With three kids, coming up with Halloween costumes that please them all without driving myself crazy is one of the most daunting parenting tasks of the year. There have been years when we’ve had to run to party shops and makeup stores, borrow pieces from friends, sew, glue and cut until late into the night of October 30. While I enjoy the idea of costumes, I’m always looking for a shortcut. So this year, we all piled in the car and headed to the Goodwill Halloween Headquarters to see what we could come up with. And this mama and her three extremely particular ducklings left that store SO extraordinarily happy!
With all the time we saved at the Shakopee Goodwill, we treated the kiddos to a day at Valleyfair’s Great Pumpkin Fest too. It was a fun and full FEST of a day – read on to follow our day…
If you want to do the one-stop shopping method (which, why wouldn’t you?), I definitely recommend visiting your local Goodwill and raiding the racks. Their selection of full costumes and costume pieces, wigs, makeup, and accessories was awesome, and they have everything neatly contained to a Halloween Headquarters area.
Our kids spent an hour raiding the racks – costumes separated nicely so they can be searched by character, genre or size. We walked out after an hour with three awesome costumes:
- A Pirate, complete with an eyepatch, belt, bandana, necklace and a parrot for his shoulder. And the shirt we had to snag from the women’s aisle but it couldn’t be more perfect!
- A Black Cat, which was very simple with black pants, a black shirt, a tail, cat ears, press-on whiskers and cat-specific makeup.
- A Ninja, with the coolest ninja shirt ever, a face mask and a sword with throwing stars (I’ll regret THAT decision for a 3-year old come Halloween night).
Before we decided on those, we debated over a $4.99 Queen, a $9.99 Elsa, a $6.99 Spiderman, a $6.99 Power Ranger and a $4.99 Knight. The prices of everything made me happy, especially compared to so many of the party stores out there.
So if you’re like me and the idea of costumes is more enticing than the hunt to actually locate them, just head to a Halloween Headquarters at your local Goodwill. Your kids will LOVE it – and so will your pocketbook!
Since we were down in the Shakopee area, we decided the cool weather would be ideal for a day at Valleyfair, especially since it was the first day of The Great Pumpkin Fest. This festival happens every year inside the amusement park during the last month of Valleyfair’s season (the 2019 Great Pumpkin Fest runs from Sept 21-Oct 27 on Saturdays and Sundays only from 12-5pm).
In addition to all the amazing rides and entertainment Valleyfair has to offer, kids can dress in costume (or not) and do some trick or treating in the Soak City Water Park space. They collect games, stickers, pencils and healthy snacks and then have the option to do some crafts or play some games, run through a super tiny corn maze or watch a show starring costumed Peanuts characters. It’s a fun bonus to the fall atmosphere inside Valleyfair.
The Great Pumpkin Fest at Valleyfair is sponsored by Goodwill and The Crayola Experience MOA.
And while you’re at Valleyfair, be sure to walk around and see some of the phenomenal decor hanging about the park…some scarier than others! If you need some pointers for what to do at Valleyfair with small kids, check out my blog post: The Ultimate Family Guide to Valleyfair.
Tickets are as low as $29.99 so be sure to check it out today! Our kids never get tired of Valleyfair – and adding a Halloween theme into the mix is just icing on the cake!
booktravel
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Thrift Diva
10/21/2019 at 2:06 pmOther great thrift stores that offer a variety of Halloween costumes and accessories:
– Arc Valu Village in Bloomington, New Hope and Richfield. Has an amazing selection of costumes plus alot of clothing to invent your own outfit. This place is really fun to shop and has great weekly sales.
https://www.arcsvaluevillage.org
-Hidden Treasures in St Anthony/North Mpls is a fun and affordable place to shop for Halloween costumes, decor and accessories.
They also have the best prices and selection of vintage items and furniture. They have clothing, toys, books games and sports equipt for kids. And weekly sales too. https://hiddentreasuresmn.org
Savers: Several locations in Twin Cities. Good selection of costumes and Halloween items. Is a really big store with alot to look at…if your child tends to wander off
this may not be the store for you. Honestly, it’s huge with alot of hiding places and I say that from experience! lol https://www.savers.com
Gracie Singleton
10/21/2019 at 2:20 pmI am a former Goodwill employee and still shop the store. A word of caution – the new, packaged items on the shelf (usually have a white tag) are usually imported from China. These items tend to be very cheap, and poor quality.
The items also come packed in plastic and when the package is cut open a horrible chemical odor is released into the air that has actually makes some employees sick. The plastic shoes/sandals are especially noxious.
Watch out for the cheap plastic Halloween masks and accessories and pre-packaged wigs and costumes. Take your time to consider the quality and materials. If it smells funny, or like chemicals, buy at your own risk.
Donated items sold as is, Goodwill usually has a variety of merchandise. If you donate an item you will get a coupon on your next purchase. Thursday is kid’s day with 50% off kid’s clothing and toys on select tags. Kid’s book are 49 cents everyday, and movies $1.99.
RVBlogger
01/23/2020 at 6:48 amWhat a great idea! We shop at Goodwill too and we buy all sorts of things there. Once we flew to Utah and hit up a Goodwill store and bought bicycles for $0 rather than renting them for $20 a day!
Nice article!
Thanks