Category Archives: Halloween

2019 arc Thrift Stores Halloween

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When there’s a bit of a chill in the air and there’s a hot pot of soup on the stove, it can only mean one thing: HALLOWEEN is almost here!

We LOVE Halloween with everything we’ve got here at arc! It’s our favorite time of the year and we simply cannot get enough of the pumpkins, witches, goblins, fairy princesses, and superheroes! From the spooky to the sweet, we love every trick and every treat! In fact, we spend nearly an entire year preparing for this season of fun; we go on buying trips all over the country to find the BEST and most on-trend costumes and décor, and we gather our most inspiring minds throughout the year to brainstorm wacky creations so we’re there to help our customers build their own costumes!

For us, Halloween is all about imagination. The sky’s the limit!

It’s about finding a big oversized jacket in the men’s section, a sparkly pink dress in the women’s section, a pair of biker boots from the shoe department, dangly earrings, a tiara, and a package of ghoulish makeup…and BOOM! You’ve got a Zombie Prom Queen! (Best part? You’ve spent less than $25!)

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Or, it’s a simple green sweatshirt from boys for only $3 that you take home and bedazzle, adorn with felt, and transform with your own artistic talent into the cutest Ninja Turtle ever!

Is the movie Hocus Pocus your fav? Grab your besties and be transformed into the Sanderson sisters with a simple wave of a wand…and some inspirational finds at your local arc!

And, if you’re hosting the annual Halloween party, arc is the perfect place to get what you need. Whether it’s a kids’ party, a neighborhood potluck, or an adults-only get-together, we’ve got a ton of spooky Halloween décor! Everything from spiderwebs for a haunted house to faux pumpkins for your front steps to a seasonal garland for your mantel. And, if you need a crockpot for a stew to feed all your friends or an extra-large bowl to hold all your candy for all the trick or treaters, we’ve got that, too!

Our cauldrons are full…and the prices won’t scare your bank account! Come by any of the 30 arc Thrift Stores along the Front Range – each one a Halloween Headquarters – for the state’s largest selection of everything you need to make this a ghoulishly fun time of the year!

arc Thrift Stores Have The State’s LARGEST SELECTION of Amazing Costumes!

. DIY, Halloween

People come to arc for all sorts of things. There isn’t ANYTHING – except for maybe plastic gutters, refrigerators, and scrap metal – that you can’t find at an arc store. And, all for a great price!!

This is especially true of Halloween costumes!

Fall is perhaps one of most favorite times of the year!! The crisp air, the leaves changing, a pot of soup on the stove, a cozy sweater to warm you up…and HALLOWEEN! We LOVE Halloween!! We love how creative this holiday can be…how silly, goofy, and even how scary!!

So, as you are noodling over what you are going to dress up as this year, know that there isn’t a ghost of a chance you’d walk away without the perfect Halloween costume if you’re shopping at arc Thrift Stores!!

Arc Thrift Stores has the state’s largest selection of build-your-own costumes. Our stores are full of Halloween must-haves: makeup, masks, gowns, hats, capes, and more. Costumes for kids, grown-ups, even pets!! We’ve got everything you will need to make this Halloween ghoulishly wonderful!

Here are some easy, inexpensive, and creative suggestions…all found in the aisles at arc!

Flapper: Show off those great legs and do the Charleston!!

  • Dress: $7.50
  • Bag: $1.50
  • Headpiece: $1
  • Necklace: $1
  • Cigarette holder: $4

TOTAL COST AT ARC: $15

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Dorothy From The Wizard of OZ:  There’s no place like Arc for the perfect costume!!

  • Dress: $6
  • Ruby Red Slippers: $4
  • Basket and stuffed dog (“Toto”): $5

TOTAL COST AT ARC: $15

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Willy Wonka: A little imagination goes a long way at Arc!!

  • Wig: $5.50
  • Jacket: $5.50
  • Top hat: $3
  • Colorful Pants: $4
  • Scarf: $2

TOTAL COST AT ARC: $20

Belle:

  • Princess Dress: $5
  • Candlestick (“Lumiere”): $2
  • Clock (“Cogsworth”): $3

TOTAL COST AT ARC: $10

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And, we even have tons of spooky and fun decorations to make your home festive for a party and for all those trick or treaters.

All items are 50 percent off on Saturdays (excluding current color tags and green tags).

Click here for locations. 

 

 

Party Decor Ideas for Kids and Adults

. DIY, Halloween, Thrifty Tips . ,

It’s that time of year again! We just LOVE Halloween at arc Thrift Stores!! It’s spooky, fun, a little silly, and super creative!

A lot of you are probably planning your kids’ school Halloween party, or having a party at home for the neighbor ghosts and goblins. Maybe you’re having your friends over to celebrate with a more adult-themed version of trick or treat!!

Well, at arc you will find everything you need to make the most ghoulishly delightful party ever!! And, the best part? You don’t have to drive all over town and you don’t have to spend a ton of money! It’s one-stop party décor shopping at arc!!

