halloween totes
The Goods

Halloween Tote Bags To Put A Spell On Your Books

Find a great selection of Halloween tote bags to carry your books around in during the month of October or all year long!

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Jamie Canaves

Contributing Editor

Jamie Canavés is the Tailored Book Recommendations coordinator and Unusual Suspects mystery newsletter writer–in case you’re wondering what you do with a Liberal Arts degree. She’s never met a beach she didn’t like, always says yes to dessert, loves ‘80s nostalgia, all forms of entertainment, and can hold a conversation using only gifs. You can definitely talk books with her on Litsy and Goodreads. Depending on social media’s stability maybe also Twitter and Bluesky.

View All posts by Jamie Canaves

There are two camps of people: those who have zero tote bags and those who have more than one. No one owns a single tote bag. It’s like books. Once you have one, you’re gonna want more. (This is all super scientific and factual, of course!)

It got me thinking about tote bags and where they originated, which led me down a rabbit hole where I ended up collecting some fun, actual facts for you (according to the sources I linked to)! Tote literally means “to carry by hand,” and the first known use of the word was in 1677. So, tote bags are appropriately named items to lug all your things around in. And by things, I mean books. But you can use it for other stuff, too, if you must.

In the 1940s, LL Bean jumped into the tote bag game when they created a canvas bag to help with all the ice bag lugging that was apparently common in Maine. The long-standing NY bookstore, The Strand, has even smartly been in the tote bag business for decades, having “offered over 100 original tote designs, ranging from political to whimsical.” And now, in the year 2023, Harper’s BAZAAR has declared that High-fashion tote bags are everywhere, and they actually make a great investment.

I personally like my totes to fall into at least one category: fun, funny, clever, unique, or bookish. So off to Etsy I went to find you a great selection of Halloween tote bags to carry your stuff around in with the Halloween spirit in mind — whether you are only spirited in the month of October or all year.

canvas tote bag screen printed with a skeleton giving the thumbs up and text saying "stay positive"

Stay Positive Skeleton Tote Bag ($18): Who says you can’t have a glass-half-full attitude during scary season?

tote bag with graphic black screen print of women from horror including Elvira and Wednesday Addams

Spooky Women Canvas Tote Bag ($15): Why pick a favorite spooky lady when you can have five iconic women to love!

canvas tote bag with a screen print image of a black cat holding a bloody knife with text saying "what?"

Murder Cat Tote Bag ($30): It’s the “what?” that really kills me because if you’ve ever known a cat, you’ve watched it do something terrible while looking you dead in the eye and challenging you or like it’s not doing anything at all wrong.

black canvas tote bag with a pumpkin flower design and letting that says "sort spooky sorts sweet"

Sorta Spooky Sorta Sweets Tote Bag ($13): Giving “why not both” vibes, and I like it!

green tote bag with a graphic print image of a pumpkin in the foreground with a university in the background

Halloweentown University Tote Bag ($19): How do I apply to Hallooweentown University?! And what are the majors?! Ghost friending? Pumpkin Art?

beige tote bag with a graphic print image to look like a tarot card with a skeleton reading a book

Vintage Tarot Card Inspired Skeleton Reading Books Canvas Tote Bag ($15): A trifecta perfect tote for fans of tarot cards, skeletons, and reading!

beige tote bag with a black screen print of a heart with ghosts inside that says read more boooooooks

Read More Books Halloween Tote Bag ($14): Is it even Halloween without ghosts?

black tote bag with lines of text saying "horror" finished with "have a killer day"

Horror Tote Bag ($13): Definitely one of my favorite plays on the “thank you” bag.

being tote bag with a screen printed design of three ghosts floating and a child in a sheet trying to immitate

Cute & Kawaii Ghost with Hamster Tote Bag ($20): Learn from the best!

a red tote bag with a black castle and white moon that says Dracula

Dracula tote bag ($32): “Once again…welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the happiness you bring.”

If you are in the can’t-have-enough-tote-bags camp, here’s a roundup of bookish ones!