When you boil it down, Halloween is about one thing and one thing alone: Free candy.
It’s not about generosity or the spirit of charity like those other holidays. In our litigious nation, it’s not even about frightening your neighbors anymore. No, it’s about getting a bunch of bite-sized Snickers for free — that’s why your doorbell keeps ringing.
And if you have forgotten this, we weep for you.
Naturally, to get the candy, a costume is required. And therein lies Halloween’s hidden cost.
Thrift stores can help ease the burden of costume shopping. Stores such as Goodwill and Value Village cater to Halloween’s clientele so much that the lead-up to Oct. 31 has become the literal equivalent of the Christmas shopping season for those destinations.
Goodwill generally sees a 30 percent uptick in sales in October, its busiest month, according to the nonprofit agency. Stores employ two or three costume consultants on Saturdays during the run-up to Halloween. Meanwhile, Value Village put up its costume racks right after Labor Day; and the store employs a Mr. and Mrs. Halloween to aid the search for outfits on a daily basis.
“I love it,” said Kelly Graden, Mrs. Halloween at the Everett Value Village. “I love to dress up every day. My boss always picks me because I have such a bubbly personality.”
At Goodwill consultants often work with parents when a young child can’t settle on an outfit. They also help patch together unusual costumes. Just like Mr. and Mrs. Halloween at Value Village, their understanding of the store layout and its stock helps them zero in on necessary items.
Shar Connelly, one of the Goodwill consultants at the south Everett store, said she helped someone put together a Kool-Aid Man costume by using an inflatable pumpkin as a body and a piece of cardboard for a handle. Granted, her job usually takes less creativity.
“Most people want to be scary, or they want to be the ‘pretty’ witch,” she said.
Thrift stores sell inexpensive new items, such as face paint and Harry Potter costumes, alongside donated clothes during the Halloween season. The combination helps attract people across the age spectrum. One recent Saturday at Goodwill, a grandmother was finding an outfit for both herself and her grandson.
“We get a lot of teenagers in too,” Roxanne Manzanares, manager at the south Everett Goodwill, said. “They come in packs, and they’ll go crazy.”
Of course, sometimes they browse. Sarah Turner, a Granite Falls 16-year-old, said she has assembled witch and black cat costumes in past years by cruising through the regular clothing racks.
Put another way, buying costumes from thrift stores can be frighteningly simple.
“Usually you can just find things that you can mix and match,” she said.
Andy Rathbun, Herald Writer, arathbun@heraldnet.com, 425-339-3455
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
