Halloween Bears | Plush Toys for Home Holiday Decorating

I am not a bear collector until it comes to Halloween bears. There is something comforting to me and charming about Halloween bears. The bears I have brighten my home and bring a smile to face as they celebrate the Halloween season. From witches to pumpkins with bright colors of orange to muted colors of autumn orange to happy witches to even a bear that is reminiscent of Wizard of Oz.

Bears can be very collectible - depending upon the manufacturer. Boyd Bears and Steiff rule the bear world. Vintage or antique Steiff bears are classic and very valuable. In 1907, Steiff sold close to 1,000,000 bears. Margarate Steiff invented the plush toy in 1902 for the purpose of a pincushion.

Boyd Bears was started by antique dealers who needed more inventory on hand and turned first to resin bears and later plush bears. Plush bears today continue to dominate their sales. Boyd Bears specializes in gift bears.

Speaking of gift bears, Build-A-Bear has been very popular. Build-A-Bear provides a customized bear to your specifications. Build-A-Bear Workshop® partners with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and First Book® along with other programs that help fight illness, promote literacy and much more!

Journey with us as we explore adorable plush Halloween bears. See my holiday decorating collection firsthand from the purple silk clad spider bear to the ultra soft orange and black bear to the tiny, smaller than a teacup Boyd Bear that I disply with my two Halloween dolls.

Learn some quick tips on how to best present your holiday collection for an eye toward decorating by creating a vignette, a stage prepared just for your small groupings of fanciful Halloween fun.

Godiva produces on occasion holiday bears - Christmas and Halloween. Of course, the Godiva bear includes chocolate which make the combination even more tantalizing.

Pumpkins and witches simply look wonderful as bears.

Create a Halloween Vignette

In building your Halloween vignette, a couple of tips. First think in odd numbers, three works well for me. Think of the vignette as a stage. Your stage is a still life of beauty. Create small space that offers pleasing colors and similar textures.

Trio of Plush Halloween Bears

A trio of three plush bears as our first photo from my home shows, three different bears - all in autumn browns and oranges and one bright purple combine together for a pleasing scene on a table in my home.

In other areas of my home, I have combined three handcrafted dryer vent pumpkins and another area I have multiple witches. In one area I have two Halloween dolls combined with a small classic brown plush bear - scroll down and you will see the trio.

Boyd's Bears - Signature Face

The face of the Boyd Bear is recognizable around the world. This signature teddy bear face is produced today in both resin and plush bears. The face is lovable and yet very distinctive. Every bear style is unique and yet the face is unchanging.

Within the Boyd' Bear collection is also an artist that is perhaps best known for his partnership with Disney - Jim Shore. Jim Shore is a woodcrafter who created a classic Americana Heartcrafted style. Jim brings life and vitality to every season with his extensive collection of holiday decorating items. For Halloween, he offers ghosts, witches and of course the lovable Halloween bears.

Combining It All Into One Comprehensive Stage - A Vignette

Combing different textures from plush bears to resin bears can seem overwhelming when you first start. Rule number one is to buy what you like and then you cannot go wrong. When staging your pieces together, here are three quick tips to help you bring it all together. Think of it as staging in a play. You are creating a scene. The scene may change throughout your home and thus the vignette will change. You may chooses a group of witches, a group of ghosts or my personal favorite a group of plush bears. Or you may choose to combine your Halloween friends together with different textures all together as I did with my wooden handcrafted Halloween dolls and my plush bear. Here are three quick tips to guide you along the way.

"A Teddy bear is a faithful friend
You can pick him up at either end.
His fur is the color of breakfast toast,
And he's always there when you need him most."

Three Quick Tips to Creating a Pleasing Vignette

• Include Odd Numbers
• Create a Theme
• Blend or Coordinate Colors

Jim Shore's distinctive style is modern American at its very best. His inspiration is folk art and his grandmother's skill at quilt making. He prides his grandmother with giving him the artistic talent to gracefully combine form with color to achieve his unmistakable "Heartcrafted" style.

His website aptly details the heritage he combines for our home's enjoyment: "From German quilts to Scandinavian decorative paintings to English appliqué, the New World became a new stage for centuries of artistic tradition."

Jim Shore's artwork can be found the world over. With over $200 million in sales annually and more than 360,000 customers and over 25,000 store worldwide, Jim's work touches us all. He is truly the premier name in the specialty gift and home décor market. I myself have seen his work at every Hallmark store I have entered. Additonally, look for Jim to expand his decorating magic with an exclusive design agreement with DIY/Home retailer Lowe’s.

"My work is not a single statement, but a lot of elements mixed together. I use colors that I love – colonial, antiques, jewel tones and sometimes unusual combinations that I happen to love at the moment. Put together it’s a pleasure to look at."

Jim Shore's work is the cumulation of the artisans of Europe with Americana folk art - all packaged beautifully in today's designer colors ideally suited to brighten our home. His artwork includes something for everything - from commemorative to nautical to ethic not to mention every Holiday possible.

ACCOUTRE

Synonyms: furnish (or accouter), equip, fit (out), gird, kit (up or out) [chiefly British], outfit, provision, rig, supply

Definition of HAUTE COUTURE

: the houses or designers that create exclusive and often trend-setting fashions for women; also : the fashions created

Halloween is all about impersonating or make believe. One great fashion designer did just that with a bear that impersonates him!

