The Halloween Aisle, Part 3

Happy Halloween Eve! Family, work, and other responsibilities left me little extra time for updating the blog this month—my apologies!

However, the holiday has been on my periphery over the past few weeks. I actually stopped at CVS with my sons in early September to see what Halloween items were in stock. So here is this year's entry in my Halloween Aisle series.

First off, this was my first CVS visit specifically to evaluate its Halloween offerings. In my last two installments (see Part 1 and Part 2), I profiled the Halloween aisle at my local Walgreens. This time, it was plainly obvious that CVS, at least the store closest to me, had much less to offer. There were only a few packages of grease and cream Halloween makeup, and a couple of different fake tattoos. What was there seemed overpriced. 

For example, CVS is selling one 0.7-ounce tube of white cream makeup for $4.99 this year. Last year, Walgreens sold a $5.99 cream makeup kit that included a 0.75-ounce tube each of white and black cream makeup, along with three smaller tubes of red, green, and metallic makeup. Have prices seriously inflated that much in one year?

Cans of colored hairspray actually seemed more reasonably priced. Seeing these always brings back memories of dressing as the Joker, with sprayed-green hair, for Halloween in 1989. 

Unfortunately, the cream makeup, fake tattoos, and colored hairspray were the store's only available options for dressing up. Well, I take that back—there was one "ghost face" mask inspired by the Scream movie franchise. Almost all the other items in the Halloween aisle (really only half an aisle) were related to decorations. There were a couple of different pumpkin carving kits.

These kits with paint, stickers, and other push-in/stick-on applications allow younger children to decorate pumpkins without having to carve them. For the same age group, CVS also had a couple of Halloween-themed magic ink activity books.

The fake cobweb fluff—which we sometimes put up by our front porch for Halloween when I was a kid—seemed reasonably priced.

The next several photos show the miscellany of other Halloween items for sale—knick-knacks, candles, themed blankets and accent pillows, and candy buckets.

Here are a couple of animated Halloween decorations that the store was selling (please pardon my blurry photos). One item I didn't get a picture of was a skeleton hand that, with the push of a button, "walked" on its fingertips. My sons enjoyed trying that one.

At least in early September, CVS's selection of Halloween candy was small, compared with what Walgreens stocked in the past couple of years, though I've seen worse prices.

Judging by what's available near me, I would definitely choose Walgreens over CVS if those were my only local suppliers for Halloween costumes, makeup, decorations, and candy. Maybe CVS stores in other locations are better stocked. 

Even so, my sons and I enjoyed checking out the Halloween aisle that day, back when we were still anticipating the official arrival of autumn.

The Halloween Aisle, Part 2

It's a given that Walmart, Party City, and other big stores are going to have a wider variety of Halloween costumes than your local drug or grocery store will. However, when I was a kid, the drug store was usually our first stop when time came for costume shopping.

I wrote about this last year, in a post about the Halloween aisle of our local Walgreens. While heading out on some errands this morning with my eldest son, I decided to stop by there again, so that he could check out the Halloween aisle for himself.

The offerings were quite similar, particularly in the scarcity of costume items—though I admit that it's late in October and that there may have been more on the racks a month ago. Today there were only two masks: a skull face and an alien. 

There were several different packages of Halloween makeup—tubes of fake blood and creme makeup, oil crayon makeup, and a "Deluxe Makeup Kit" that included various pots and tubes of grease and creme makeup, as well as fake blood, "tooth out" and "fake scar," and several applicators. 

Hanging near the makeup kits were some clothing accessories—witch gloves, a pumpkin beanie, and a few different pairs of Halloween socks. Underneath those were decorations such as light-up jack-o-lanterns and strands of holiday lights, and also some classic-looking jack-o-lantern candy pails.

Other decorations included signs, skeletons, witches, ghosts, spiders, and cobwebs.

Some of the items weren't easily identifiable. I did spot some treat bags—though not the cool paper ones my mom used to get. 

The sweets heavily outweighed the costume and decoration offerings, though marked-up Halloween candy undoubtedly brings the bigger profit. I always enjoy seeing the holiday packaging.

The store had a better—though still slim—selection of costumes last year, but overall, the offerings were about the same. Not great, but certainly better than nothing. Next time, I might try CVS, less than a block away, or the Kroger across the street, to see what they have in stock. 

Bugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special (1977)

Witch Hazel's house serves as the centerpiece of this Halloween anthology, comprised of nine Looney Tunes cartoons plus some new transitional segments. (Quality is obviously lacking in the newer material.) Although I was too young to catch this special when it originally aired on October 26, 1977, I grew familiar with most of these individual cartoons from watching the Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Show in the 1980s.

Bewitched: Twitch or Treat (1966)

Originally aired October 27, 1966. Darrin is incensed when Endora makes a house appear on a vacant lot near the Stephens home for a Halloween party. (Synopsis from TV.com)

Bewitched: Trick or Treat (1965)

Originally aired October 28, 1965. When Darrin defies Endora again by insisting Samantha remain at home during Halloween, Endora places a curse on Darrin that slowly begins transforming him into a werewolf. (Synopsis from hulu.com)

ABC Weekend Special: The Trouble with Miss Switch (1980)

Originally aired February 16, 1980. When Rupert and his friend Amelia find the new substitute teacher doing odd things, they discover that she is actually a witch with a magical talking cat who sought them out in order to stop an evil coven of witches from destroying her. (Synopsis from IMDB.com)

The Haunted History of Halloween (1997)

In this History of the Holidays segment, the History Channel examines Halloween. Discover the history of Halloween and how the Celts played a part in this popular holiday.

1980s Halloween Stickers

Remember these?

The Witch Who Turned Pink (1989)

An unlucky witch searches for the way to restore her original coloring, after an unfortunate incident turns her skin pink.

The Worst Witch (1986)

Originally released November 1, 1986. Mildred Hubble is the flunk-out of the Witch's Academy...that is, until she gets her big chance to show everyone just how much magic she can make! The school's headmistress Agatha has an evil twin, who is plotting to cause havoc just before the big Halloween celebration and visit by the Grand Wizard. Can Mildred find a way to stop this plot before it ruins the party? This family fantasy features a stellar cast, including Diana Rigg and Tim Curry, as well as plenty of enchanting action.

Disney's Haunted Halloween (1984)

Enjoy this Disney educational film about Halloween: a compact "Disney's Halloween Treat" with some history and safety lessons thrown in!

Star Trek: Catspaw (1967)

Originally aired October 27, 1967. When Kirk and his landing party arrive on the planet below, they are met by eerie mists, a dark castle, witches, goblins and a black cat. They soon learn that they are under the influence of a wizard, Korob, who tries to bend them to his will. They also soon learn that the black cat they saw is more than she appears and is in fact a powerful witch in her right. It is left to Kirk and Spock to find a means to escape their grasp. (Synopsis from IMDB)

Tales from the Darkside: Trick or Treat (1983)

Originally aired October 29, 1983. A miser taunts his neighbors by daring them to send their children in to find their debt records inside of his "haunted house," but he gets some unusual late-night visitors.

Night Court: Halloween Too (1985)

Originally aired October 31, 1985. Harry falls for Kim, a beautiful and free-spirited young woman. But then she appears in court, claiming to be a witch, with a tabloid reporter hovering in the background.

The Paul Lynde Halloween Special (1976)

Originally aired October 29, 1976. Witchipoo and the Wicked Witch of the West give Paul Lynde three wishes for Halloween.

Bewitched: The Safe and Sane Halloween (1967)

Originally aired October 26, 1967. Tabitha brings three storybook goblins to life and they go trick-or-treating with them around Morning Glory Circle.

The New Misadventures of Ichabod Crane (1979)

This animated adventure features the antics of Ichabod Crane when he comes to the rescue with his motley crew of friends.

Donald Duck: Trick or Treat (1954)

Which Witch is Which? (1984)

Happy Days: The Evil Eye (1978)

Looking back over previous posts, I noticed that I have a tendency to consider many Halloween episodes to be among my favorites. I'm not sure how much value can be given to the phrase "favorite Halloween episodes" when so many examples have been included. In any case, here is another entry into that category. Although I only watched Happy Days occasionally as a kid, this Halloween episode is one that is very memorable to me. It originally aired Halloween night in 1978. We learn that Al is being pursued by an old lady (a witch!) who wants to put a curse on him. She is from the Dimartino family and he is from the Delvecchio family, and the two families have been fighting for many years. According to Al, his uncle made the old woman mad once, and she subsequently gave him "the evil eye"! When the woman does finally find Al and puts a curse on him, Richie and the guys concoct a ceremony to remove it.