Thread: First Halloween sighting in stores...

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Originally Posted by sweet&sinister

You might still want to keep an eye out at your Home Sense store because some of the pictures I've seen posted are the same things I've seen at our Home Goods.

Thx SS, i thought that would be considering the similar name & same general product they sell

Our Party City has begun putting Halloween stuff out. Mainly party supplies but they had a whole lot of boxes set to be unpacked in the back of the store.

Originally Posted by hallorenescene

i've heard of st cloud, have you heard of mason city iowa? we are south of rochester. i hearld from a small town by mason city. we did a search in google to see where big lots were located. when we saw one in rochester we figured since it was such a big area it would be a good place to check out. it had pretty much on the plan o gram what has been displayed here on the forum. too bad they didn't have much out. they did have a cool draculas pub sign, but it wouldn't be fitting my witch theme this year so i passed it up. that is an item i might more or less try to snag on an after halloween sale. we had a fun day just driving there. not often i get a weekend off from work.

p.s. they had halloween stuff in 2 different areas. we almost missed the one area. make sure you scope out the whole store so you don't miss stuff.

Yes I know where Mason City is. A bit of a drive to St Cloud. St Cloud is comparable to size of Rochester. I think it just came down to the luck of the draw for you!

Originally Posted by Ghost of Spookie

Frankie's Girl, thanks for the heads up on the giant Gemmy Spirit Ball at ROSS. After reading your post, I headed over there after dinner and my local store had 2 spirit balls (packaging in Spanish also) & it does come with a microphone. I haven't opened mine up yet but will tomorrow.

I was curious about the language also, but I took a chance on it figuring it could either be returned or hacked for the price (which at some point I will probably do anyway). The guy definitely needs to be made spookier, right now he reminds me of a bleary eyed Merv Griffin evil twin. Hey, just realized that Merv passed away in 2007.... maybe he does speak from beyond through the Spirit Ball.





They also had 3 of the Gemmy Halloween Combo Packs (1 zombie and 2 reaper skeletons). So it does seem that the stores do get multiples of some of the items.

Pretty much saw what you did at yours. I did see a nice Dept. 56 Frankenstein plate and was going to pick it up ($1.99) but forgot about it after seeing the Spirit Ball and hope the plate will still be there tomorrow.

BTW all of the halloween mdse at my local ROSS' has now moved to the front of the store and took up a few racks.


Regarding the ROSS white-headed Spirit Ball, here's two posts made in 2006 about it when it was being sold at Costco.

Rite-Aid Spirit Ball

crystal ball ? spirit ball style for bigscreamtv

Sounds like quite a deal from ROSS.

So I just bought this item from Ross as well and love it! My kids 5 and 3 love it too because using the microphone they can "talk" through the crystal ball and it actually works from a good distance away. I was thinking at Halloween we can have it under our covered porch and tell the trick or treaters things as they approach from inside our house!

Originally Posted by Addicted2Boo

So I just bought this item from Ross as well and love it! My kids 5 and 3 love it too because using the microphone they can "talk" through the crystal ball and it actually works from a good distance away. I was thinking at Halloween we can have it under our covered porch and tell the trick or treaters things as they approach from inside our house!

I haven't figured out yet how I'm going to use my spirit ball this year (BTW the head is the same head as Gemmy's full size prop, Dr. Shivers, the guy in the lab coat, I believe). I'm thinking if I try to do the voice over the microphone I'm going to try a voice changer or something because I can't sound that scary or deep voiced. My husband probably would be happy being the voice from the comforts inside the house (or the gargage) but he'd need to see as they approach and hear the kids. We do have a remote computer camera we could use but that only takes care of visual and not the audio. I need a baby monitor or something like that I guess. Any other ideas? I'm going to make a post under the props section since those guys there are pretty clever with this kind of stuff.

i have a gemmy witch that i can use a microphone with. you can talk from quite a distance away. i love her. i did purchase a baby monitor and plant behind the witch. although i can't see the kids, i can hear the kids. it freaks them out when the witch answers. i usually have a guide along with the kids so they can kind of clue me in as well. like they might say, will you quit tapping your foot, and then i might quick lib in, oh you know me well and that tapping is so annoying me. it can be real fun. but i agree, get other members ideas as well. there might be an even better way.
bubbels, thanks for the offer, very nice. maybe when things start clearancing out and if i have the time and money i'll hit that way. maybe.... i did get the lighted pathway and love it and we had a very enjoyable ride and quality time, my daughter, grandson and i, it was still a worthwhile trip. is there more than one big lots there? what other stores are there?
i missed out on this witch last year, i really like her, has anyone seen any like this around this year
i really like her face

Originally Posted by Ghost of Spookie

I haven't figured out yet how I'm going to use my spirit ball this year (BTW the head is the same head as Gemmy's full size prop, Dr. Shivers, the guy in the lab coat, I believe). I'm thinking if I try to do the voice over the microphone I'm going to try a voice changer or something because I can't sound that scary or deep voiced. My husband probably would be happy being the voice from the comforts inside the house (or the gargage) but he'd need to see as they approach and hear the kids. We do have a remote computer camera we could use but that only takes care of visual and not the audio. I need a baby monitor or something like that I guess. Any other ideas? I'm going to make a post under the props section since those guys there are pretty clever with this kind of stuff.

Im having some issues with mine, I made a post about it in the prop section- do we have a "help" area or did I place it in the right spot? So far, it looks like no one knows what to do about my dilemma hehe.

need help; the Ross Gemmy old guy/dr.shivers face spirit ball

Originally Posted by Bubbels

Savers was pulling out its stuff tonight. Generally about 90% costume stuff and odds and ends props. Good source for foam heads!

I do dearly love savers

I was in walgreens yesterday and they were stocking the shelves with Halloween Candy. I looked for somethng I got there last year, these cute little hershey bars that looked like tombstones but didn't find them.

Originally Posted by tinafromidaho

I was in walgreens yesterday and they were stocking the shelves with Halloween Candy. I looked for somethng I got there last year, these cute little hershey bars that looked like tombstones but didn't find them.

Last year Wal-mart carried these also. Maybe they will get them back in and it's just too early to be looking. Not many stores have their halloween candy out yet in my area.