It's October that means 1 thing: Retro Halloween Decorations. 8-)
As it's October 13th, & totally "within the season" of Halloween, I've begun going to misc. old Card shops in search of Retro Halloween decorations. Crown cards on Portion Road has great stuff for like 3+ years but, as I shop there every year & buy a TON of different crap, I believe I've tapped that well dry this time. :-/
Finding that I've just about run-out of places to get stuff locally, I've began spreading outwards to find more old card stores hopefully w/ plenty of retro Halloween crap. While I was at 4th World Comics last night (buying some more Minimates as well as a b-day gift for Janet & the newest issue of ToyFare), I remembered Nolan had said the card store in that shopping center was pretty old & might be a good place to look, decided to pay them a visit.
While walking around at first I was disapointed that they didn't have any cool stuff, but then noticed that the isle with Halloween crap extended more...and that's where I saw it: TONS of Hallmark Halloween Boo Bazaar stuff!! O_O Now, I've seen some of this stuff in the last year or two, but this is (by FAR) the most I've ever seen in one place. We're talking multiple Boo Bazaar "Boo-T" shirts (MIP), old card board table decorations, hanging decorations, stuffed animals, costume parts, cookie cutters, etc. I didn't have enough money to buy all the crap I wanted/saw (& when I went back there today w/Beth I saw stuff I'd missed yesterday) but new I HAD to leave with two things:
-a Hanging Ghost ($3.50, but with a Hallmark 40% off sticker on it)
AND...
-a Hanging Skeleton ($4.25, but also with a Hallmark 40% off sticker on it)
Now, the Hanging Skeleton was something special. When I first saw it, I wasn't entirely 100% sure it was what I thought it was..but upon closer inspection my belief was confirmed. This was indeed the very same decoration I had in my youth. It's made of a white poster-board like material, & being 4ft tall means it's not the most durable thing created (i.e., it wasn't going to last forever). The one we had in our house in the late 80's/early 90's (no date is on the packaging) but it was thrown out when it got too badly mangled & would have been completely forgotten if not for 2 key points.
1) On the cardboard part of the package (that was stapled to the baggie which held the skeleton), was a drawing of what the skeleton actually looked like when taken out & opened up. This part of the package was a little over 8" tall, so (I assume) when we threw the big one out, we had kept the small one as a sort of mini-Hanging Skeleton decoration.
2) Before the skeleton was completely destroyed, I'd needed a mask for my skeleton costume for Halloween one year. I had the elastic band & decided to staple it to the copy I'd made of it's skull out of white poster board & POW: instant mask.
For years I'd look at these two objects & remember the cool cardboard skeleton that we used to have, so you'll have to imagine my shock/glee when I realized that this thing was the same decoration I'd used years ago for a Halloween mask. I'd have instantly realized what it was had that skeleton drawing been intact & the skull NOT covered up by a Hallmark 40% OFF sticker. This skeleton's head had seen better days..Being tossed around for the better part of a decade was not kind to it & it 's skull was bent & warped, but not so bad that it was totally ruined. In fact, the only reason it was even in-tact at all, was due to the package it was in, protecting it all these years so that I could find him. Wait, if this thing came out in 87'-88', then it's nearly 20 years old! HOLY SHIT! That's madness!
New Hanging Skeleton package with my original Hanging Skeleton cut-out:
While there I'd also seen this translucent plastic ghost that looked too cool & (also 40% off) was something I'd be buying. I'd also seen yet ANOTHER blast-from-my-past in the form of this weird little purple bat-gargoyle plushie with suction-cup hands/feet. Now..me & my sister, when our mom would buy us toys, would each get us one (I guess so we wouldn't fight over it/so each wouldn't feel left out), and I have one of these as does my sister. So it was REALLY surreal to see like, SIX of them, just chillin' on the bottom shelf in the seasonal section.
