Shoppers seeking witches, ghosts and severed heads to decorate their homes for Halloween are finding something truly scary this year: empty shelves.

The supply-chain snarls that have shaped much of life in the pandemic are now responsible for shortages of Halloween décor and costumes. Consumers and suppliers alike are getting creative and planning ahead…

For those who haven’t yet bought costumes and decorations, the news may be grim. Of more than 8,000 consumers surveyed in the first week of September, 45% says they planned to shop for Halloween in September or earlier, and another 39% planned to shop during the first two weeks of October, according to NRF.

“[Our selection was] really good between the middle of September and the end of September. Once October hit it was just gone, gone, gone,” says Kam Featherstone, an employee at Spirit Halloween in Layton, Utah.