Halloween prep in August? Spooky

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Halloween costumes? At the height of swimsuit season?

Yes indeed, jack-o'-lanterns are already trickling onto shelves at home-décor and discount stores. Retailers are piling up those bulky bags of candy (does this stuff go bad?).

For party-supply stores, the witches and goblins are already here. Halloween is a big chunk of their annual business.

"Every year it seems to get bigger and bigger," said Donna Jones, manager at iParty in Chicopee.

On an August afternoon, the window of her store was a sea of orange, as cardboard pumpkins grinned at passers-by. The staff was filling shelves with Halloween décor, costumes, accessories and "props."

Jones said "props" are yard decorations. It's not enough to decorate the classroom or the living room anymore. People now like to create tableaux of ghosts, skeletons, caldrons, tombstones and other scary stuff outdoors.

In March, said Joy, there's a big convention for members of the Halloween industry, which took place this year in Las Vegas.

"Twenty years ago," Jones said, "Halloween was mostly for kids. Now adults enjoy it just as much."

Jones admitted that Halloween purchases don't necessarily start as soon as the decorations go up. "We don't see a lot of sales until Labor Day, when it gets cool."

A few people will cry, "Oh! It's Halloween already," as if bemoaning how fast time flies.

But even in a heat wave, Jones said, "people are curious. They'll walk the aisles. And nine times out of 10, they'll come back."

Something like a haunted house requires a lot of planning, Joy said, and people do get an early start. And if people are thinking about Halloween in August, imagine the frenzy in October.

"And as soon as Halloween is over," Jones said, "we go right into Christmas."