Karl Lagerfeld celebrated his 70th birthday by creating a teddy bear in his own image. Lagerfeld teamed up with premier teddy bear manufacturer Steiff to create a look-alike. This bear is handcrafted in Germany and is made of alpaca, one of the finest, softest wools in the world. This exquisite bear includes crystal on his belt buckle with "KL", signature designer sunglasses, silver double chain on the back and along with all this glamor is an au couture price tag. Checking on eBay recently found this bear ranging upwards to $1200.

Karl Lagerfeld

What is Karl Lagerfeld you ask? Lagerfeld is a world-renowned fashion designer. His fashions can be found under the names you will certainly recognize - Chanel and Fendi. Fendi is the Italian house of design, Chanel is the French and thirdly, you can find Lagerfeld under his very own name brand. Lagerfeld was born in Hamburg Germany on September 10, 1933. He also well known as an artist and photographer.

Steiff

Steiff is the Cadillac of all bears. Steiff has created the world's most classic bears. Steiff is a German company who was founded by a woman named Maragete Steiff. She was a seamstress who created a toy company by creating stuffed toy animals. Steiff created the stuffed toys for pure utilitarian purposes - pin cushions for her friends and family members who likewise where seamstresses. It was the children who started playing with her creations that gave her the idea of creating these pin cushions for the purpose of fun make believe playthings for children. One of her first designs was not a bear but a stuffed elephant. She went on to create dogs, cats and pigs. Steiff was born July 24, 1847 and died May 9, 1909. She left a great legacy by founding Margarete Steiff GmbH. It wasn't Margarete who created the teddy bear, the invention of the famed stuffed bear would go to her nephew Richard Steiff.

Richard Steiff - Nephew of Margarete Steiff

It was Richard Steiff (February 7, 1877 – March 30, 1939), the nephew of the toy manufacturer Margarete Steiff who is credit with inventing the Steiff Company's first toy bear.

"Steiff was born in Giengen, and entered his aunt's toymaking enterprise in 1897. While attending the School of Arts and Crafts (Kunstgewerbeschule ) in Stuttgart, he would regularly visit the nearby Nill'scher Zoo (closed 1906 ^[2]) and spend much of his time drawing the residents of the bear enclosure. His sketches of the bears were incorporated into the prototype of the toy bear he created in 1902 and codenamed Steiff Bär 55 PB (where 55 = the bear's height in centimetres; P = Plüsch , plush; and B = beweglich , movable limbs)."

At its debut at the Leipzig Toy Fair in 1903, the bear initially attracted little attention, but its fortunes were saved when an American buyer snapped up the entire lot of 100 bears and ordered another 3,000 just before the exhibition finished. The heyday of the Steiff company thus began. At the Saint Louis World's Fair in 1904, the Steiffs sold 12,000 bears and received the Gold Medal, which was the highest honor at the event. The kind of toy bear they pioneered acquired the appellation "teddy" from several legends about Theodore Roosevelt. Steiff bears, with a small metal "Steiff" clip in the ear, can now be quite valuable.^[3]

Steiff died at age 62 in Jackson, Michigan, United States."

Steiff Today

Steiff still manufactures classic animals from stuffed toys to key rings to even small riding toys for children. While their other animals (and the Golden Retriever key ring knocked my socks off by the way) are expertly crafted, I would have to guess their bears are literally the breadwinners of the family of fun toys. Sadly, I must say Steiff is missing the big Halloween market. Nair a witch nor a pumpkin tea drinker could I find on their website.

Under Steiff's wild animal products, I was saddened to see not one single sea creature. No dolphin, no manatee and no sea horse! The mermaid I can understand but yet if they have two unicorns, wouldn't you think a mermaid would be in the grouping somewhere? Oops, I stand corrected, I found not one but two dolphins - rightfully so!

Steiff Holiday Tree Ornaments

The teddy bear holiday ornaments are something that my Christmas tree would absolutely adore. So Santa IF you are listening...the holiday ornaments and the Golden Retriever Puppy Lum. Please and thank you!

This is a tiny bear that packs allot of cuteness on the side table. The Boyd bear is accompanied by two hand-painted wooden dolls. The grouping makes a distinctive statement that 'tis the season for fun and Halloween frolic.

Halloween Bears with Teapot Accessories

What is it about a bear that cries out for a pot of tea? I don't understand it but I enjoy the combination of a charming teapot with a soft, cuddly bear. The bear in my collection is a female with a large autumn colored flower; her teapot mimics the color in her flower and her dress. Once the witch bear and spider bear are retired for the season, this charming tea drinking bear will continue to don my family room right through Thanksgiving.

What is it I love about Halloween Bears for home decorating? The fun and frolic? The make believe? Or is it simply I love the bright jewel tones that reflect the change of the season and brings the glow of autumn into my family room? From vibrant soft orange and deep rich fluffy black to the purple silk on my Spider Bear to the Lady Bear with the Crysthanamum flower and tea pot to the wooden handcrafted dolls and my classic tiny Boyd bear - I love this time of year but I especially love the additions of my many friends to my family room.

I am proud to be here in Hub Pages and happy to share my joy of decorating with Halloween bears with you. I hope you felt my thrill of having my Halloween bears near.

Happy Halloween to you and your family! May your autumn/Halloween season be jeweled tone and filled with soft, fluffy memories similar to my Halloween bears.