Halloween at Menards

I have some more Halloween store pics for you guys, this time from Menards. This will be a fairly quick blog post for me. I was going to combine it with my Marshalls Halloween pics, but I just realized how many pics I took at Marshalls! So I'm going to split up those two shopping trips.

Menards had a selection of Halloween items that I haven't seen anywhere else. This is the first Halloween thing I saw upon entering the store. How cool is this dragon? It has almost that traditional Chinese dragon look to it. There's something funny about the "Pet Supplies" sign underneath it.

I love these inflatables! I just noticed the baby pumpkin.

Doesn't the dad pumpkin have an almost Mr. Potato Head vibe? Or maybe a Mario Bros. vibe with that hat.

There was a pretty strong skeleton selection at this Menards, and they were for the most part new to me. It's amazing how people keep thinking up new animals to make skeletons of. I'm having trouble thinking of an animal that hasn't been made into a skeleton yet. So, first off is this skeleton pig:

Check out his curly tail:

This little T-Rex is adorable, especially at his size. It goes to show that anything is super cute when it's small. I can imagine this being used in a science class for kids.

This owl cracks me up for whatever reason. Maybe it's his serious attitude.

I saw some variation of this little dragon at a craft store this year. It's probably in a previous blog post.

This dragon is neat because you can move his little wings up and down. How about that creepy photobombing clown behind him?

And speaking of creepy...

I can imagine these being used in a yard display. I think they're about life size for an evil goat.

Now onto something cute! These will just make you say "Aww!" if you see them in person. This pumpkin person and ghost move their little arms up and down and wag their tongues while making cute noises and saying "Trick or Treat". At least that's what I remember them saying.

I just found a 30 second video of the little ghost doing his thing:

Funny Face Plush Ghost in Action

If you'd like to check out what Menards has up for Halloween on their web site, here's a link: Halloween section at Menards

They have a pretty cool looking Halloween section. Be sure and check out their inflatable page, because you'll see some good ones! 🎃

Attack of the Gnomes! Menards Halloween ~ Part 1

I'm surprised to have a blog's worth of material from Menards, let alone two blog posts! Menards has a different selection of Halloween stuff from most of the stores I've been in, and some of it is pretty funny. That's what this first blog post is going to focus on. In Part 2, I'll share photos of the many different gourds they had in the garden section. I know I said in my last blog post that Michaels was coming up next, but it turns out I have ton of pics from the two Michaels stores I went to. Those are going to take some time to go through. So onto Menards!

Menards had a great selection of skeleton gnomes, each one funnier than the next! Check out the skeleton fish this one has caught.

I found this more funny than I probably should have.

For some reason, it seemed gross/funny when I thought he was roasting a rat, but now that I'm looking at the pic below, I'm just confused. Is that a pig? Not that this needs to make perfect sense, but if that's a pig, the scale is... well, way too small. So I'm going with a tiny, pink, pig-like rat?

Note the skeleton vulture waiting for that pig/rat. And why isn't the pig/rat a skeleton?

And speaking of tasty treats, look what this guy is offering! I didn't even notice the snake until I enlarged the photo. I think this skeleton is actually pretty cute.

These gnomes were pretty small, maybe 4 to 5" as I'm remembering.

And then there's old "Izzy Dead" here:

Now I know where the pirate skeleton at Ren Faire came from!

I'm not sure if you guys will find this as funny as I do, because I find it pretty funny. Thick spider webs = what appears to be snow under a Halloween village!

Maybe they're planning to leave this web/snow out for the Christmas village?

I think I just spotted some mini garden gnomes here!

Actually, years back I was sent a mystery bunch of Halloween gifts as a promotion and one of those gifts was a pack of cobweb fluff. It's the thickest cobweb you'll ever see! It now acts as "snow" under my Christmas village.

This "Broken Skull Bar" is pretty cool. It's serving "Wicked Spirits and Grog".

It's a real snow storm out there! Actually, that could be Halloween in my state.

I just saw this "Pet Dragon" somewhere else, I think Walmart. The Walmart packaging I'm remembering showed a girl with this dragon perched on her shoulder.

And last but certainly not least, check out this giant inflatable T-Rex!

He was hanging out near the entrance to the store with what I think is an inflatable skeletal dragon? I got a kick out of his little T-Rex arms.

So, there's some of the fun stuff that you can find at Menards! I'll probably post those pretty gourd photos later today.

Also, I should mention to those of you who comment on my blog, I've been having some issues where the comments weren't being sent to me for a really long time. So I wasn't ignoring your comments, I just wasn't seeing them. The issue appears to be resolved now, though. 😊

Wicked Renaissance 2014

It's that time of year again! Time to share photos from our annual trip to The Bristol Renaissance Faire! We had great weather this time, so we stayed a long time and got many photos.

Another Mud Show promoter. The Mud Show is what it sounds like - guys wrestling around in the mud. There's a comic element too.

