You may have noticed that we're big fans of Halloween around here, so of course we couldn't pass up the opportunity to share our favourite type of bullet journal themes: SPOOKY HALLOWEEN THEMES! You may recognise some of these spreads from last year's Autumn Bullet Journal Theme Ideas blog post, but there's plenty of new ones thrown in for good measure too.

Grab your pumpkin spice latte and a bag of Halloween candy, and let's dive in...

Dark Academia Bullet Journal Theme

This was my original October 2022 bullet journal theme idea, but I got distracted by the new A5 ombre dot grid pads and wound up doing something quite different - see below! Naturally, I couldn't let a perfectly good theme idea go to waste, and used it in January 2023 instead. I'd started out with the intention of drawing it myself but the reality of my sketching skills didn't live up to my expectations, and I wound up tracing an image and lettering I found online. I went over it with Pigma Microns and used a Stabilo 68 marker in copper for the text. It's quite a departure from my usual style of cover page but I have to say it's one of my favourites.

Pastel Ombre Ghosts Bullet Journal Theme

This was the theme I mentioned above, that came to me as soon as the A5 Ombre Dot Grid Pads were released last year! If you'd like to recreate this spread yourself, Nikki's made a Pastel Ghost printable which can be used with your home printer and a sheet of Ombre Dot Grid! To print on my Canon printer, I downloaded the file, opened it in Adobe Acrobat, adjusted my printer tray to hold A5 paper, and made sure I selected A5 in the printer settings. As some top-loading printers will print onto a landscape sheet of A5 without needed to tweak the settings, she's also created a landscape version.

I think this theme his would also look great using white paper on black if you’re not a pastel fan. I used a white Gelly Roll for the lettering and stars and continued using pastel papers throughout my monthly set up. You can watch me creating the cover page and calendar page with a little help from my familiar here.

Brights on Kraft Spooky Bullet Journal Theme

By @happy_skull_planner - shared with permission

All of @happy_skull_planner’s bullet journal spreads are amazing but her October ones are always my favourite! I just adore this brights on Kraft paper theme she did last year, and the way Ruth layers washi tapes and stickers to pull everything together. (Peep our Bright Blocks washi in there which is now reduced to clear in our washi sale!) Check out those amazing fade-out banners she’s drawn with colouring pencil for the days of the week!

The Shining x Hello Kitty Bullet Journal Theme

Speaking of using washi tape creatively, Nikki used Hello Kitty washi tape, Overlook washi tape and our A5 dot grid pads in pastel blue to recreate this iconic scene from The Shining with an adorable twist. Head to her Plan With Me video on YouTube to see all of the incredible details she’s included!

Tarot Card Cats Bullet Journal Theme

Deth P Sun’s washi tape and stickers inspired me to create this tarot card theme in May this year but I think it would work particularly well as an October theme. Many of Deth’s tarot illustrations feature cats so I tried my hand at replicating his style, and of course Juniper had to be The Fool. Sorry, Juniper!

Vintage Halloween Cat Bullet Journal Theme

In keeping with the kitty theme, I love this vintage Halloween cat illustration that Nikki drew in her October 2020 set up using a Pigma brush pen, white Gelly Roll and Acrylograph paint pen in teal. We don’t stock Acrylographs anymore, but the Posca Pen in aqua green is an almost identical colour!

Retro Halloween is such a vibe and I’d love to try my hand at sketching something similar this year!

Spooky Doodles Bullet Journal Theme

This was my first October bullet journal cover page and I got a little overwhelmed trying to think of the *perfect* spooky theme so in the end, I just grabbed my markers and doodled away to my heart’s content without overthinking it! My beloved Gold Dots washi tape is currently reduced to clear in our washi sale. I included this spread in last year’s Autumn Bullet Journal Theme Ideas blog post so I thought I’d share some more spreads from this set up...

I made a Halloween bucket list of fun spooky activities and listed aaall the spooky movies I wanted to watch. I used Pigma Microns to draw them out and a gold Pentel Hybrid to mark when I’d done them or watched them.

This brain dump page is definitely one of my favourites I’ve ever created! I opted for a slightly more stylised way of drawing a spiderweb and I think it turned out so cute. It was super easy too!

Stranger Things Bullet Journal Theme

I included Nikki's Stranger Things bullet journal theme in last year's Autumn themes blog post, but I couldn't resist including this Hellfire Club spread she drew with paint markers as it feels extra-spooky! Who else is desperately waiting for the last season...?

Pumpkin Doodles Bullet Journal Theme

Nothing says Halloween more than pumpkins in my humble opinion! How cute is this pumpkin doodle weekly spread that Nikki did all the way back in 2018? I love a page like this where you can add to the doodles throughout the week as and when the mood takes you.

Pumpkin Pie Bullet Journal Theme

Ok so it's not particularly spooky but I thought I'd finish things off with this year's October cover page in my Archive Planner. (ICYMI: I've taken a break from bullet journaling for the rest of 2023, and you can see more about how I'm getting on with my Archive Planner here!)

There's just something very delightful about a nice chunky slice of pumpkin pie, isn't there? I drew mine with a Uni Pin 0.7 for a nice thick cartoony outline, then filled it in with a Pentel Twin Tip brush pen in gold ochre and an Ecoline brush pen in bright orange. These washi tapes are sold out, but you can shop loads more gorgeous autumn designs in our washi sale!

If you're looking for a speedy way to add a little spookiness to your bullet journal spreads, check out our Spooky Kitties A5 sticker sheets! We'll be doing a little crafting with these in our next blog post, so you may want to grab a sheet or two now...

I hope that’s given you a little inspiration for your October bullet journal monthly theme! Why not bookmark this page so you can come back to it every year?

If you’ve been inspired by any of the suggestions in this post, we’d love to see! Please tag @nikkissupplystore and #NikkisSupplyStore on Instagram, where you can find heaps more journaling and stationery inspiration. You can also follow me, @joy.margot, for more craft content and pictures of my cat, Juniper.