Happy Monday, readers! To paraphrase the popular song, on the eighth day of Daily Dead’s Holiday Gift Guide, my true love gave to me, an enamel pin extravaganza featuring more than 80 different designs from over 30 different purveyors of pins, including tons of indie artists on Etsy as well. Yeah, it’s a mouthful, I know.
But as someone who was bitten by the enamel pin bug several years ago, I always love finding terror-themed trinkets in my stocking every Christmas, and I suspect that other fans out there get a kick out of it as well. So, for those of you either shopping for some horror-centric holiday gifts this month (or maybe you just want to spoil yourself, which is cool, too), check out our expansive look at some of the great places online you can find enamel pins to buy this holiday season.
Also, just a reminder that Daily Dead will once again be giving away a prize pack of movies and goodies for 10 lucky readers, thanks to this year’s HGG sponsor, RLJE Films. Winners will receive one copy of the upcoming Christmas anthology All the Creatures Were Stirring, one other title from RLJE Films, and a few other horror-tastic surprises, just in time for the holidays. To enter, send an email to contest@dailydead.com with “Holiday Gift Guide” in the subject line, and be sure to include your full name and mailing address as well (limited to those who are eighteen years of age or older that live in the United States. Only one entry per household will be accepted).
I first picked up Creepy Company’s Dr. Frank-N-Furter pin years ago, and I’ve been in love with their work ever since. Here are just a few of their amazing pins that are currently for sale on their site:
Cavitycolors consistently puts out bold and inventive designs with their apparel, and their enamel pin selection is no different. Their Creepy Carver series has become an annual favorite in my house, and I am always excited to see what the CC fiends cook up next with their merchandise.
I’ve always known Trick or Treat Studios as a great place to find killer masks, but as it turns out, they also sell some pretty rad pins as well. Here are just a few that are currently on sale on their online shop:
One of my very first enamel pins came from Mondo, and I’ve consistently been adding some of their different designs to my collection for years now. Their pins are always high quality and I adore all the intricate details they work into their designs, which made it very hard for me to choose which pins to feature from Mondo’s selection for this edition of our annual HGG. Also, classic horror fans will LOVE their Classic Monsters series of pins (the Invisible Man pin is an absolute delight in person).
If you know horror, then you probably know about Fright-Rags, as their brand has become synonymous with genre fandom over the last decade or so. Here’s a look at just a few of their enamel pins (and I must say that Fright-Rags’ closet door from Halloween (2018) is among one of my favorite designs put out this year) that are currently available for purchase:
I started seeing a lot of Pixel Elixir popping up on social media earlier this year, and I am so glad, because I think their enamel pin designs are super fun and would make for great stocking stuffers this holiday season (the Camp-O-Lantern pin never fails to put a smile on my face, either). Check out just a few of Pixel Elixir’s pins below, which also include two of their stellar pin sets as well:
I haven’t yet been able to add any of Wicked Critter’s pins to my collection just yet, but their Krampus Action Pin is a serious contender. Their online store features an array of wildly fun design work, and if you have a John Carpenter fan to shop for this year, the WC We Sleep Pin Set would make for a great gift option (it’s super cool).
Someone recently recommended Demonic Pinfestation to me on Twitter (thank you!), and I am so glad they did, because I not only discovered their badass pin set inspired by The Craft, but they also have a Tatum Riley pin that I absolutely adore. If you haven’t checked out the Demonic Pinfestation site before, I do recommend you give them a look.
Lunar Crypt has made appearances on previous iterations of Daily Dead’s HGG, and for good reason, because they have a great selection of enamel pins that any horror fan would love to own. Also, kudos to LC for paying tribute to the Electric Gremlin of Gremlins 2 (he’s my favorite of the “underrated” Gremlins).
Forever Midnight has already made a few appearances on this year’s HGG, but this time we’re taking a look at some of their enamel pin designs. I’m a big fan of their Poltergeist-inspired pin, but for those who have been wowed by Ari Aster’s debut Hereditary since its debut, then you are definitely going to want to nab one of Forever Midnight’s Effigy pins
Halloween Town is another HGG mainstay, so I’ll keep this short and sweet—they have tons of great enamel pins that would please any horror fan out there, and even though they’re mainly known as a brick-and-mortar store in Burbank, Halloween Town does ship worldwide.
Theater of Creeps is another “new to me” company, and admittedly, they don’t have a huge selection of pins, but I loved the fact that they decided to pay tribute to the Leper from Stephen King’s IT in one of their designs, which is something I hadn’t seen before.
Terror Threads is yet another company that gets featured a lot in our HGG, as they do a lot of unique and eye-catching designs with all their products. I mean, there are a lot of amazing genre-related retailers out there, but how many of them feature a pin of horror icon Danielle Harris getting stab happy? Just Terror Threads!
Several years ago, I received an adorable Stay Puft pin from Yesterdays, and ever since then, I’ve always kept their company on my radar. Here are just a few of their recent enamel pin releases (their online store features hundreds more, too):
I’m not sure which design I love more from London 1888, their “Be a Pepper” enamel pin that celebrates the iconic image of Nick Castle enjoying a beverage on the set of the original Halloween, or their Maximum Overdrive-inspired pin featuring the Green Goblin. Either way, London 1888 has a great selection of pins that fans should definitely check out.
We’ve featured Headstone City in years past here on DD, and I must admit, their crop of enamel pins this year are pretty damn awesome. Seriously, I hadn’t seen anyone try to take on The Blob before, but their design just nails it. Also, HC’s The Fly pin is one I definitely need to pick up at some point, too. Really good stuff all around from Headstone City.
Founded by Jessica F. Holt, Leviathan Studios specializes in gothic, horror, and fantasy art, and has a few quirky enamel pins that I thought were fun enough to share here. Leviathan is based overseas, but does ship worldwide.
Etsy is an incredible resource for a variety of homemade items, and there are hundreds of different enamel pins and pin purveyors on their site that fans should really look into supporting, if you’re into showing indie artists some love. While I could have easily done a list of over 100 horror pins from Etsy alone, I tried to pick out a key design from each Etsy shop that I found so that fans could dig around and discover even more choices than what is below (which I highly encourage). Happy shopping, y’all!
Limited Edition Horror Gang Pins
Halloween Killer Cuties Pin Set
Rocky Horror Ticket Pin (Red or Black)
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In case you missed them, check here for more Horror Gift Guide ideas, and happy holidays from all of us at Daily Dead!
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
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