This band was playing some cool, gypsy type music.

This girl was doing some cool hula hoop tricks during the concert.

Some witches and a viking take in the show.

I love this sign:

A man of many cups.

David and his grapes..

The Robin Hood family. Another Robin Hood met them a minute later, but I preferred this picture.

A wizard!

This girl always poses nicely for a photo each year.

Two well dressed gentlemen:

The Bristol Ren Faire has a really nice setting with plenty of trees. There are a series of shops, each with its own painted sign out front. Some of the signs are pretty creative.

This is a really pretty carved woman, like the kind that would be on a ship. It was on a restaurant facade that looked like an old ship.

Here I am in front of a little fairytale cottage. If you look closely at the window, you'll an eye looking back at you. I didn't notice that until seeing the photo on my computer.

There was an entire fairy village complete with live flowers and mini trees. It was so cute. If you look in the background, you'll see that a fairy happened to be walking into my picture.

A Samurai and a Roman soldier?

My mom sitting in front of one of the kids' rides. The ride has little boats that move like swings.

Catapulting Frogs!

One of the Ren Faire highlights is the tempura!

Mmmm...

We caught a little of the first joust. This is the nonviolent one where they do different tricks, like catching that little thing on a pole.

I seem to get a photo of this guy every year. His leather shop has all kinds of cool accessories like those claws. If you look to the left, you'll see a hand reaching out in some.

These two cracked me up. OK, I know he's Dr. Who, but who is she? Is she The Third Doctor? That's the best I can figure with her frilly shirt, bow tie, and hair.

This lady has been a staple at the fair since I can remember. She's a real character. I think she was giving tea time etiquette to a bunch of little girls when I took this picture.

Another character I remember seeing every year is this giant nose puppeteer. The man standing next to him and his "puppet" reminded my mom of Gepetto.

 

He was one of my favorite characters at the faire.

We visited the regal area of the faire where the woman who represents Queen Elizabeth has sort of a meet and greet with her court. Here you'll see the people who work for the Ren Faire in all their finery.

This is the woman who has played the Queen for the past several years. We've had three different Queens that I can remember.

I liked this picture. Her profile reminds me of an old Renaissance painting.

This is probably my favorite photo from this year. There is such character in his eyes.

She has also been a part of the Queen's court as long as I can remember.

As I recall, this man was presenting the Queen with an ink map he made of the faire grounds.

 

A sassy pirate wench:

She was with this guy, who bares a resemblance to John Malkovich. I'm comparing their faces now, and wow. I like that hint of an eye behind him. The man behind him was a viking who showed up in a few of my photos.

 

I'm not sure who this character is. She reminds me of a gnome.

This guy is a dragon, who happens to be wearing athletic shoes and carrying an energy drink. I think those are pajamas...

We saw this guy while waiting for the "Joust to the Death". His hat was super tall and covered in nails. There were nails spiking right out of the top of it.

Time for the Joust to the Death! The woman who introduced the knights was plenty dramatic.

One of their horses:

Each section of the audience is assigned a knight to cheer for. We got the Sicilian knight.

In his helmet:

Another one of the knights:

The Joust to the Death is different because a lot of fake blood is spilled. Knights were dying left and right. I didn't even notice our guy die, but I guess he did. There was a lot going on. As you can tell from the picture below, the audience gets really into it! There were all kinds of insane things being yelled around us.

One of my favorite parts of the day was seeing all the fairies. These ladies glide gracefully around the wooded area like they're in their own little world. I have a feeling that some of them are trained dancers in their regular lives.

This fairy was new to me. I just noticed the little horns on her head. Maybe she's a dragon fairy?

I think of this one as the fire fairy.

There's that viking again!

A pretty fairy up a tree. She had the attention of many kids below.

 
I've seen this fairy before. Well, maybe she's more of a forest critter. I'm not sure. She darts around, so I was glad to get some clear pictures of her.

Another woodland creature. Maybe a moss fairy?

I loved this costume! I think this is The Queen of Hearts. Look at the tiny legs on the side of the horse. Those look like some tricky stilts to handle. The horse was adorable and blinked.

 
There is a parade at the end of the day for the Queen and her court.

A royal Beefeater:

There is also a drum circle.

 
Usually, some of the more unique costumes appear during this time.

 
Another wizard!

I'm thinking this is Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. I don't watch the show, so I'm giving myself some points for knowing that! I see tons of pictures of her online.

A man and his fish during the closing songs.

... and a woman and her banana.

The Queen says goodbye.

You can see her in the top of the turret. This is what the entrance/exit to the Faire looks like.

You probably couldn't see this in the photo of me before, but I wore a new dragon necklace to the Faire:

It seemed like the perfect fit. Also, we found a souvenir. It's a cast iron Fleur-de-lis.

If you'd like to take a peek at our past trips to Ren Faire, here are some links:

Wicked Renaissance 2013
Wicked Renaissance 2012
Wicked Renaissance 2011