Julio on 09/07/2009 8:40 pm

I love the castle that says SKULL in the front at 0:35 and the skeleton coming out of the cauldron at 1:52. They are awesome.

I assume that you spend plenty of time going to that store, eh?

BABALITY PANCAKES on 09/07/2009 9:23 pm

I've been decorating already as well. I'll tell you, Odd Lots can be a gold mine of spookiness sometimes, SERIOUSLY NO FUCKING JOKE. The spooky eye lights will leave you shitting your bed and pissing on the sheets.

But I must agree, the ghouls hang out is at Michaels, seeing as it is the unholy grail of all DIY halloween stores. LET THE DECORATING BEGIN!!! I shall make Doc Moc and this so called "Roger Barr" weep at the sight of my unholy and ghoulish mortuary!

All Hail Duke on 09/07/2009 9:58 pm

i'll have to check it out next time i pick up art supplies

darkvare on 09/07/2009 10:01 pm

there's a market that sets up in 2 streets near my house mostly because my house is near the cementery but since september is patriotic month in mexico i have to wait till late october i'll post pictures as soon as its all set up

Doctor_Who on 09/07/2009 11:34 pm

We have a Michaels, and yes it rocks this time of year.

What's freaking me out is that the local Wal-Mart is apparently already gearing up for Christmas. IN SEPTEMBER. Without even pausing for Halloween.

I say "apparently" because this news comes from my roommate. I refuse to walk into a Wal-Mart because whenever I do I burst into flames.

But yeah, they have allegedly skipped the Halloween season entirely in order to squeeze a few more bucks out of the yuletide season. It's depressing.

Maybe some of our large local indigenous redneck population complained about Halloween being satanic or something.

LemonWitch (Guest) on 09/08/2009 1:10 am

I love Micheals! I go there every year on my birthday, because I badly need some Halloween by August. I also love shopping there because their Halloween stuff is really inexpensive, so I can get a lot of boo for my buck as it were.

I have some of the Lemax stuff, the small ones. I love the tombstones and buy any new ones that come out each year.

Dungeonbrownies on 09/08/2009 2:57 am

i simply adore michaels. i too have experienced something similar, went in once for some ribbon and streamers for a friends party and pretymuch froze for what mustve been 5 minutes before someone impatiently asked me to get out of the way

Victor (Guest) on 09/08/2009 3:17 am

My story is one of tragedy and woe. Before my wife and I got married we ventured to Michaels to look for Halloween decor for our first holiday together. What we found were Lemax displays spinning, gyrating, blinking, and rocking, all complete with spooky music. We collected many animated pieces that year, so much we almost couldn't pay rent the following month. My favorites were the pirate ship and the mine cart. I loved these pieces. Then one evening we were at class and much to our dismay our cats decided to chew up the smaller models and knock the larger ones off the table where we had them all displayed. It was a harrowing event coming home that night to find pieces strewn about the dining room. We salvaged what we could and we continue to collect the new pieces, but it's heartbreaking to think back on our first collection. This year I have my eyes set on that haunted train with the circular track. Oh, how I'd love to be able to set up that track like my old slot cars...complete with jumps and loops.

Dr. V on 09/08/2009 3:55 am

Michaels is lame 10 months outa the year.

Lothalis on 09/08/2009 4:54 am

There is a little store near my appartment called Party Packagers. It used to be a movie theatre, and now is sells dicounted candy and strange toys like instant snow and a water gun/eggplant. However starting in August every year that shuffle most of the random stuff into the back and pull out all the halloween goodness. It makes me so happy.

NecroLemur on 09/08/2009 9:28 am

Holy Crap!!! It's crazy that you just mentioned this and the attic in Beetlejuice!!! I just moved into a new house last week. And after exploring the new attic (really small, but juiced with electricity and boasting hardwood floors), I decided over the weekend to dedicate to a miniature halloween town.

Freakin' balls. Your post must be sign. Time to get crackin'.

Number6Faye (Guest) on 09/08/2009 9:36 am

I desperately wanted a "graveyard cake" for my birthday two years ago, so I actually own a couple of Spooky Town pieces. I have a graveyard gate, some badass spooky trees, and two grim reapers sitting on/near headstones. BEST. CAKE. EVER.

It's too bad that my parents don't like seein' them on display, because they look completely awesome on our dining room table when Halloween rolls around. I need another place to put them this year... >:D

Al Boondy (Guest) on 09/08/2009 9:49 am

The Michael's in our neighborhood used to be a Child World, so it's always bittersweet walking in there ... even with the Halloween displays :(

Ian (Guest) on 09/08/2009 12:11 pm

Rog the reason i love halloween is because my mom bought me the spooky town stuff from Jo Anns when i was little and i would have a shit load of fun putting up that stuff year after year in fact i still have the collection of halloween town stuff in my basement.

