Area stores offer ideas for Halloween

So you’ve been working all week and haven’t had a chance to get a Halloween costume for you or your kids.

Don’t worry. You still have time before trick-or-treating festivities start to put together that perfect costume.

And the best part is you don’t have to spend a lot of money to do so.

Linda Boysen, store manager at Goodwill in Fremont, said she expects Saturday to be crowded with people looking for last-minute costumes.

“We usually sell out all of our Halloween stuff on that day,” Boysen said.

Goodwill received donated costumes for people of all ages throughout the year, she said. There are superhero and skeleton costumes for kids and fuzzy costumes such as ladybugs for infants.

“We’ve had a lot of cute ones come in,” Boysen said.

The store also has masks and offbeat clothes that people can use to finish off their costumes.

And because the items were

donated, they can be had for less than a third of the price of a new costume, Boysen said.

“This is a good place to go to get a good costume and not pay the full price, and I think a lot of people have caught on to that,” she said.

But thrift stores such as Goodwill also give people a chance to create their own costumes by buying such things as retro polyester clothes, evening dresses or even bridal gowns.

“They wouldn’t have any problems with that at all,” Boysen said. “The can find something and we’d be happy to help them.”

Anyone hosting a Halloween party still has a chance to pick up the necessary decorations as well.

Linda Crytzer, owner of Jama’s Party Shop in downtown Fremont, said items such as spooky wall and window clings, as well as spider and ghost decorations are essential for setting the right mood for a Halloween bash.

Crytzer also said it’s a good idea for hosts of the party to award prizes for things such as the best costume.

But the main thing Crytzer said people having a Halloween party need to remember is to enjoy themselves.

“It’s giving people the chance to let their hair down and have fun,” she said.

Jama’s also has costumes available, but the shop also sells such things as cowboy hats and bandanas, cheerleader accessories and clown gear.

“You don’t always have to go to the expense of a costume,” Crytzer said. “There’s lots of fun ways to dress that are inexpensive.”

Crytzer said it’s fun for her to work with customers to piece together a costume.

“They usually come in with an idea of what they want, and then it’s just helping them add to that,” she said.