It’s October, which means it’s Halloween season! (and Spooky Lake Month if you celebrate 🙂)
I’ve done some new research and put all my other relevant articles in one thread, so hopefully this will cover all of your Halloween needs. And if not, let me know in the comments!
HalloweenCostumes.com/Fun.com: This website is amazing! HalloweenCostumes.com has over 10,000 costumes in a FULL range of sizes, up to 8X. They even make some of their costumes in-house, which you can shop here.
The Details: Founded in 1992 and still family-owned and run out of Minnesota. They do not have a profile on Open Secrets. HalloweenCostumes.com doesn’t have a public diversity policy on their website, though that can be common for smaller/mid-size businesses.
Countries available in: US (and ship to AK, HI), Canada, UK, European Union countries, Mexico, Australia
Zurchers: If you live near a Zurchers (check locations here) they have a ton of kids Halloween costumes. Their adult selection is more parent-taking-their-kids-trick-or-treating versus sexy random object, but if that’s what you need it works! However, the Halloween costumes they list on their website are generally in-store only, so online ordering for costumes is very limited.
The Details: Here
Countries available in: US-only (and ship to AK, HI)
Party City: Private equity ruined Party City, but some of their franchise locations are still open and they have a pop-up store in NYC. The franchises are locally-owned and operated, and are working together to continue to stay open, potentially with a different name in the future. Since they’re locally owned and operated, I think it’s great to shop at the franchise locations.
Online experience: On the Party City website’s About Us page it notes that they have the 30 independent locations, so I believe if you order online you are also supporting the franchises versus the corporate entity that went bankrupt, though I’m not 100% sure.
Party City Canada: So it turns out Party City in Canada is owned by Canadian Tire and is NOT going bankrupt! Canadians probably already knew that, but it was news to me, hah.
The Details: Canadian Tire is publicly traded but Martha Gardiner-Billes owns the majority of stocks at 61%. Canadian Tire supports DEI but also mistreated foreign workers in 2024, with low hours, wages and other issues. I don’t know of a good source yet for tracking Canadian political spending, if you do please let me know in the comments.
Five Below: More for kids/tweens/teens than adults, but you can shop in-store for costumes or check out their decent online selection available for shipping.
The Details: Here
Countries available in: US-only, and unfortunately does not ship to AK or HI
Full party supplies article here, with lots of options including for kids and adults.
Fun.com: They have tons of Halloween decorations here, including lawn/house decorations like this glowing eyes 5 ft tall skeleton.
Countries available in: US (and ship to AK, HI), Australia
Check out my crafting article for general ideas or yarn and fabric store deep dive for sewing and fiber arts.
Creative Re-Use Centers: Want to plug these again! If you’re looking for cheap/free crafting supplies, creative re-use centers are like thrift stores for craft supplies. Search “creative re-use center” + your location to find the nearest one. There are also some online ones like Make + Mend if you don’t have one near you.
Five Below: has candy, some of it even shippable!
Local grocery store: Instead of buying bags of candy at Walmart or Target, get some from your local grocery store.
If you’re looking for some ~spoOoooOoooky~ movies and shows to get in the Halloween spirit, full articles on streaming options here and here.
Your Local Library: You can watch movies and tv shows for free, with NO ADS through Kanopy and Hoopla, which partner with your local library to provide ad-free content. Note, availability will depend on your local library’s set up. Both platforms have tons of scary movies and TV shows.
PBS Passport: There’s not a ton of spooky content on here, but you can watch PBS News Hour and be horrified by what our country is becoming!
Dropout: I found one Halloween-themed episode of Um, Actually but there’s also Coffin Run, a horror-themed Dimension 20 campaign.
Spirit Halloween/Spencer’s Gifts: Spirit Halloween and Spencer’s Gifts are owned by the same company, Spencer Spirit Holdings Inc., which in turn is owned by private equity firm ACON Investments.
Shudder: Shudder is owned by AMC Networks, which also owns AMC+, IFC Films Unlimited, Allblk, Sundance Now, Hidive, and Acorn TV.
The Details: Publicly traded with institutional investors as their largest shareholders. AMC Networks supports diversity and inclusion with employee resource groups.
Not so great: AMC Networks has spent $150K on lobbying in the last two years around issues related to performance rights, intellectual property and copyright. AMC Networks settled a class-action lawsuit for $8.3 million sharing subscribers’ personal information with third-parties through tracking technology. They also announced a partnership with AI company Runway to create marketing images and use Runway as a tool to pre-visualize shows that have not been produced yet. While the pre-visualization piece is likely to be used more as a tool than a replacement of talent, the marketing images would be seen by consumers and would replace physical photo shoots with on-screen or other talent. Kristin Dolan is the current CEO, and she is married but separated from James Dolan, the current Chairman of the Board and the son of the founder Charles Dolan. Charles Dolan gave $125K to Trump’s election campaign in 2020 but died in 2024. James Dolan has a long history with Trump – Kristin and James were married at Mar-a-Lago in 2002, he donated $425K to Trump and hired Trump’s former staffer Hope Hicks. James Dolan is also behind the controversial facial-recognition software at Madison Square Garden in NYC, which he owns, and uses the software to ban his “enemies”.
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