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1 A Brief History of Seasonal Blow Molds

This article has been updated on November 2. Please scroll to read the last paragraph.

For those of you that love seasonal blow molds you may be unaware that General Foam closed their doors in December 2017 and auctioned all of their assets in March 2018. General Foam’s closing was significant in that they owned 350 molds used to produce holiday blow molds, by far the largest manufacturer of these products in the U.S. Following the auction the overwhelming majority of the aluminum molds that existed for decades have sadly been destroyed and the availability of products has become severely limited.

A Brief History of Seasonal Blow Molds

Dating to the 1960’s there was a strong U.S. and Canadian manufacturing base producing these beloved products, but all of them have closed. At present, Cado Products and Christmas Lights Creations are the only U.S. companies currently manufacturing Christmas, Halloween and Valentine’s Day blow molds. Cado currently produces the Union Products line, and they own a few Grand Venture and TPI aluminum molds. We have purchased several Grand Venture aluminum molds, and we are aware of other aluminum molds that are available and may pursue those at some point in the future.

Point in fact, Cado has more aluminum blow molds and paint masks sitting on racks collecting dust in their warehouse than the number of products they produce. They have a limited amount of production and warehouse space, and until they decide to expand or figure out a way to increase capacity the same blow molds they’ve been producing for several years will continue to be the only products that enter the market.

In 2015 we had nearly 100 blow mold products available for purchase on our website, but today that number has dwindled to 36. It’s unfortunate because a strong market still exists for these products, but the U.S. blow mold manufacturer’s we’ve spoken to aren’t interested in producing these products because of the painting that’s required. Cado knows this and likely has taken the position that they don’t need to increase their overhead when they have virtually no competition in the U.S.

No Competition Leads to Laziness

Unlike General Foam, a properly managed company with a solid financial position could succeed as a manufacturer in this market, and we’re hopeful one will emerge. But the likelihood of that happening appears to be remote. Manufacturer’s in China and Mexico have produced blow molds over the past two years, and the amount of products they put into production may increase in the future unless U.S. manufacturer’s begin to notice their losing market share by not producing holiday blow molds.

These realities have brought the laws of supply and demand to the forefront, and as such the days of cheap blow molds are over. Other factors play a role in rising prices, but the primary driver is the limited product availability. Until that reality is reversed, expect to pay a lot more for these iconic products.

We Carry Used Blow Molds

If you’ve come across this article you will likely notice we no longer sell new blow molds. There are a number of reasons why we don’t, but we do sell a small selection of Used Blow Molds that some of you may be interested in.

We know there is a market for used vintage holiday blow molds and all one has to do to learn that is peruse the 100’s of used molds on eBay.

Some of our Used Blow Molds are in really good condition, like the Grand Venture Maroon Christmas Candle and the Grand Venture White Christmas Candle. Other molds like the Grand Venture Santa with Toy Soldier and the Grand Venture Santa Claus are in good condition.

Our Union Products Candy Cane is in fair condition while the Grand Venture Witch needs a lot of work. All of these Used Blow Molds have been priced to include FREE Shipping to the contiguous 48 states.

Please read the product descriptions for each of these molds carefully and take the time to review all of the product images. If you choose to purchase one of these the sale is final. There will not be any refunds or returns accepted.