I assume you monster lovers get excited about halloween like me! Has anyone seen any cool stuff on your shopping trips yet this year? Eager to check out what stores will have as always! Post your finds here!

I only take a costume seriously if the first word is "sexy." The times we live in. (sexy big bird?!)

i hate you, jeff.

i'm talking less about costumes and more about decorations.

I always check out Target this time of year for that reason. I saw a cool, giant animated skull (like 24" tall) and a cool animated skeleton hanging in a cage for $35.00 (definitely hit Target the day after Halloween when prices are cut by 50% or more). Target also revived the cast aluminum skeleton-arm salad utensils from last year.

Some of the cheap, animated Chinese toys and decorations that come out this time of year completely rule and you never know where they will show-up - Walgreen's, Target, Spencer's, etc. Yes, please post your finds.

I've been meaning to stop in at a Michael's to check out this line of Halloween decorations I recently read about called "Spooky Town". You can see some of the stuff from prior years here.

^^ That's now a must have!!!!!!! Only thing cooler than that is having the elevator from the Shining.

I don't buy Halloween decorations but I'm always tempted to. I just love seeing them in the store. I've been scanning Google Images for vintage Halloween decorations. Fond memories of the GID articulated cardboard skeletons of my youth, when entire neighborhoods would have block parties and several homes were turned into haunted houses. Don't really see that so much these days, at least not in my city. However there is a home down the street which doubles as a day care center ... the owners have decades' worth of weird Halloween and Christmas decorations, totally mismatched stuff that they use to dress up the house in a very funky sort of way every year. If they do it this year I'll try to post some pictures (nothing's up yet, though.) It's sort of funny to see a day care center for little kids turned into a fake graveyard each year. Unfortunately for the past two years I got no trick-or-treaters and was stuck with a couple of bags of candy.

It's true. Little by little every tradition seems to be dying down. I remember when I would go around just a few blocks, when I was young, and come back with literally bags full of candy. Didn't even need parental supervision everyone was just having fun.

Off topic a little I actually just read an article a few days ago talking about today's youth not having the privelage to play "free range" in their neighborhood like we did growing up without any parental supervision, due to the frightful mentality we seem to have nowadays. As much as Id love to keep my favorite traditions such as Halloween or 4th of July alive, it just seems to get harder and harder. It just takes one person to acre it all up for everyone.

I bought some glitter Skulls @ Target.

Where I live now it is segregated to certain areas. But the blocks where they do it they go all out bigger than when I was a kid. But nobody uses shaving cream anymore.

I used to love Halloween... but damn, it's seemed so stale these last few years. At least around here. Especially last year, where Halloween was canceled in my town due to all the blackouts from the storm that hit us days earlier. Crazy. Halloween was actually canceled. I mean reasonably so since entired blocks were just pure darkness, but man, what a bummer.

And what happened to Mischief Night??? I used to love toilet papering trees and ringing doorbells and then dodging into bushes as a kid. Nothing harmful, just good spirited mischief. I guess maybe if somebody saw a kid prowling around in the darkness these days, they'd probably end up shooting them

One Halloween memory that always cracks me up, was when my dad slyly put a couple unwrapped popsicles in the neighborhood bully's candy bag when he showed up to Trick or Treat at our door. It was funny back then as a little kid, but I don't think the genius of it hit me until a few years later. Hahah what a mess. Sucker!!

just got done with my fall cleaning (I'm anal spring cleaning just isn't enough ) so next week I can start hauling out the goodies, this year I am going to build a giant haunted tree for inside my apartment (yes for those of you who haven't met me I am fucking nuts I used huge outdoor holiday decorations indoors including but not limited to 4 foot wide yard inflatables) I totally miss having a yard though it is definately the best thing to decorate

Our dead rapper graveyard from last year (complete with sound effects and smoke).

Dean is on the right track - go vintage! I recently drove like 20 miles out of town to some crazy ladies house just to buy a couple articulated antique die-cut characters from her. I wouldn't do it again, and have since just been shopping on eBay and Etsy for them. If you're into these, hold out for finding them in LOTS - there are plenty to be had for practically a dollar a piece if you're buying some misc. grouping of them. The ones I got locally were owls, a large skeleton, and a pumpkin-man. In the mail this week, I received a medium gorilla and 3 glowing ghosts. I need more Jack-o-Lanterns and Skeletons, and may spring for a witch / frankenstein / dracula as well.

I'm a huge fan of candles and blow-mold decorations. I just can't seem to find many locally, and shipping is costly or at least a pain in the ass. I'm hoping to pick up a few more blow-mold items before the holiday comes, but my desperate-sounding WTB ads on CL are not really doing me any good lately.

I do not like modern / current decor, it's always too friendly or sparkly or something. Or I don't like the materials they are made from. I feel like a grumpy old man. Back at the homes of my great grandparents, everything was that cheapy plastic with prominent seams from where the pieces are molded together. Or die-cut paper deco, blow molds, and candles. My mom went Halloween batshit around 1996 and has been loading up with decorations ever since, but I just can't get into the stuff that doesn't feel nostalgic to me. The fact that we try to keep our home fairly period-correct doesn't help me warm up to modern decor either, but I promise you we'll have some glitter skulls and candelabras from Target - my lady insists

Oh yeah, much to my shame, my girlfriend had this costume a couple years ago (but not for the function of sexy, I promise). The head actually fit her dog quite well!



And she went all out with her nails, makeup, and eyelashes for it:

i gotta start gearing up to go decoration shopping... probably start this coming week... dollar tree, 99 cents only, family dollar usually have some pretty nice deals, you just have to visit the bigger stores in your area that have the bigger selection.

I haven't seen one in the stores yet, but I'll be buying this new Forum Creature mask:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WR0BMqeYr4&feature=player_embedded

Nice - that's a good sculpt, really like the way the neck/collar area is formed, should be good for wearing (unless you're just a collector). I went as the Creature wearing a suit last year, just not a Creature-suit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crabrangoon/6310803601/

Bought a pretty plain mask, then we trimmed and modified it a bit, and my buddy did a full repaint on it. I should have taken before and after pics, the starting point was really muddy colors and terrible looking.

^Great photo. Just like Uncle Gilbert from The Munsters.

Vintage lovers-This just changed the game for me! Beistle makes repros of their vintage decorations.
http://www.beistle.com/searchresults.aspx?sid=95f7adac-b1be-4e13-9c8e-b91274cce5c1


I just picked up a Watusi Witch! Now I just need her guitar playing skeleton friend.

Ahhhhh! Where'd you find the repro stuff, local? I'm all over that, 90% of the stuff I'm seeking & buying is Beistle.

A few years ago I picked up a set of 4 beistle at this non-chain party store in NJ. The witch I had to buy person to person online. I can't find another one of her! The only bummer is that it looks like you have to buy in packs of 6 or 12 on the site. There's a bunch of random retailers that sell the vintage stuff in smaller packs, but maybe if we can't find one, we should split an order!

just talked to missy and my boss(my family runs a little party store)if people want to throw in on stuff a wholesale order is a go, will probably be putting in the order before friday so hit http://www.beistle.com/searchresults.aspx?sid=21dcfc04-a666-4a35-a9e8-93f2a37207f5 and let me know what looks good and we'll try to figure this out