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Here are some ideas:

Potion:

Little potion bottles can make a great Halloween decoration for your tablescapes. Mineral oil and food coloring mixed with a bit of water to create the potions in the bottles is inexpensive and easy. Buy your little potion bottles in all shapes and sizes from the Bric Brac department of your local arc Thrift Store. You can then fill them with little plastic spiders or plastic eyeballs or fingers to create a creepy décor piece. Bottles range from $0.49 to $1.99 each

Spooky Candles:

  • Votive candles (at arc for $2 – $5)
  • Black, orange, and green felt (at arc for .50 a sheet)
  • Glue

Wrap votive with black felt. Cut out pumpkins from orange felt and add green accents (leaves, top of pumpkin, etc.). Attach with glue.

Wrap votive in orange or green felt. Cut out bats with black felt. Attach with glue.

Candy Man:

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  • Jeans ($8)
  • Flannel Shirt ($5)
  • Cowboy hat ($2)
  • Cowboy boots ($15)
  • Baskets ($1.50/each)
  • Candy
  • Pumpkin (carved with silly face)
  • Newspapers

On the table where your party food will be served, lay out the jeans and shirt, as if a person were about to wear them. Stuff the arms, chest, and legs with newspapers. Cut out sections in the jeans, and leave the buttons of the shirt open.

Fill baskets with candy. Slide the baskets into the cut out sections of the arms, the open (unbuttoned) area of the chest, and legs of “Candy Man.”

Place jack o’ lantern as the head, and top with the cowboy hat.

Adult version:

 Candy Man isn’t just for kids!! Instead of the flannel shirt, boots, and cowboy hat, pick the jersey of your favorite rival football team (Patriots, anyone?!?) ($10 at arc). And, instead of candy, fill the baskets with chicken wings, chips, and dip!!

Treats:

Ghoulish Gummies

  • 1 cup of cold water
  • 1/2 cup of corn syrup
  • 6oz packet of your favorite flavor Jell-O
  • 4 envelopes of unflavored
  • Gelatin

Dissolve the corn syrup in cold water with a spoon. Dissolve the
Jell-O and gelatin in the corn syrup and water mixture. Transfer to
small pot and cook over medium heat until bubbly. Remove from heat and carefully pour into fun, Halloween-inspired ice molds or cake molds (available at arc for $4 – $8). Set on the counter for 5 hours (no need to refrigerate) and carefully remove from molds.

Adult version:

Change the amount of water to ¾ of a cup, and add ¼ cup of vodka.

Monster munch

  • 4 cups popcorn
  • 1/2 cup mini marshmallows
  • 1/2 cup Reese’s prices
  • 1/2 cup candy corn
  • 1/2 cup melted white chocolate

Pour popcorn and candy onto a cookie tray (at arc for $3) and drizzle with chocolate.

Allow to harden and break up with fingers and either put into a large
bowl or separate into treat bags (box of 25 at arc for $5) and tie with orange and green ribbon (at arc for $2 a roll).

Adult version:

Instead of candy, use nuts and chocolate chips. Drizzle with caramel.

The Unique Halloween Costume Challenge

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My friends and I challenged each other to create new and different Halloween costumes for our families this year. We had to come up with three and not the usual “on the rack” costumes. I knew just where to go – Arc Thrift Stores.  I have been going to Arc for years to put together Halloween costumes. Not only can you create something unusual, you can do it at a fraction of the cost for costumes anywhere else. So we headed out to Arc and came up with these costumes: The Shady Lady, Graduation from School of Hard Knocks and The Duck Empire.

We started building the Shady Lady by finding the perfect lamp shade in the furniture department. Remember, brilliant ideas can be found anywhere at Arc Thrift Stores. Once we had the green lamp shade, the dress was waiting in the costume department along with the glamorous eyelashes, gloves and shoes. We went shopping for accessories in the jewelry department where we found a large bin of costume jewelry.

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For the Graduation from the School of Hard Knocks, we started with the cap and gown that we found in the costume section, added a scary mask and scepter. Arc employees use their imagination to pull possible costumes from inventory all over the store. There were many caps and gowns in different colors and sizes – only $7.99 each.image3

The Duck Empire was the easiest and least expensive. Arc has a large selection of camo jackets – only $5.99, pants and hats. These items had been pulled from inventory and included in the costume section. Arc also has a large selection of wigs and costume accessories in the Halloween department.image4

We enjoyed our Halloween experience at Arc as we scanned the options in the costume department (as well as all over the store) for ideas – and we weren’t alone. It was fun listening to kids and their parents as they looked through the vast possibilities to build the perfect Arc Halloween costume.

Building your own unique Halloween costume on a budget

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It is October, which means it’s time to find Halloween costumes. There is no better place to find a creative, DIY, costume than the arc. So last Saturday I paid a visit to the arc for some Halloween inspiration and affordable goodies. The spooky spirit was in the air and the arc was crowded! Everywhere I turned, someone was searching for the perfect costume. There were racks all around the store loaded with Halloween odds and ends.

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One thing to keep in mind when searching for costumes in a thrift store is flexibility. I went in with the goal of finding a train conductor outfit for my son and a cute ladybug costume for my daughter. Well, that changed very quickly when I came across the perfect tiger hoodie and a fun, whimsical skirt that had obviously been handmade. All I had to do next was find the right accessories.