I remember thinking to myself, "..Hanging Skeleton...purple bat-things...::looks around::..am I in 1988 again???", & wondering why I'd never come in this store BEFORE today. I went up to the counter with my 2 things (as the store was closing & I had no more money to blow), complemented the guy on his excellent Halloween selection & beat-feet outta there vowing to come back there ASAP the next day.
Saturday:
Beth & I go back there and I try not to giggle like a mad-man at alll the awesome retro stuff there. After putting 2 Boo-T's back (patience Boglin....patience..) & a witch-cardboard hanging mobile (Beth thought it was cooler then the one I did buy, but as there were 3 of this one & only 1 of the one I bought, I'll put it back for next time), I drop like, $17 bucks on like 6 different things (4 of which are Boo Bazaar stuff):
-1 Purple Bat-Gargoyle Plushie:
Cost $7.99, marked down to $1.99. Circa 1988. This was for Beth, as she thought it was cute AND I wanted to buy her something cool & retro. The fact that not one, but SIX of these toys were in this store, is just a testiment to it's awesomeness. It's like their stock room is actually a portal to the late 80's & they just got a ton of these in stock.^_^
-1 Boo Bazaar Pumpkin Cookie Shaper:
Cost- $1.20. Circa 1985- DAMN that's. O_O
-1 Boo Bazaar Cat Cookie Shaper:
Cost- $1.20. No date, but I can assume also 1985. The cookie shaper's well be used for Halloween cookies that Beth'll be making. Woot for retro cookie shapers. 8-)
-1 Boo Bazaar Creepy Clip Plush Spider:
Cost- $3.95, marked down to $2.50. Circa 1987. "Clip It On For Frightening Fun!" is the tagline on the packaging. I assume it's supposed to be a spider as Halloween & spiders go together like peanut butter & jelly, but it looks more like a Fuzzy Octopus then a spider. They had about 2 of these left; 1 with a cardboard attached to it & 1 without one. They had a green plush lizard Creepy Clip also, but his spring-loaded jaw seemed to have broken. If I end up buying it, I may need to cut it open should I want to try & repair the clip part. A Creepy Clip that doesn't clip is, well, like a balloon with a hole in it. These things were, as far as I can assume, intended to clip onto your clothes & be just fun wacky stuff. Man the 80's was a cool time for Halloween stuff. ^_^
-1 "Three Witches" Hanging Decorations:
Cost- $4.00. Circa 1982- and you thought that cookie cutter was old. DAMN. O_O! This was the only one there. The witches have honeycomb dresses (honeycomb meaning a type of paper that unfolds into a shape) & are riding brooms. These things are REALLY old looking, which makes sense as they're from 1982, but they're still sealed never having been opened in nearly 25 years. DAMN. I'm gonna try & scan them on the computer before I punch them out & hang them, this way I might be able to duplicate them later on should the originals be trashed. Maybe I'll give these to my mom to use as she likes Halloween decorations too.
-1 Boo Bazaar "Spider" Balloon & Paper Decoration:
Cost- $4.95 Not sure on the date, but it's gotta be like 1987-88 at least, if not a year or two older. This was the only one they had. Very cool looking & includes 2 balloons to use in the decoration. Only problem is that time was not on my side & has melted them to the inside of the packaging. The glue that holds the package closed (picture like a manella envelope) has even dried out; it's no guess that this thing has been here for YEARS. As the ballons are stuck to the cardboard, I'll have to cut them off & use different balloons; new balloons are easily found, the decoration isn't (or at least is a bit more difficult to replace).
I'm totally going back to this store multiple times between now & Halloween, as there's a bunch more things there that both me & Beth think are cool & must-own-NOW items (namely that Witch mobile). When I get more stuff I'll be sure to post more blogs about it AND I'm gonna try to do some more Halloween-y blogs for the rest of this month (maybe I'll actually finish the Halloween photo story I started & never finished from LAST Halloween..).
Until then, take care duders.
-Chris/Boglin
(P.S.: And a special THANK YOU goes out to Nolan for suggesting that I look at the place last year. Congrats on the good pick my friend.)