As an adult who lives a perpetually spooky lifestyle, and whose main hobby is collecting decor and the like, I sometimes forget that there are people out there who go Halloween shopping, solely to find themselves a costume.
However, after a trip to Party City and Halloween City, the former of which is still exactly where it's always been since I was six, I started remembering the days when I was none other than that eager little costume shopper.
Party City was the Halloween go-to in my childhood, at least in my area. I can probably count on one hand how many of my costumes over the course of a decade and then some didn't come from there. Long before Spirit Halloween, even before the smaller scale pop-up shops like Halloween Express, Everything Halloween, and Halloween Adventure, Party City was the place to go for all things Halloween. I actually was once asked, if I could go back to any store I visited as a child and experience it exactly as it was, what I would choose, and I didn't even have to hesitate before saying Party City at Halloween time.
Going to Party City was always a major event for me. It was honestly one of the highlights of my year, right up there with the actual Halloween holiday itself. Every year, usually during the first weekend of October, my family would get in the car and take the semi-scenic route to the highway. It was an exciting, transformational time when the anticipation really began and you just knew Halloween was on the way. It was usually these trips that I would think about when the holiday had come and gone, trying to summon that feeling...the feeling of being at my happiest, looking forward to something, knowing it was right around the corner. It was the time I felt most alive, and not the least bit intimidated about having infinite possibilities placed before me. I never could quite answer that standard "What do you want to be when you grow up?" question (At 35 years old I still can't, honestly.) but being presented the opportunity to decide what I would be for Halloween felt like having the world at my fingertips.
And a big decision it was, indeed. Almost every memory I have of costume shopping in my youth, is a long one. Back in the day, Party City had these walls full of pictures of costumed children. You would choose the one you wanted, then give the number printed next to it to one of their designated seasonal employees (which I still think are so cool to see for a holiday other than Christmas) and they would go on the back room and find it. I remember thinking of the back room of Party City as a truly magical place...I imagined it like something you'd see in a fantasy movie, this seemingly teeny little space with a whole world inside of it. It was something I contemplated a lot. How did all the costumes fit? How could they possibly be organized so well? Now, as a retail worker myself, I cringe a little thinking about what that back room must have looked like, but it was such a fantasy when I was a child! I guess it was kind of the spooky kid's version of "How does Santa Claus get around the whole world in one night?" Which, oddly enough, I don't think I ever gave a second thought. "Magic" was a good enough explanation for me when it came to Christmas, but the magic of Halloween was something I wanted to know as much about as I possibly could. I still do.
After an employee would emerge from the mythical realm of the Party City back room and hand off the costume I had so painstakingly chosen (a couple of times they returned only to tell us they didn't have my chosen costume in my size, which started the decision making process all over again) I would usually try it on in their little single bathroom, which, if I'm perfectly honest, hasn't really changed at all despite the fact that the rest of the store went through a remodel a few years ago that left it almost unrecognizable. This was a magical, transformational moment for me, where I would envision myself running from door to door with a pail in my hands on Halloween night, and fully commit to being whatever I had chosen. I can't recall any instances where it ever felt like I'd made the wrong choice once I had the costume on. It may have been a long process, but I always felt fully satisfied once I looked in that little bathroom mirror. I saw me, in my truest form, ready for the most important day of my year.
My costume decision-making process usually ran so long that my mother had had enough once I'd finally come to a decision (my father usually retreated to the car after the first ten minutes or so), so looking at the decorations in the store was usually a fast process; a quick walk through the aisles on the way to the cash registers, but I was always in awe of what this store had. Again, this was before the age of pop-up shops, so stores like Party City were truly where the action was when it came to Halloween decor. I remember seeing my first demonstration of a fog machine there, as well as the old Telco motionettes, particularly the witches. It was a little Halloween world into itself, and one that would leave me with memories and fantasies long after I left it for another year. (It's weird to think that at one point in time, Party City was basically my only Halloween shopping destination, save for other places I would visit that just happened to have Halloween stuff, and also that I truly only went there once a year. I don't think I was inside that store when it wasn't Halloween-time until I was about twenty. I remember going once in early November to see if they still had Halloween stuff on clearance, and actually being freaked out by how the store had seemingly changed shape in preparation for Christmas.)
The fun didn't end once we left the store, though. When we would get home, I would often pore over the costume catalogs that you could get free from the store, with all sorts of things in my head. I would try to match costumes up to what I thought people I knew might like. I would pretend all of the models in the pictures were characters in a story about one huge Halloween party, and try to figure out their personalities and why they were wearing the costumes that they were. Sometimes I would even start thinking about what I would be next year, though I don't think I ever followed through on any of these decisions. Sometimes I would turn to the "teen" and "adult" pages and feel a pang of worry, that they were so much smaller than the kids' sections. (I have a distinct memory of the "teen shop" being only about four or five costumes one year, though I can't recall what they were.) I would look them over and try to settle on what I'd dress up as when I was older, if the options were to be less than they were for kids. I never did linger too long on the thought of "aging out" of Halloween, though. To me it was something that just simply couldn't, and wouldn't, happen.
When I did reach my teen years, I simply started to buy smaller sized costumes from the adult section. I believe every costume I wore in high school came from Party City, as did quite a few in my adult years as well. Nowadays I don't really "dress up" in that sense anymore, as I don't want to be constantly fiddling with a costume on my Halloween adventures, but I can't help but think back to Party City whenever I think about dressing up for Halloween.
Don't get me wrong, I love the pop up Halloween stores, and how much more exists out there nowadays, but a part of me will always miss going to Party City during the first weekend of October, and being greeted with that wall of seemingly endless possibilities.
Stay spooky, my friends. And choose your costumes wisely!
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