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I decided that my son was getting a tiger costume. I needed a pair of tiger striped pants and shirt. I couldn’t find anything in his size, but no worries, I’m at the arc! I just went up and down the aisles and found a great tiger striped ladies shirt that I could cut up and re-sew to fit him. I also came across a toddler sized, tiger ear headband he could have fun with.

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Now that my son’s costume was taken care of, I needed to finish my daughter’s. Next to the great skirt I found was an orange fairy tutu that I could add on top. I looked around and found a small hula skirt that would serve as the straw in a scarecrow outfit. I went to the baby section and found an adorable pair of skirted overalls that were her size and she could wear any time outside of Halloween. Now all I needed was a cute straw hat to complete the scarecrow look and, luckily, the arc had an amazing selection of straw hats. Right on top was a hat just her size.

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I took my goods home and proceeded to cut up the tiger striped shirt. I used a pair of pants that fit my son for the pattern. I used the sleeves of the shirt to make his pants. The bodice of the shirt had enough fabric to sew tiger sleeves, but not a whole new tiger shirt. So I cut out the shape for the sleeves and then rummaged through my closet for an old black shirt that could use. I made a new bodice and sewed my tiger sleeves to it. My son was thrilled and he put the new outfit on right away.

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Everything that I got at the arc totaled under $30. Similar costumes would have cost around $40 for the tiger outfit and upwards of $20 for the scarecrow costume. Oh and did I forget to mention that I also found some cute Halloween baskets at the arc, and I still came out under $30!

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Written by Jessica D, Colorado Momma. http://coloradomomma.com/

Denver Craft Ninjas: Halloween Headbands

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Welcome Becky from the Denver Craft Ninjas as our first Guest Blogger!  If you don’t know about the Denver Craft Ninjas, then you should!  Read on to see how you can make super cool DIY Halloween Headbands from our local craft guru……..

Don’t have time for a complete costume this year? Or can’t figure out what will pull together your delightfully frightening costume ideas?

Get together with your friends, like I did, and DIY the cutest little Halloween headbands!

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Amber and Becky (Denver Craft Ninjas) model their spooky headband creations!

Headbands are the perfect blank canvas for your costume idea. Add some plastic bones and roses, a little greenery and a red eyed raven, or tulle and spiders to create spirited accents that work perfectly on their own or as an addition to a complete costume.

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She’s Crafty! Awesome Denver Craft Ninjas Halloween craft studio.

My lovely assistant Amber and I played with a variety of materials to create three great headbands that will work for any age.

And really the materials are the best part, right?

We gathered fabric flowers, scrap fabric, and a few cheap Halloween necessities and set to work. Many of these items can be found at arc Thrift Stores!

First, is our adorable Mummy Eyes headband!

Amber whipped this super cute, asymmetrical eyed accessory up in no time.

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To start, grab a fairly wide headband and wrap with a gauzy fabric or ribbon and secure with a glue gun. Then grab some creepy, bloodshot eyeballs (we used a pre-painted foam eyeball) and glue them wherever you want on the headband. Amber decided on a crooked placement for the eyes and it minimized the ghoulish and made it a little silly. And last, Amber wrapped a little ribbon around the eyeballs.

A totally cute addition to a mummy costume or just something fun to wear all by itself!

Second, is our simple spider headband!

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With this project, we used some lavender tulle and wrapped it tightly around a thin metal headband securing it with a glue gun. We made charming tulle rosettes by gathering small pieces of tulle and then placing a dot of hot glue in the center to hold the rosette together. Be careful! The hot glue will seep through the tulle and can burn your fingers.

The tulle will naturally fan out and make whispy bases for sinister, sparkly spiders to sit on. Another small dot of glue in the center of the rosette will secure your spider to the rosette. Then decide on placement for your spider! We placed two spiders right next to each other for extra creep factor!

This is a great project to experiment with! The tulle is so fun to play with and it’s fairly easy to create a haunting veil that hangs over your face.

Our last headband turned out to be our favorite!

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Inspired by Dia de los Muertos, we created a spooky statement piece that can be worn with a whole costume or on it’s own with some really gorgeous face paint!

Using a wide, black fabric headband, we started by gluing some gold and black stretch lace to the headband to add some

In our hunt for pieces to use for these headbands, we were drawn to these lovely black leaves with purple glitter on them. PURPLE GLITTER! We took apart the leaves and placed 6 leaves, 2 at a time, in the middle and on the sides of the headband with hot glue. Then between the leaves we placed fun mini skulls which created a kind of crown. Finally, between skull and leaf we tucked little trios of mini fabric red roses. After letting the glue set on all the pieces, it’s a good idea to adjust the leaves to be sure they don’t obscure any of the other elements of the headband.

Voila! You have three great looks to jump start your costume plans!

Halloween is a great time to get your glue gun fired up and create something handmade that is as individual as you are!

Visit the Denver Craft Ninjas new craft space called Share.Denver located at 28th and Fairfax in Park Hill.