More From Michaels

First Halloween Sighting

3 days earlier than last year. I'm a huge fan of Halloween, but wow, this is early.

At Michaels

Halloween Retail

Here's an assessment of local retail stores' Halloween displays:

Giant Eagle (grocery store)- This year's display is more sparse compared to last year. It's mainly a bunch of candy, a few decorations, and a few seasonal ales. Disappointing.

Meijer- A pretty good collection of costumes, candy, and decorations. Fun to peruse.

Home Goods- Very disappointing this year. Only a small collection of stuff and situated at the back of the store.

Michaels- Excellent collection this year. Lots of costumes, decorations, and crafts. My favorite holiday store.

Party City- A surprising amount of Halloween stuff out already, with more to come. Not my style, as much of it is gory and macabre, but a lot of Halloween to look at.

JoAnn's- A slightly below average showing, with much more generic Fall/Autumn & Thanksgiving stuff out this year.

Lowe's & Home Depot- Each year, these stores feature less and less Halloween. At Lowe's, there was already more Christmas stuff out compared to Halloween.

Tuesday Morning- Very disappointing. Hardly anything this year.

Final Tally:  6 Below Average showings, 3 Above Average Showings

Halloween is the second biggest retail holiday in America. And while the stock market is at a record high, I've read several articles lately pointing to the fact that while the top 1-5% of America is enjoying significant financial gains, the other 95-99% of America continues to reside in recession territory. Could this be why this year's Halloween showing is a bit weak?

Michaels

Toddler Holidays and I dropped by Michaels today, and we were surprised to see a little bit of Halloween stuff out:  crows, spooky paper wreaths, ribbon, and a row of empty shelving already marked with pricing for incoming decorations. This is the earliest I've ever seen Halloween decorations. Usually, the first week of August brings the initial wave of decorations. I wonder if they're moving Halloween up a bit so they can further extend the pre-Christmas season?

PS One more month till Father Holidays and Stepmother Holidays come to visit. By the time they come, Michaels, JoAnn's, and Home Goods should have a lot of decorations to peruse. Plus, Father Holidays will be helping me with a couple of Spirit Grove projects.

Halloween Tree Ornaments

Picked these up at Michaels today. Was pleasantly surprised when they rung up at a 30% discount at the cash register.

Michaels

Not sure why this pic posted on top, but yes, you read that price tag correctly:  $69.99

Mrs. Holidays, Baby Holidays, Sister-in-Law, Brother-in-Law, and I stopped by Michaels to check out the Halloween display.  I'd say it was more impressive than last year, though quite pricey.  We didn't buy anything, but it sure was fun to get into the spirit.

Good ole' Spooky Town

See the ghost in the bottom middle? That's what inspired Spirit Grove I last year

Spooky Town was prominently displayed

Was tempted to buy a couple of these ornaments

The word on the street is Father Holidays and Stepmother Holidays are going to put Baby Holidays in something like this for trick-or-treat

Garland

Nicely priced wreath

Heading to the Stores

This weekend, Mrs. Holidays, Baby Holidays, and I will be heading to Michaels and perhaps some other stores to take a look at Halloween stuff. Some of the things I'll be on the lookout for over the next few weeks include Halloween garland, Halloween tree ornaments, battery-operated tealights, black cloth, water-based paint/spray paint, etc.



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Garden Ridge

Was just on Pumpkinrot's blog and was excited to see that a store named Garden Ridge is already putting out Halloween decorations.  I checked out their website and discovered there's actually a store in my city. Awesome! We'll be making a trip pretty soon.

PS I also noticed (via Pumpkinrot) that Michaels put out its Halloween decorations the first weekend of August last year. Looks like we may closer to the 2012 burst than I had originally thought.

3 months till Halloween decorations hit the stores

In my experience over the last three years, Michaels usually puts its collection out first, followed by Home Goods. I'm going to check out the local Goodwill store as well.

This year, I'm going to keep my eye out for black spray paint, more battery-operated tea lights, a knick knack or two that I could hang from the artificial trees, orange string lights (Mother in Law Holidays, do we have any orange lights, I can't remember?), and maybe even a little wreath.

And, of course, I'll have to take Grandmother Holidays out to look around for a spooky door sign.

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Home Goods surgical strike

Yesterday, Grandmother Holidays and I visited a couple of stores in search of Easter decorations. First, we visited Home Goods, which had a treasure trove of Easter goodies. I bought a beautiful egg wreath (pictured) that I will incorporate in our outdoor display. Grandmother Holidays spotted a pink, glittery Easter door sign but couldn't quite pull the trigger. I told her that we could always come back after visiting Michaels.

We then drove over to Michaels, but there was nothing new. A few weeks ago, I had spotted a potential door sign for her but held off so that she could decide for herself. This time, with her present, I pointed her to the various signs, and without any prompting at all, she was drawn to the same sign. After closely analyzing it, she asked what I thought. I asked her if she preferred this one or the Home Goods sign. After further contemplation, she decided on the Home Goods sign, so we drove back and bought it. I will take a picture when she hangs it on her door after Valentine's Day.

All in all, we had a fun time together, and I could sense that her anticipation is growing for the Easter holiday.