Pumpkin Rot 10,000

Just read tonights post by Pumpkin Rot. It seems he is celebrating his 10,000th blog post...

Still my favorite I think. ( Photo property of Pumpkin Rot)

There are a handful of people in the Halloween realm that I draw inspiration and motivation from. "Rot" and his wife "Bean" are at the top of that list. I can remember my son showing me the "Pumpkin Rot" website some years ago now.  I looked at all the photos and watched the videos repeatedly, amazed by the various "scarecrows" and how they were so different from anything I had ever seen.  To that point, I had no idea people created such things for Halloween.

As a Halloween enthusiast too old to trick or treat there are still some things I look forward to during Halloween. Seeing the annual Pumpkin Rot' Halloween creations, photos and video is a major part of my season.

I always thought "The Halloween Poem By Rot" encapsulated the spirit of the home haunter. I think it's become lost over time in all his posts and wanted to re-share it as tribute to all that the anonymous "Pumpkin Rot" and "Bean" have given to the Halloween community.

Thank you Rot for all your Halloween art, videos, comics, writings, and recognition of others in the Halloween community for 10,000 blog posts!

"The Witches Ball" at Yankee Candle

At the end of August we went to our local Yankee Candle Store for the unveiling of their Halloween Collection. This year it was dubbed "The Witches Ball", no music and no witches though, just candles.

It's unintentionally become a sort of a family tradition with my son's family and us to get at The Yankee Candle Store early and wait in line to see whats new in their "Boney Bunch" candle holder collection and grab up the pieces we like before they run out of their usually limited supply. After fighting the crowds we leave and eat a late breakfast, mostly because you don't want to be around my son or I if we're hungry.

Yankee Candle Steam Punkin' Collection

This year we thought their coolest pieces were the ones only available as online exclusives. Some of the best "Boney Bunch" pieces and especially their whole Steam Punkin' Collection weren't in the stores. So while we waited for the doors to open, we went online and ordered a few of the pieces.

Yesterday we received our order in the mail. I thought the Steam Punkin' witches boot was especially cool looking. In hindsight I wished we had ordered the Large Steam Punkin' Pumpkin too. You can see their Steam Punkin' collection at their online store although most of the best pieces are already sold out.

Return to "The Holiday Store"

Belinda and I and most of the "Halloween people" we know have been visiting all the stores in our area to peruse this year's Halloween offerings. I will say most of the big corporate stores got their stuff out early, some of it good, maybe a little more that was not so good.

One of our most fun stores to visit though, we found a year or so ago and have tried to keep in touch with it's owner, Tom Campana. "The Holiday Store" is a good distance from our house, but we've found it worth the drive to escape the same poor quality props and masks that with few exceptions seem to return every year to most of the corporate retailers.

This year our friends Gene and Evelynn made the trip with us, the first stop on a planned day of horror.

The staff at The Holiday Store take great pride in how things are displayed

Still my favorite little corner of the store, the checkout area with it's display cases

During our first visit to "The Holiday Store" we weren't quite sure what we were looking for and had made the mistake of believing it was one of those temporary box stores such as the Spirit store franchises. As we departed our vehicles on this trip, it was Evelynn who remarked that the business was smaller than she thought it would be. Coincidentally this was the same conclusion I made on our first trip. "The Holiday Store" is located in one of those non-descript roadside industrial warehouse complexes that so many businesses use now to keep their overhead costs down. The 'plain building" look ends on the outside however!

A mummy stands guard at the digital effects video display

Stepping through the entrance door of "The Holiday Store" feels like Halloween...
There are no bright florescent lights, no shiny display fixtures and no shelves of inventory boxes. Everything is on display under carefully placed ambient or color LED lights. It has the feel of a Halloween "museum", an eclectic collection of Halloween goods, and Tom Campana and his staff take great pride in how things are displayed. There are Halloween props, masks and decor from floor to ceiling.

Some quality interior decor items are also at the store.

If your just looking for masks or some decorations for your front door and don't mind if your neighbors have the same ones, this is not the store for you. If your looking for unique quality items, or creating a character for your haunt that your guests likely have never seen, "The Halloween Store" is where you go. It has the largest quality collection of masks I have seen in any walk-in store this year.

Who doesn't need a standing goat character for their haunt?

Kind of a Disney feel to this mask - great quality

"The Holiday Store" does a significant amount of it's business at it's website but the nostalgic feel of going to an independent business where the staff enjoy what they do, and love Halloween, is a winner with me.  I have no doubt we'll be making another trip this season.

Little bit of something for everyone

Our friends and ourselves spent a solid hour plus looking through the items for sale at the store. Every inch of space in the retail area is used to display different props masks and Halloween curios.  It seems like the longer you are there, and the closer you look, the more little Halloween treasures you find hidden. We went there looking for a specific mask, we left with two masks, three shrunken heads and some creepy finger extensions. I don't recall what our friends Evelynn and Gene bought but I know they found the mask they wanted and left with several bags of merchandise. All in all it was a great way to start our day of horror followed by some barbecue lunch. Another post on our day of horror is forthcoming.

Still not a fan of clowns but they did have some cool looking clown masks

At the time of our visit, owner Tom Campana had just come off vacation and was still in the process of receiving new products. Most of the store's inventory is from independent U.S. manufacturers and artists. Very little that I have ever seen is the typical mass produced stuff from ( insert Asian country name here). If he doesn't have it, he usually has good connections for getting what your looking for and his prices have always been reasonable.

The Holiday Store is located at 301 Commerce Court, Winterhaven, Florida 33880.