolate capped at 70%.

Easter moves every year, which shifts the whole calendar. Easter 2027 falls on Sunday, March 28, so if the pattern holds, expect Target's 50% around Monday, March 29 and the bottom tier in early April.

Outside the holidays: back-to-school markdowns run mid-July at Walmart (up to 74%) and Walgreens (up to 80%), through late August at Target (up to 70%), with CVS hitting 90% on select supplies in-store from late September into early October. Home Depot runs patio clearance up to 75% in late summer, and members of our deal community have reported the deepest patio cuts arriving by the third week of September. That pairs well with watching Costco's monthly savings periods, which work on a different rhythm entirely.

The month-by-month clearance calendar

Everything below is projected from observed 2024 through 2026 patterns. No retailer announces clearance dates, so treat this as a planning calendar, not a schedule. Pair it with today's deals to catch the markdowns as they land.

October is the row most guides get wrong. The month is not empty. Target starts trickling out 30% markdowns about a week before Halloween, and Home Depot's online 50% can be the cheapest way to buy a big inflatable before the in-store rush.

How often does Target discount clearance?

Seasonal clearance moves in days: 50% the day after the holiday, 70% on days three or four, 90% around day five to seven, with food and candy a step behind at 30, 50, and 70. Regular, non-seasonal clearance is slower and shallower: it steps down 30%, then 50%, then 70%, and 70% is the floor. Items that don't sell at 70% get pulled and sent to salvage stores rather than marked lower. Target.com clearance tops out around 50%, and most of it sits at 30%.

Two myths while we're here.

First, the price-ending code. You'll see it claimed everywhere that a Target price ending in .04 means final markdown and .08 means it will drop again. It isn't true. A long-running Target tracker has stated flatly that Target has no secret code tied to the digit 4, and the endings are what they are because of arithmetic. Take $39.99 at 50% off: $19.995, which rounds to a printed $19.98, ending in 8 at the halfway mark. Or $14.99 at 75% off: $3.7475, which prints as $3.74, ending in 4 at what happens to be a deep markdown. The digit is a rounding artifact, not a signal.

Second, the weekday schedule. There are charts floating around assigning each Target department a markdown day of the week. Employees and tracking both point the same way: there is no universal markdown schedule every store follows, though most markdown activity happens on Mondays or Tuesdays. Your store's team sets its own pace.

Three retailer facts other guides still get wrong

JOANN is gone. All remaining stores closed by May 30, 2025, and Michaels bought only the intellectual property and private-label brands, announced June 5, 2025 per Michaels' own release. There are no JOANN clearance events to wait for, yet guides ranking for these queries still list JOANN as a live option with percentage ladders. NPR covered the closure as it happened.

Party City isn't closed, exactly. The corporate stores shut by February 28, 2025, the brand relaunched online in June 2025 at partycity.com, and since April 2026 it operates shop-in-shops inside more than 700 Staples stores per Retail Dive. Any clearance advice written before 2026 doesn't apply to the new operation.

Big Lots is a different company than the one that went bankrupt. The original Big Lots filed Chapter 11 in September 2024, closed in early 2025, and the old corporate entity's case was converted to Chapter 7 effective November 10, 2025, per the claims agent's case page and its SEC filings. The Big Lots stores open today are 219 locations reopened by Variety Wholesalers starting in April 2025, per Business Wire. Those stores have no clearance history to project from, and the old "90% by Veterans Day" ladders you'll find online belong to a company that no longer exists.

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