Friday, October 13, 2017

Halloween Shopping in Denver

At the end of our trip to Colorado, Mom and I traveled back to Denver. Our hotel had a big benefit; it was across from a new outdoor shopping mall. And the best Spirit Halloween store I've ever been to was a part of that mall.


We saw some of these same props back in Wisconsin, but they seemed more special here. And the werewolf with those trees seemed perfect for where we were.


The werewolf was probably my favorite prop. Here he is without his eyes glowing. That's scary in a different way. The werewolf makes some pretty believable growling noises as you walk by. To show you:

The Limb Ripper


Check out the Ouija Board section! I didn't see any of this stuff at the Spirit store here. Now that I'm having more time to look this over, I'm seeing a planchette ice cube tray! There's also a Ouija pot holder, bottle opener, placemats (that could actually be used as Ouija Boards!) towels, glasses, candle holders... they've thought of it all. Even what looks like a jug of Ouija moonshine? Not sure about that one, but most of this stuff is pretty cool! That metal bottle opener is clever.


This still has me laughing:


Mummified Skull:


How about this zombie dude? Nice touch with the one shoe.



And for you haunted doll people:



I think she was supposed to move around or something. There were a bunch of smaller standing props clustered around. I was sure they'd move when I came over, but nothing happened. Maybe it was time for a new battery?


We had a great time looking around. I even got a few scares when the props leaped out toward me or made a sudden noise. It was fun to jump up and then laugh a bit at myself for doing so.

That happened with this Forest Demon. This video shows the way it pops up to be frighteningly tall: Forest Demon Demonstration. It really looms over you! The demon's comments are a little cheesy, and somewhat insulting, but the movements... yikes!



This talking tree wasn't going to scare me too much in a store, but maybe if someone put him in a wooded area at night he could be more scary. He says some kind of cheesy/threatening things as you walk by. I found a video of him in action: Deadly Roots


This one gave me the biggest jump scare. I know he doesn't look like much here, but if you find yourself in a Spirit store, give this one a try. Let's just say if you put this on your porch holding the trick-or-treat candy like he is here, you'll have quite a show to watch.


I'm not even going to share a video of the scarecrow, because it would be more fun for you guys to experience this as an in-person surprise.


There was a sort of Area 51 space in the back. At one point, when we were checking out these alien props, I got a really goofy scare. I didn't realize there was a door in the wall next to me. An employee came out of it, carrying some boxes and spooked me. I went "eek!" and jumped and she said "I'm the scariest prop here".  She helped get a few of the tired props going and added to the fun atmosphere there.

This alien is laid out on a table when you walk up to it, but then it slowly rises.


There was even a spaceship flying above us.


After having a fun time getting scared at Spirit Halloween, we checked out some of the Halloween items in JCPenney.
I might need this hat...

How cute is this little truck? I like any display that involves a vintage metal truck that's full of something.


We also went into our first Charming Charlie store. I only knew of their web site before this. I didn't realize that they had actual brick and mortar stores.


Charming Charlie was selling these sugar skull masks. Aren't they cool? I feel inspired to make something like this.


This is a view down one of the pathways between shops. Isn't this festive with the lights? I thought this mall was laid out really nicely.


Across the street from this mall was a Target. They had a little bit of Halloween out at this point. There were these big heads that looked like they could be part of a mascot costume.


One of these could have actually been part of my high school's mascot costume. This looks enough like a Panther, right?


Who could resist spinning the "Hand of Fate"? I like these kind of vintage looking props. I didn't even notice the skull with the glowing eyes until now! I guess my mind was in other places at the time. It was getting to be time to head to the airport when I took this. Anyway, neat skeleton hand on this too!


And then there are these old-timey busts. This looks like it should be at Disney's Haunted Mansion. I'm sure this bust said something, but I can't remember what! It looks like he was in the process of saying something as I took this pic.


Other than the Spirit Halloween store, there was another great surprise to see from our hotel window. We had this amazing view of the sun setting over the mountains. Check this out! Especially the last one.




OK, guys. Get ready for the perfect Halloween sunset!


Woo! You can't beat that.

Tomorrow night is our annual Witch Party! So there will be many pictures in the future! This year's theme is black cats.


8 comments:

  1. Sounds like fun to me! And the Colorado sunsets are so brilliant. :o)

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    1. Jeanne ~ It was fun! I'm not sure how much you're in Denver now, but I recommend checking this place out if you're in the area. This was a new mall located right off the highway. I just checked and it looks like we were at the "The Shops at Northfield - Stapleton". Here's the address:

      8340 Northfield Boulevard Denver, CO 80238

      Yeah! The Colorado skies in general are great. The sky seems much larger and more open in Colorado than it does here. We have sky, but it feels like Colorado has twice the sky. :)

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  2. I've heard all about Spirit Halloween, but have never been in one. You could get seriously carried away with all the seasonal loot. Beautiful sunsets, my favourite part of the day.

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    1. Alison ~ Spirit stores are fun. They're a lot like Halloween Express. I strangely haven't seen any Halloween Express stores this year. Like Spirit, you can expect to see them pop up in any building where a business has just gone out. Yeah! You could get carried away in one of these! I'm wondering if Spirit is going to be on my After Halloween Haul list this year. It's looking like it will be Spirit, Walgreens, and JCPenney if they still have that cat hat. :)

      Thanks! Those sunsets were something. I like sunsets anywhere, but these were so vivid. And with mountains too!

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  3. I went to the one (Spirit of Halloween) here in DeKalb for the first time. It had much the same displays, and I posted it on my latest blog post this week. Stop by if you have the chance. Have enjoyed the pictures and stories from Colorado. I may have to paint that last sunset over the Rockies you had here. It would be cool to try.

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    1. Lorelei ~ Cool! Yeah, I figure all the Spirits have relatively the same stuff. I didn't see any of the Ouija Board display at our Spirit store or any of the smaller doll-type props. Otherwise, I saw pretty much all of what's in this post back in Wisconsin. It was laid out much better in the Spirit store shown here, though! I'll definitely stop by your blog to see your Spirit experience.

      Thank you! I've enjoyed sharing my photos too! It's another way for me to relive the trip. Yeah, go for the painting! I can see how it has some potential, because it looks almost like a watercolor already. The clouds look like they're painted into one another.

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  4. A Halloween display like we don't find them here. Love it especially the werewolf.

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    1. Guillaume ~ Cool! Glad you enjoyed this! Yeah, that werewolf was something. If you didn't visit that link to see him in action, give that a look/listen. The sounds are great!

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