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The weather is beginning to shift at Colorado Mesa University, as autumn is now rolling in. A crisp, chill feeling is in the air and the leaves are officially changing colors. The popular pumpkin-flavor and pumpkin-spice have been reintroduced into our coffee, muffins, cookies.

With all that being said, this means Halloween is upon us and I couldn’t be more excited. Halloween is my favorite time of the year with spooky decorations popping up, the weather changing and costume ideas starting to come to mind. As you prepare to begin acquiring decorations and costumes, I thought it would be informative to give my thoughts on the best places to find them at around town.

Spirit Halloween

The first spot is Spirit Halloween. The store has moved in right across from campus where Albertsons used to be on 12th St. There second store can be found at Mesa Mall, which moved into the space that was once Sports Authority. What I loved about Spirit was the interactions you can have in the store.

For example, there are numerous buttons to press or walk on that will trigger either zombies, skeletons and even a swinging zombie girl to respond with either music or spooking you. The store offers great new women’s costumes this year including the “Hocus Pocus” ladies, Sassy Sally from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and Belle from “Beauty and The Beast.” For men they offer an inflatable T-Rex, Stay Puft from Ghostbusters, as well as a Baywatch costume. A mix of other fun decorations can be found walking around the store.

Mad Margaret’s

Moving onto the second spot is a store called Mad Margaret’s, which is primarily a costume store located at 807 N 1st St. The store is locally owned and operated. You’ll be able to find a wide variety of quality merchandise including packaged costumes, rental costumes, wigs, makeup and accessories. On their website it says they offer over 3,500 costumes ranging from cavemen to spacemen and if you don’t want to purchase it for the long run, they can offer rentals.

Walmart, Home Depot and Sam’s Club

There are also a mix of stores found around town that sell but aren’t specifically designated towards Halloween: Walmart, Home Depot and Sam’s Club. Each store has its unique type of Halloween decor ranging from decorations, costumes and accessories.

For those on a budget and are looking for cheaper items, Walmart is where you’ll find lots of Halloween decor, candy and a limited number of costumes.

If you are looking for more of outdoor decorations or props, Home Depot has an awesome selection to look into. You can interact with each one inside the store simply by pressing the button to trigger a response. Some other options include LED projection lights, animated figures, inflatables, etc.  

Sam’s Club, which requires a membership to enter, does not have as great of a selection as the other stores listed. They have a few in and outdoor decorations.

Amazon

If you are unable to find any luck in any of these stores the final go to would be Amazon. The website pretty much offers everything you could ever need, although you don’t get the opportunity to try on the costume before purchasing it.

My favorite place to shop for Halloween decorations or costumes this year is Spirit Halloween because you get the luxury of interacting with props throughout the store. You are able to try on costumes to make sure it’s a perfect fit and play with the props in person; where as you won’t get that when purchasing online.