Yesterday, we saw tons of costumes at the stores — clowns and bearded ladies, bubble gum and shoes, doctors and patients — and they were all fabulous. I’m a softie and I wish everyone could win, but it is the nature of a contest to have winners and losers. When we were looking for our winner, we wanted to see participation from the entire group and crazy creativity. You can see all the contestants on Flickr, but let me tell you a little bit about our runners up.
The Battleground Avenue Store won second place as the cast of the Adams Family movie. They had the entire crew — Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsly, Uncle Fester, Cousin Itt, and even Thing. As you can imagine, creating these costumes took quite a bit of effort and creativity. To make Thing, they built a box with a cutout on top for the hand to come out of. Not only did the entire staff dress up, but they decorated the store, played the movie’s theme music, got into character, and stood by the road to welcome shoppers.
You must be wondering why they didn’t win first place. Well, it was a tough call. Read on.
The Eugene Street Goodwill Store won first place as the ghosts of Deadside High students. When we got to the store, the school principal told us about how she was the lone survivor of a school bus crash. Then she introduced us to the nerd, the goody-two-shoes, the cheerleader, the football star, the school nurse, and the coach. She told us about each of their fates and whether they went with the Grim Reaper or the Angel. We liked the spooky spin on stereotypical high school characters, not to mention the creative story and convincing role playing. The store looked great too, with the name of the high school posted above the register, spiderwebs everywhere, and candy for the customers.
Today, we will be at the Eugene Street Store to help them celebrate their big win. The Smiling G Mascot will be at the store from 11:00am until 1:00pm with treats for everyone. We hope to see you there!
Most people enjoy searching for the perfect Halloween costume. Most people look forward to putting all the pieces together and then, on Halloween night, debuting their outfit for all to see. Well, Goodwill employees aren’t any different. Except they don’t stop at just Halloween costumes. Goodwill employees like to show off their Halloween spirit by decorating their stores to create the best Halloween atmosphere.
On Friday, October 30th some of the Goodwill stores in the Triad are participating in a Halloween decorating contest. These select locations will not only have their stores decked out in spooky decorations but the employees will also be sporting their Halloween costumes for all to see.
The store with the most Halloween spirit on Friday will win a Halloween party on Saturday for the employees and all their customers. There won’t be any tricks involved, but there will be treats for everyone. Plus the Smiling G Mascot will be making a special appearance.
The participating store locations are:
- Eugene Street Store in Greensboro
- High Point Road Store in Greensboro
- Battleground Avenue Store in Greensboro
- Lexington Avenue Store in High Point
- Church Street Store in Burlington
- Asheboro Store
- Mebane Store
- Eden Store
- Yanceyville Store
Maybe your favorite Goodwill store is on the list. If it is then you’ll certainly want to stop by on Friday and take a peek at their Halloween costumes and decorations. You’ll also want to follow Triad Goodwill on Twitter and Facebook to find out which store will win the Halloween party on Saturday.
Filed under: General | Tags: Costumes, Halloween, shopping tips, thrifty finds
I trick-or-treated every Halloween, just like all the other kids. Unlike all the other kids, I never had a store-bought costume. I never wanted to be Rainbow Bright or a Care Bear or Cinderella — I thought those one-piece polyester costumes were dumb. They didn’t look at all like the real thing. But as the youngest of six kids, I could be anything my sisters had already been — cheerleader, Indian, fairy princess, scarecrow. When I got to college and got to make my own costume, I was pumped.
I had recently ruined a load of laundry by washing it with crayons (apparently I had stuffed some of the kids’ crayons into my pocket from my hostess job at Applebee’s), so I ironed some more crayon shavings onto a pair of khakis and a t-shirt. I added candy letters to the shirt, stuck candles on a plate for a hat, and voila! I was a birthday cake. This was my first costume creation and my first college party. It was a big deal. Of course, five minutes after I walked into the party, one person tried to eat the candy off my shirt while someone else lit the candles on my hat. It was a disaster.
So it might not surprise you that I took a seven-year hiatus from Halloween. Last year I came back in full force with my first couple costume. My boyfriend and I were going to a neighborhood party, so he dressed as our crazy neighbor and I dressed as our apartment building. Who knows how we came up with that idea, but the resemblance was striking. (You’ll have to trust me on the resemblance of the crazy neighbor.) The denim jacket and the yellow t-shirt came from Goodwill.
I can’t tell you what we’re going to be this year (it’s even more genius than last year!), but I can tell you that we’ll get all the elements from Goodwill. If you’re just going to ruin a t-shirt by painting it, cutting it, or sewing a bunch of stuff to it, why buy new?
