‘Skelly’ no longer has to be alone on those chilling October evenings.
After four years on the market, Skelly – Home Depot’s viral and beloved 12-foot skeleton – gets Skelly’s Dog, a loyal, obedient, bony and inanimate canine companion. The decorative skeleton dog, which stands almost six feet tall and eight feet wide, sold out just minutes after the brand’s “Halfway to Halloween” sale began on April 25.
“Skelly is a Halloween staple right now and we thought, ‘Who’s the best friend in the family?’” Jessica Poplewko, Home Depot’s partner retailer of holiday decorative goods, tells Yahoo Entertainment. “We immediately thought of our sweet dogs. We used our team pets as inspiration for some of our porch greeters, so it only seemed fitting.”
First things first: Yes, Skelly’s Dog has ears. “We always want to bring realism to our items if we can, but sometimes we like to have some fun too. We also wanted to make sure he looked like an iconic dog,” she explains.
As for size, “We looked at the size of our dogs and wanted to make sure that Skelly’s Dog was in the same relationship to Skelly as our dogs were to us,” says Poplewko. “Skelly’s Dog has the same thing [moving and blinking] LCD Life Eye setting as Skelly and a movable mouth and tail.
While they could have gone with a scarier companion animal for Skelly during Scare Night, Home Depot likes to leave it up to the customer how it is posed or decorated.
“The great thing about Skelly is that you can make him whatever you want: scary or friendly,” she says. “We wanted to have the same appeal with his pet. We love seeing what our fans do with Skelly and we can’t wait to see what happens when they get his loyal friend.”
The team first came up with the idea for Skelly’s Dog, which retails for $199, “a few years ago,” but it took time to design, build and test. After the brand launched this year’s surprise sale on Thursday, the dog immediately sold out, with some of the 3.5-metre-long skeletons still available the next day. While they wouldn’t call it a record, they did say that the dog “sold out very quickly and we’re excited to see all the customer feedback about his former furry friend.”
So while Skelly’s Dog isn’t currently available, the brand will be restocked between now and Halloween.
Basically, the early sales are marketed to true enthusiasts (like the person in your neighborhood who leaves their 12-foot skeleton up all year round). Last year, the brand launched its Halloween website in July – with the full collection available. A third online sale took place in August, coinciding with an in-store launch. Decorations go fast, though. People hoping to find Skelly in a store in late September or early October are usually out of luck until the following season.
A pro tip is to follow the brand on social media, where they usually tease the sales a day before they happen. There are also online groups, such as Facebook’s 12 Foot Skeleton Owners, where people share buying tips. Sites like Etsy sell clothing and accessories for Skelly, and we imagine this offering will extend to dog duds as well.
It is important to note that there is never a guarantee from year to year that a specific item will appear in the new collection, even at Skelly. The team continuously evaluates the products. Last year there were rumors that Skelly would retire, but instead his circle has expanded. Could a cat join the posse next year for the cat lovers out there?
“You never know,” Poplewko teases. “Like our customers, we love dogs and thought this would be a good start.”
The team also tweaks its products from year to year, including Skelly. When fanatics left the skeletons up all year round, the design team added a plug adapter so the batteries wouldn’t run out. This year, Skelly got an eye upgrade: it now has eight LCD Life Eye settings with multiple themes, including rainbow swirls. This was also adapted for people who display the decor over multiple holidays. It remains at the same price point, $299, as in years past.
Other new products this year include Frankenstein’s Monster, a 7-foot animated monster. “Frankie” has blue LED features and eyes that move and blink, and the servo motors give lifelike movement to his eyes, mouth and head. Poplewko says the team is “grateful to work with the NBC Universal team to make it as faithful to the original film as possible.”
Towering above them is a 12-foot Inferno Deadwood Skelly, which the Home Depot team says will also be a hit.
“People love these giant pieces in their displays,” she says, “and enjoy adding to their displays year after year with the latest giants and innovative products.” That’s why, she adds, the team tries to outdo themselves every year by coming up with new ways to “surprise and delight those Halloween superfans.”
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