It is time to rent or buy my Halloween costume or mask & I don't know where to start.
The answer is spirit gum & crepe hair. What?
Plenty of ideas are swirling through my mind, but where do I go to try on a few to see what costumes match my character & interests?
Of coursework, I have seen costumes at those huge brick & mortar chain stores, & even at my local drugstore or grocery store; but I need to move it up a level.
Perhaps I ought to go to a full service costume store. The full service stores usually are open all year rond, & carryover costumes for all seasons & occasions like Christmas (Santa's & Elves), Easter (Easter Bunnies, Biblical), St. Patrick's (Leprechaun) & Valentine's Day (Cupid). In addition they support local theater, high school & college productions with costumes as well. Did you ever wonder where the costumes from your high school version of "Music Man" or "Crucible" came from? Or who manufactured your college mascot costume?
About this time of year, it seems the seasonal Halloween shops emerge to pay their annual visit, but never in the same place years in a row.
Costume Shop or Halloween Shop. Where do I go?
The answer is spirit gum & crepe hair.
When I walk in to a Halloween shop, I always ask in the event that they carryover spirit gum & crepe hair. If it is not the blank stare that I get, it is a stammering that sounds like this "ummmm"
Both types of shops have similar goods on the market, & the prices are comparable; but the similarities finish there.
When I walk in to a costume shop, I ask the same query & am greeted with "what color & how much do you need?" or something similar to that.
Sidebar: Spirit gum is a liquid adhesive used for fake mustaches, beards, hair pieces & a few other unique purposes. Crepe (pronounced like 'grape') hair is a braided woolen fiber that is used to generate mustaches, beards, sideburns & that occasional hairpiece or hair on the chest.
In addition the costume shop offers the likelihood of renting a better quality (than the packaged costumes) costume. You most likely won't use the costume you are purchasing this year in the future anyhow.
A costumer (not customer) knows what spirit gum & crepe hair are & how to make use of them, & possibly thousands of other tips & ideas that a Halloween shop doesn't know. & why? Because the costumer has a broader knowledge, by far, than the Halloween shops. The costumer will also utilize permanent & temporary help that , are knowledgeable. Perhaps theater majors. To me, that is 'value added'.
Is 'value added' a lovely reason to drive a few additional miles?