October 5th...

Greetings fellow ghouls,

Each year I look forward to going shopping for Halloween related "things". This year I noticed a change and I guess due to the recession most retailers have REALLY scaled back their offerings.

Last year must have been BAD for retailers. I can imagine their fear - have TONS of Halloween items left-over on November 1st (my favorite day to shop). It almost looks like in some cases they've put out things they had squirrelled away after last season. At a Walgreens I went to they didn't even fill up one aisle. I've not visited all of the stores I typically do, but from what I've seen...
The local Spirit Halloween store almost seems empty. Target, Walmart and Orchard Supply Hardware (yeah, they sell Halloween goods too) all have fewer things to offer. Some stores even have Christmas items up already (something that seriously bums me out...can't we just take one holiday at a time folks!?!?!?!).

I don't quite get it since the average American will spend an average of $66.28 on Halloween this year, including $23.37 a costume, $20.29 on candy and $18.66 on decorations. The reason for all of this spending? Trick-or-treating.

Enjoy a little "Trick-or-Treatin'" Rain Station style...oh, and watch our cool Flash video here!

I spend FAR more than the average American on Halloween. I save up all year so I can binge on guffoonery.

I moved four years ago. My house has to be THE WORST Halloween house ever. I would have a good reason to scale back. The house at the dead end of the court is mine. My driveway is nearly impassable and then I have 19 stairs to the front door. The first year in the new house I decked it out and had three neighbor kids come up. My neighbors don't decorate and since my street is LONG most trick-or-treaters look up the street and figure to heck with it. I know I would not venture up my street regardless of how cool the house at the end of the street looks. Trick-or-treating is a combination of candy volume vs. coolness of houses. Candy usually wins out and coolness only works when candy is part of the equation. I wish I lived somewhere where the neighbors all try and outdo each other. Maybe someday I'll move to that place.

I will not be deterred this year. I plan to haunt the heck out of my house this year and ensure that at a minimum the neighbors know how it is supposed to be done. Maybe I'll start something (probably not, you've not SEEN my neighbors).

Above (and to the right) are some of the photos I've taken on my excursions. These are items I didn't purchase, but ones I thought would photograph well.

Enjoy the track and video (if you're in a clickin' mood) and ENJOY the Halloween shoppin'! I'll post about some of the things I've purchased this season (thus far) later this week.

Mark Harvey