We’re a little late getting our store ready for Hallowe’en (it is now!) but I think that’s okay. I used to live down the street from Malabar Costumes in Toronto and even though it was open year round it seemed like the whole city waited until the last day or two to pick something out. There’d be a line up around the block for that last mad scramble to get something! Anything! in time for that club or party.
We’ve got a pretty cool witch costume with some sort of purplely-pink taffeta trim and a red and black ‘medieval’ style dress that’s hanging in the window. There’s also a couple of cute little ‘milkmaid’ type dresses, though one could probably double as Dorothy’s famous blue dress from the Wizard of Oz.
For guys we have a monk’s robe, some really funky hats, an imitation WWE wrestler’s belt or heck, you could always brave dressing as a girl 
Even though we have a handful of ready-made costumes, I often like to put something together myself. One year I bought a cheap white shirt at, of course, a thrift store, and then bought a yard of the most old-fashioned looking lace I could find at a fabric store. I put two layers around the base of the sleeves (an inch apart), and the rest I sewed around the collar, letting some longer pieces drape down the chest. Instant pirate/gypsy shirt!
Or a person could go with a devil-ish sexy red costume of red jeans and a tight red blouse and accessorize with some of the fun horns and pitchforks they sell at the dollar store. Some friends of mine one year did a group costume – they went as victims of a car accident on their way back from their high school prom. They bought some inexpensive dresses and suits from a second hand store, then did some pretty gorey makeup and splattered fake blood all over themselves.
I’m also attempting to make a ‘sexy nurse’ costume and if it turns out I’ll put it out on the rack with the rest. There’s a perfect pair of white Steve Madden shoes to go with it, so long as the weather doesn’t get too cold!
I also put out an assortment of long black and red skirts, some good basic black capes and some oversized black trousers that can be worn to supplement any costume idea.
Just one last thing I have to get – some Hallowe’en candy – and I’ll be ready for whatever ghouls and goblins come my way.
