Halloween: The perfect chance to be a superhero, an evildoer or Scarlett O’Hara
Originally published October 30, 2009
By Nicholas C. Stern
News-Post Staff
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Photo by Bill Green
Craig Silverman, area manager for Party City on Urbana Pike, holds a monster mask the shop sells.
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Susie Graham enjoys witnessing the transformation that happens when a man who’s been working hard every day comes into her shop and tries on, say, a buccaneer outfit for Halloween.
He takes up a fake sword and tells his imagined audience to prepare themselves for boarding, allowing himself a moment to play a role apart from the stresses and strains of everyday existence.
Graham likes watching a mom turn into Scarlet O’Hara in her picnic dress; she’s absolutely beautiful and she knows it.
“Once you put them in character, they become that character and it’s so much fun,” said Graham, owner of Charelle’s Costume Shop on Buckeystown Pike in Frederick .
Before running the shop, Graham worked there for about eight years. She helps design and sew costumes to order, and manages an inventory of about 8,000 costumes for rent, as well as a smaller number for purchase.
Business has been slower than expected, especially considering that Halloween is on a Saturday this year, she said.
According to a recent survey by the National Retail Federation, consumers are expected to spend an average of $53.31 on Halloween this year, down from $66.54 in 2008.
More people are scrimping on candy, costumes, pumpkins and haunted house visits, and fewer people plan to host or attend a party, the survey stated.
Almost a third of consumers said they’d spend less on the
holiday than in 2008, while fewer people plan to celebrate Halloween this year at all.
Young adults, who spent the most last year on Halloween, about $86.59 on average, plan to scale back to about $68.56 this year, according to the survey.
Graham said this Halloween, celebrants are feeling the pinch from a troubled economy, but she also senses a desire. Her patrons to go out and catch their breath, to enjoy themselves for a while.
“People are ready for a pickup,” she said.
Renaissance costumes are big this year, she said, as are accessories from wigs to jewelry.
Retro outfits are other popular choices; from the bell bottoms and suede of the swinging ’70s to the flapper and gangster wear of the roaring ’20s, Graham said.
Rental costumes, which tend to be more elaborate and wellmade, range in price from about $30 to $125 for a weekend, she said.
The shop has also handmade its own versions of pirates, superheroes and a character out of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” she said.
A few party-goers have also requested garb specific for murder-mystery-themed get-togethers, such as a detective’s fedora and overcoat or the sparkly gown of a Hollywood starlet.
Craig Silverman, area manager for Party City on Urbana Pike, said gangster and jailbird costumes are selling, as are movie characters like Jackie Moon from “Semi-Pro.”
Lindsay Young, 21, of Jefferson , pondered a nurse outfit, among others, on a weekday evening in early October at Party City.
This year will be her first attending a party, and she wanted to get a head start on choosing her costume, before the better options sold out, Young said.
Barack Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton and even George W. Bush masks are still popular, Silverman said.
Accessories for revelers wishing to create their own disguises are available year-round at Party City, though Halloween is by far the busiest time of year, he said. Rotting or jagged teeth, swords or scepters, tights, wings, wigs, capes, antennae and more are available.
Props are also hot, Silverman said. This year, as last, giant hairy spiders seem to be among those artifacts that Halloweenenthralled decorators prefer.
Talking demons, grinning skeletons, fog machines, cauldrons , strobe lights, black lights, motion-activated goblins or even a life-sized, hanging grim reaper, his cloaked, bony arms outstretched in horrible greeting, are other options to populate a grotesque home decor.
At Two Paws Up, on Carroll Street in Frederick , those wishing to cloak their canine companions in Halloween gear can load up on pumpkin party collars, devil’s wings or a fireman’s outfit.
Lady bugs, pigs and bumble bees are other options, but the most popular costume for dogs by far, employee Dani Sigler said, is a hot dog get up, which costs $17.99.
The dogs themselves don’t seem to mind too much as their owners try to fit them into that perfect outfit.
Perhaps the lure of a pumpkin cookie doggie treat keeps them calm.
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