Shopping trips
Driving around we found that a Halloween store was open so we took a quick visit to see what was new. Their display this year featured an assembly line that was maintained by the skeletons. It was pretty cool. We bought a couple small items but the store assured us that there would be much more in stock in the near future. We think this might be the earliest one of the Halloween stores opened as it is not even September yet.
Anyhow it was a fun way to spend a hot summer day. (more…)
Bronners really looked different this year as we saw many items that we never saw before including a motion light snowflake that was really cool (but they were out of, only the demo left, but plenty of time till Christmas. We really enjoyed the Santa in the classic car mural and will have to review old pics to see if we just missed that or if that is something new. Regardless its something that is not for sale but it certainly is cool to look at. The day was perfect so we tried to spend as much time as we could outside of Bronners, looking at all their outside decorations as well as the inside decorations.
Taking the back roads from Lapeer to Frankenmuth is a very enjoyable ride, you go around a beautiful lake, and you find all sorts of small ma and pa type stores. However, with a gps its almost impossible to know your way around.
Stopping at Past Tense in Lapeer MI is always a pleasure, although it always brings up the debate on which is the real 24, the 24 that we refer to as Telegraph or the 24 that goes from the Palace of Auburn hills through Lapeer? In addition to antiques Past Tense has a Christmas and Halloween section plus a garden shop which has all sorts of unique products for the outside decorator. We got some interesting ideas for the yard but only purchased an “outdoor cemetery” sign on this visit.
After leaving Past Tense we headed North via side streets and stopped for the first time at an antique store called the “weathered windmill”. It was really cool and had many items that we simply could not live without, but did. We managed to buy an old antique crate. (more…)
We had a surprise on a visit to Walmart when we noticed that the Spirit Halloween store in Canton was already opened and while they did not have all the new items that were going to be available for 2019, they did have enough to make it worth while. Lots of scary clowns this year and a large water display in the center of the store that looks like it will be an underwater type of haunt, most likely using lamps that create the illusion of an under water lair so it should be unique and interesting.
Looks like its going to be a banner year for Halloween, although even we must concede that its a wee bit early. Looking back at last year it was at least 3 weeks later in the year (Aug 17 2018) when the first Halloween store opened.
On a cold February day we took a little jaunt to Canterbury Village to check out the shops. In a week they will be hosting a home garden show so we felt this would be a good time to visit. Everyone found something unique at these stores to bring home. Olde World Canterbury Village and Aldridge’s Always Christmas celebrated it’s grand opening October 1, 1993. The original Wildwood Farm buildings used by the Hadrills, Scripps and Keating have all been carefully restored and continue to be productive while preserving an important chapter in Michigan’s history.
Presidents Day is a day off for both James and his Dad so the whole family took advantage of this and headed out to Pontiac for Great Lakes Crossing. We thought about going to Frankenmuth or Canterbury Village but both had malls that were primarily outside and it was 27 degrees outside so we decided on Great Lakes Crossing which is the largest mall in Michigan. It is truly gigantic and you could really spend a whole day seeing everything.
Mom picked up some items at TJ Maxx and James found a controller for his Nintendo game that he got. No big purchases but alot of fun for a mid winters day.
This year our first Spirit Halloween store that was opened and reasonably stocked was in Canton MI. The fact that its mid August did not deter the family as we made a quick visit and Mom bought a T shirt (she had a 20% off coupon she got in email). James really liked the blue fog (we took several pictures of it) and says he wants that for his Birthday, not sure how practical that is but the important thing was we all had a little Halloween fun at a very early stage of the year.
This year many of our usual reliable places must not have ordered as much as the selection was sort of light this year. Cracker Barrel had 70% off, Michaels 80%, Walmart 70%, Spirit 50%, Halloween City 50%, Home Depot 50%, and CVS %50. We did not find any 90%. Spirit and Halloween City had disappointing years in our opinion so there wasn’t much we even wanted at either of these stores. The big winner for sales this year had to be Home Depot and Big Lots (we can throw in Walmart for the cheap skeletons which were less than Spirit or City at 50% off and just as good). The big winner for after Halloween sales had to be Cracker Barrel and Home Depot, both had good selections of their stock left. Walmart did good as well but you had to find the right Walmart, same with Michaels. Some Walmarts and Michaels literally had nothing left, others were great (Belleville Walmart and Allen Park Michaels saved the day in our opinion).
One of the interesting things we found were toilet paper holders that when you spin to get toilet paper they make scary sounds. We also picked up some more projections since the ones we used this year did fine. For materials we were able to get more crafts from Michaels and door covers from Walmart. Life size we only got a were wolf from CVS and a toxic zombie from Spirit.
Mom had a coupon for Bavarian Inn so on the trip back from Mackinac we ate a late lunch in Frankenmuth and then proceeded to Bronners to round out the day. Mom also had a coupon for 15% off anything we buy at Bronners so we checked everything out and saved a little money along the way. James saw a $4,500 Christmas tree he liked that he liked in the Christmas tree forest, the tree was taller than our home. On the way out we saw the Bronners parade float and snapped a couple pics there as well. It was a really great finale to a wonderful time up North.
Our first visit to Canterbury Village was fun but again we were hurrying to beat the rain. We dropped Mom off at Great Lakes Crossing outlet mall and then James and his Dad head straight to the Halloween stores at Canterbury Village (about ten minutes away from the Outlet mall on Joslyn street). We found plenty of Halloween stuff and more importantly discounted Halloween stuff. This is the time to buy Halloween, not October.
James found a weather center that he liked and also a large alarm clock, Dad told James if he graduates OW Best we will come back in June and get him one or the other as a graduation gift. James did end up buying a batter tester so he knows when his batteries are low in his games.