Discount Decorating

I have been searching thrift stores for Halloween costumes for years... no decades!  But, did you know that you can find Halloween decorations there too? ( I personally believe that almost anything I need is magically waiting for me inside a thrift store!)  So the costumes are pretty easy, but the decorations can be a little hit or miss.  This year was a hit.

On one shopping trip to one KARM store (the one by Lydia's school, so I am in there poking around a few times a month) I found green, glow under black light, spider webs for 59 cents.  Sure I could have gotten a new bag at the store for $1 or so, but what the heck... a bargain is a bargain.  Besides, I have never noticed webs that glow and PJ is planning on putting up a black light for the party.  Plus, if you know me at ALL, you know that I have a thing for the color green, so it's all good. I bought 3 bags, brand new and unopened.

Continuing the green theme, I found these napkins and got four packs of them for 49 cents per pack.  (Thanks KARM for the totally random pricing!) They are also new an in their original packaging.

Don't get too excited.  I did not find these amazing pumpkins at KARM.  I did see them on Pinterest and have been looking for white vampire teeth for a little while.  I have seen orange and green and purple and black teeth, but no white.  Maybe everyone else saw this idea on Pinterest too and bought them all, leading to a world wide shortage of vampire teeth and preventing me from making vampire pumpkins.....until I went to KARM.  

 I forget what random price they had on these, but they are also brand new and in the package and I paid half of what the original listed price on the package was, so I'm happy to not be hunting teeth anymore.

This cat is one of my few thrift store Halloween decorations that I purchased prior to this particular KARM trip. It is paper-mache and I LOVE him/her. I also love that I found the cat in some random non- Halloween time period and it was only $2.

The $2 paper-mache cat goes really well with my slightly more expensive large cat head, shown behind the two witches.  I saw it at a fancy boutique store the week after Halloween one year at a 50% off discount.  It was around $20, I think.  That is a LOT compared to all these other thrift store items, but it is really big and its mouth is open so I have used it to hold candy, name tags, all sorts of things.  Considering how much I like this one, I was THRILLED to find the $2 that goes so well with it.

I saved the best for last.  This little folk art Frankenstein makes me SO happy with his pet cat, funny little legs, and painted details.  Notice the scar stitching on his wrists!  He was the most expensive decoration from the entire KARM trip.  Even at a price of $4, i think I got a great deal!  I think I spent $10 or $15 for a similar folk art pumpkin headed witch doll.  Now if I can just keep Lydia from playing with them so much that their legs or arms fall off.  I suppose if Frank lost an arm, sewing back on a body part wouldn't be too out of character for him!