Halloween Haunting 2 - JoAnn Fabrics

So this is actually why I went out today. JoAnn Fabrics is one of the many craft stores. Similar to a Hobby Lobby or Michael's, JoAnn's usually has some pretty good Halloween stuff.

I have gone a couple time this year, and they have been remarkably slow at getting their stock out. But today was the day, as you can see below.

First up: Pumpkins.

The store had a ton of pumpkins. There were ceramic pumpkins, soap pumpkins, wood pumpkins, carving pumpkins, fabric pumpkins... Sheesh, I'm sounding like Bubba from Forest Gump. 

Then there were these little beauties. Can you tell what they're made from?




That's right, freakin' feathers! What?!? Never heard of feather pumpkins. It sounds like something that would be chucked at Spiderman by a Vulture/Green Goblin hybrid. How many birds did they have to kill to makes these things, anyway?

From there, they had the obligatory general fall merchandise, sprinkled with a bit of Thanksgiving. They tried to be upscale, but were unable to reach the heights of Kirkland's.

 

However, they did have some cool mini hay bales. But $8.99, are they outa their minds?

 I love how they have an ad for gift cards right above a selection of seasonal socks. Not only that, but the socks were 25% off. Bonus, right?

Perhaps the greatest find of the day were these scented soaps. The ghosts, in particular, had an amazing mixture of fall and vanilla. I know those two aromas don't sound particularly complementary, but I'll tell you, they were great.

 I was tempted to picking up the ghost and one of the shimmery pumpkins, but they were $5.99 each, so I resisted. That turned out to be a wonderful instinctual thing, because I found the exact same dispensers, with the exact same fragrances at Big Lots later, for 2 bucks! Score!

There were some other cool finds, like these reflective flowers and corn, and I particularly liked this stack of black cats...

But the coolest thing I found was probably these paintable plaster of Paris body parts. The Mexican Dios de la Muerte skulls with the purple "Paint Me!" stickers on them. As if I needed any more prompting...

I was puzzled about one thing, though. How, exactly, am I supposed to paint these torsos? They were women's busts and they were right next to grasping hands. This made me feel a bit Hallowpervy, but I must admit, I was kind of tempted to get one.

 As I left the store, I saw one last amazing treat. I gotta have this skeleton chalk board. Just imagine all the fun you can have with this guy1

Adios, Jo-Ann. Thanks for celebrating the season like a pro!