Published: October 23, 2009 04:33 pm      

Hunting the perfect costume

More residents turn to Goodwill for creative Halloween ideas

Bruce Lake residents Jessica Kennell and Jennifer Wicker shuffle through a long rack of clothing looking for the perfect costumes.

They’re not only seeking ideas for their own children, but for themselves as well.

After a few minutes, WIcker pulls out a costume that looked like an Iron Man suit.

“It looks big,” she said to Kennell. “I guess we could cut off the legs. It looks like it used to have a cape.”

“We could use any kind of cloth,” Kennell replied.

According to Kennell, the two always stop by Goodwill first to look for costumes.

“We find bits and pieces,” she said. “We don’t always find all of the costume here.”

They say it is cheaper to purchase what they can at the Goodwill store rather than spending $30 or more at another retail store.

“If you get it from Goodwill, you can throw it together for $10 or less,” Kennell added.

When shopping, Kennell said she makes sure to look around the entire store, checking the every-day clothing as well as the Halloween clothes.

“You can come here for one thing and start looking for everything else,” she said. “There’s plenty of room to be creative.”

A regular shopper at Goodwill, Logansport’s Ken Bedocs said during this time of the year, he concentrates on Halloween costume shopping.

“I dress up almost every year for the fun of it,” he said.

Bedocs usually looks around at several places for costume ideas, but he said Goodwill is usually the best place to find what he needs.

“Usually they have cheaper prices here,” he said. “Everyone’s looking for a bargain.”

According to Bedocs, there’s usually a good variety of Halloween costume ideas available, especially the earlier customers stop by.

Last year, Bedocs has dressed up as clown. This year he was still unsure what he would find while looking through the racks of clothing at Goodwill.

If anything else, he said others can be creative and even use a sheet to throw over their head to dress as a ghost.

“We always have fun creating our own costumes,” he added.

According to a news release, Goodwill president and CEO J. Larry Neff said it’s important to be creative when it comes to finding the perfect costume.

“The trick is doing a bit of cutting and pasting or stitching, then letting your imagination go wild with accessories,” he said. “The treat is that your costume will be unlike any other, and your purchase supports Goodwill’s mission to provide jobs, training and placement services for people with barriers to employment.”

Jeannie Risher, Logansport Goodwill store manager, said there is a definite increase of shoppers during the month of October.

“We do have a lot Halloween shoppers because they don’t want to put a lot of money into a costume, which is something they aren’t going to use everyday,” she said.

Risher has seen people of all ages stop by to look through the Halloween costume rack, as well as the everyday clothing to complete a specific costume look.

She had two men stop by looking for something with holes in it for a scarecrow costume.

This year’s Halloween shopping season has even picked up compared to past years, which Risher believes is due to the economy.

Risher said Goodwill is a good place to start shopping for a Halloween costume if someone is looking to save money. For those who may have not found something during their first stop, she even encourages them to take another look.

“We’re making changes everyday,” she said. “Our stock changes every day too.”

During her 13 years of working at Goodwill, Risher has seen people shopping for a variety of items for Halloween costumes.

Some that stick out in her mind include scarecrows, hobos, Marilyn Monroe and a variety of other movie stars.

Her best advice for those looking for a costume is to simply make sure to look through everything.

“If you are looking for something special, just ask and we can help you find it,” she said.

There is one aspect of the Halloween shopping season the store manager really enjoys.

“I think it’s interesting to see what people buy and what they are going to dress up as,” she said.

• Denise Massie is a staff writer at the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at (574) 732-5151 or denise.massie@pharostribune.com