Fall Door Hanger Season Starts in July — Here's Your Prep Timeline
Every August we watch the same thing happen: fall decor explodes on TikTok and Etsy, orders pour in, and makers scramble for blanks while shipping times stretch. The makers who win fall aren't faster painters — they started earlier. Here's the timeline we've watched work for five straight seasons from our shop floor in Statesboro.
Why July is the real start of fall
Retail fall starts the week after Labor Day, but handmade fall starts 6-8 weeks before that — because your customers browse porch decor the first cool-ish morning of September, and your listings need photos, inventory, and reviews by then. Count backward: photos by late August, painting through mid-August, blanks in hand by late July. That's now.
What actually sells in fall
From what our customers reorder every year: pumpkin door hangers first (by a mile), then rounds painted as wreaths and welcome signs, then Halloween shapes late August through September. Our 12-pack pumpkin bundle has been the best-seller two falls running, and the 18" MDF pumpkin 7-pack is the budget pick for paint parties and classroom batches.
The production-math version
If you sold 3 door hangers a week last fall, plan 5 — fall demand roughly doubles a steady shop's spring pace. A 10-pack of 18" rounds plus a pumpkin bundle covers a typical maker's September. Selling at markets too? That's 48-pack territory — per-piece cost drops and everything over $250 ships free.
Three July moves that pay off in October
1) Order blanks this month — not because we want the sale early (okay, partly), but because August is when everyone's processing times stretch, ours included. 2) Paint your display pieces first — the photos sell the custom orders. 3) Post the making, not just the made — process videos of fall pieces consistently outperform finished-product photos on TikTok this time of year.
Questions about which blanks fit your fall line? Our FAQ covers the common ones, or email order@borowood.com. Every order over $50 plants a tree — even the spooky ones. 🌱
