This Halloween the streets will be full of California raisins and Freddy Krueger look-alikes, predicts Sue Dunn. That`s why she and her husband, Rich, co-owners of the Easy Fun Party Shop in Downers Grove, have stocked up on raisin paraphernalia and masks characterizing the murderous star of
”Nightmare on Elm Street”.
”About 40 percent of our retail sales are in the month of October,”
Rich said.
Get-ups that transform a little girl into a ballerina, a devil or a nurse can be rented or purchased at the shop. The Dunns also sell used costumes by consignment.
”Some people like the homemade or the unusual,” said Sue. Halloween revelers who labored over costumes last year can assume a new identity at minimal cost this year. ”People want inexpensive costumes and want to be something different every year,” Sue said. All the Dunns ask is that the seller clean and press the costume.
New this year at Easy Fun are outfits that can transform partygoers into carhops, gangsters or Southern belles. The shop also has old standbys like gorilla suits, Santa Claus outfits and monks robes. ”We have new styles of old characters. Sorcerers and devils have come out with different looks,”
Rich said.
”We`ve expanded our selection of children`s costumes,” Sue said. ”This year we`ve got toddlers` costumes where you can change the diapers. And we have costumes for as little as 4 months old,” she said.
Rentals range from $8 to $65, the price of hopping out of the store as a kangaroo. Most rentals cost between $20 and $30.
The rest of the year, the Dunns` supply items to help set the mood for theme parties and special occasions.
”Birthdays are big, especially for the older crowds. Thirty, 40, 50 and 60 are getting to be big birthdays. They`re getting clobbered with all this over-the-hill stuff,” Rich said, motioning toward a wall bedecked with black balloons and toilet paper imprinted with jokes about aging.
Plates, cups, napkins and party favors in an assortment of colors are available. And then there are the gag gifts.
The store carries ”everything from whoopee cushions and hand buzzers to strange things like that cobra,” said Rich. He clapped his hands and charmed a plastic cobra right out of its plastic basket.
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Easy Fun Party Shop, 1532 Ogden Ave., Downers Grove, is open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays. 960-1569.