-RoG- on 09/08/2009 12:37 pm

Ok guys, it sounds like a bunch of you actually own some of these Spooky Town sets or are planning on buying them in the near future. So what say you guys post some photos of 'em? Assembled and lit up is preferable, but even if ya wanna just share a photo or two of what you guys have in boxes... I'm sure I speak for everybody when I say we'd love to see whatcha got!

NecroLemur, yes it *IS* a sign and I expect to see photos and/or video of your completed Spooky Town attic masterpiece this season!

NecroLemur on 09/08/2009 1:18 pm

Aye, aye Cap'n! I think I'll start hanging some webbed lights this week. I'm also looking to place an order for some haunted portraits that I found on-line. Some of the newer ones look fan(to the proverbial)"tastic".

www.changingportraits.com/lo_page.htm
www.changingportraits.com/ue_page.htm

The Goblin King on 09/09/2009 10:22 am

As the person who (at one time) had to set up all the Michaels Halloween decorations, they're a lot less amusing when you have to spend a two weeks hearing the clanging and cackling in your ear whist trying to force 12 foam tombstones into 10 inches of shelf space.

Once the Halloween Aisle was completed though they looked pretty good. Then two weeks later (Mid-August) management had us put up the Christmas Aisle, complete with it's own version of Spooky Town, and since the Aisle's were side by side it was like witnessing a daily screaming match between Jack Skellington and Santa Claus.

Kat on 09/09/2009 9:19 pm

Actually, -RoG-, Spooky Town is where I live.

A fairly quiet community mind the witches.

But I feel the need to set up anyway.

Heck, it's a little off topic, but I still go trick-or-treating. This year I plan to dress as a D.C. comic character (Or any comic character for that matter). But preferably something from Batman.

The thing that sucks is working on a fixed budget, since some costumes I'd like to do are so ellaborate and cutting corners would make it just look shitty.

And dressing in a shitty, innacurate costume would turn me into the one thing I hate.

This blog was about Micheals, wasn't it? Well call me a bastard, but there are atleast two near me and I don't think it's ever been Halloween season when I've entered them. You've sparked my curiousity now.

Don Ronson (Guest) on 09/09/2009 10:04 pm

NICE FUCKING MODEL.

-RoG- on 09/09/2009 11:59 pm

Kat on 09/10/2009 7:28 pm

Best scene from the movie.

Star (Guest) on 09/10/2009 10:40 pm

OMG I love the Spooky Town! I have planned for years to start a collection.

Maxwell Demon on 09/11/2009 12:37 am

yeah really, id love to have that stuffs but you need moneys for that. one day.

for the moment i have a little scene set up year round on my mantle with a 12 inch zombie-emerging-from-the-grave surrounded by little plastic ones made by the same people as RoG's awesome B-horror victims. theres even a little zombie dog with an arm in its mouth. id take pics but im assuming a good bit of you have already seen these and im just late to the cool-party once again.

but yeah i also have several masks i keep mounted around my room ala corey feldmans character in friday the 13th part 4. i always really wanted that kids room.

i wonder if theres anywhere you can buy the wall-mounts they use for masks at party city. Ideas anybody??

emeraldscales (Guest) on 09/12/2009 8:14 pm

If you like the Lemax Villages, you'd probably love Department 54's Halloween Snowvillage sets; they are more detailed than the Lemax, though more expensive as well: www.department56.com

I've been collecting them for a couple years now and I am amazed at the different houses they come up with. If you go to YouTube and search for Halloween villages you can see videos of some amazing collections like this one:

some girl named lauren on 09/13/2009 4:32 pm

I made a birthday cake out of the Halloween supplies from Michaels back in August. Heh.

Teeyay (Guest) on 09/13/2009 8:55 pm

I was in Michaels today and they did, indeed, have some of these models up. However, only a couple of them were turned on and they weren't encased in glass, so I could have touched them if I wanted. Also, they were just placed next to each other on the shelves with all the cords hanging down in front. Not much effort went into making the "display" in my area. *Sigh* Can't have everything, I guess.

J (Guest) on 08/18/2010 10:37 am

The 2010 collection is now out at my local Michaels' stores, but as the person above me said, they are not encased behind glass, and they only have a small collection of what Lemax puts out each year (there are 8 houses this year, but Lemax has well more than a dozen, and only 6 table pieces, when Lemax puts out like 20). I live in a redneck town (Jacksonville, FL) so they don't seem to put much effort into nice-looking things here.