Creepin' in on Halloween 2017

 

As summer comes to a close, I have pumpkin everything on my mind as I pine for the fall season. The bright colors of summer fade away to the black, purple and orange of the Halloween season and I have been lucky enough to stumble upon a few stores that have jumped the gun early. 

 

So I packed up the ECTO-6 and set out for adventure with my friends from The Purple Stuff Podcast (Dinosaur Dracula and The Sexy Armpit) keeping me in the Halloween spirit for company. If you haven't listened to their podcast yet, I highly recommend it as I enjoy trying to seek out the same very things that they search for or stumble upon as a pseudo-scavenger hunt. Their hunting grounds are the NY/NJ area so it's often fun to see what this small Northern Minnesota environment can do to compete with a denser populated area. 

 

So far, us in the 'Sota are outpacing our Eastern friends...

 

 

The first trip on the adventure was to the local Dollar General and when I say "local" i meant 25 minutes away and through a hodge podge meandering of road construction. When entering the Dollar General, I stumbled upon a small smack of Halloween candy but this is a dime a dozen right now. I still found the unusual "Spider-Man Candy Sticks" and this year's annual "Ahhh hell, lets try it" Oreo item; an Oreo Egg decorated by a smiling Jack O'Lantern.

 

I knew that this Dollar General has a toy section so I browsed but did not find the Halloween section where Matt and Jay from the Purple Stuff podcast had found these "Halloween Grow Capsules." I was intrigued by them and hoped that I would find them. 

 

And did I find them!

 

I stumbled up on a whole aisle of cheap Halloween merchandise only the likes of a Dollar General can provide. I snatched up Skeleton Army PVC figures (they might make good Deadites), an owl wearing a witch hat doormat, a gnarly retro-like Halloween pail, a "It's the Great, Pumpkin" ceramic mug (which is my most exciting trophy) and the infamous Grow Capsules. 

 

$13 later, my first shopping of the Halloween season was done!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I figured that the day was still young in August and that I would try my luck elsewhere so I made my way to Walgreens but they still were in "Back 2 School" mode. However, it should be noted that the curtain of Halloween candy was soon to fall upon them as seen in the photo below:

 

 

The only luck I had finding ANYTHING Halloween merchandise was two lonely and out of place Hot Wheels cars. While interesting and neat, I wasn't going to swipe my Visa for $2.15 of metal and plastic tires. 

 

 

 

 

 

To wash the distaste of Walgreen's out of my caramel apple desiring Hobbit hole, I trekked to Menard's, a local building store, who is known for having an early and amazing selection of Halloween items. 

 

And they did not disappoint!

 

 

 

Masks, candy, decorations and fake blood! YEEEEES!

 

I did find some amazing things here but it was too early to blow the wad on the first day of Halloween shopping so I putzed around the section and decided that I would only take some photos to share with you all. 

 

 

First off, the generic "Chinless Zombie" mask that resembled a certain Robert Englund character....

 

 

I will return for a few of these items including this amazing painting that had LED lights and sounds. What better way to say Halloween than this portrait of a witch giving Trick or Treaters candy from a haunted house?! 

 

I also believe that I am growing a very large soft spot for anything Frankenstein's monster after watching the classic Universal Monster movie earlier this summer so this dancing Frank will be mine when I don't scoff at the $20 price tag. To answer your question, he sings MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" for some reason.

 

I did pull the trigger on a $5 Spooky Sound Box because it was shaped like a coffin and did amazing sounds. 

 

 

 

I was having such a good time looking at these season oddities that I thought I would give the Dollar Tree a shot as most my decor comes from there because everything is a dollar and it's often times cheap fun. They did have a small section of Halloween items of which I picked up a LED ghost and LED witch combo for $2. They have sounds and lights and came with batteries so it was $2 well spent. 

 

 

Since I was there, I bumbled about and found this book from Clarissa herself, Melissa Joan Hart, and I really enjoyed Bill Murrary's endorsement for it. Ooooh that Billy!

 

 

 

 

Lastly, I searched the local Target and found a few lost Halloween items mixed in with the Back 2 School Dollar Alley section but nothing of significance to report. I did find a few items that will be featured later on in another blog however and I am ever excited to talk about them!

 

As I close out this entry post of the Halloween 2017 season, what items are you finding in your neck of the woods? Anything fun and unusual that is a must have item for the Season of Sam Hain? Let me know by tagging this post in your blog or tagging us at Instagram with the @whoyagonnacollect account! I'd love to see what slimy spew is ushering in the fall madness in your area!

 

And before I go, here's the "EPIC" grow capsules from Dollar General!