Dominance continued: SL teams take district titles
October 29, 2013
BREAKING: Coach, girlfriend, 3 others given criminal summons after Destrehan forfeitures
October 30, 2013
If sales are any indication, it’s hairy over scary this year for local Halloween costume buyers.
“The ‘Duck Dynasty’ costumes sold out in a week,” said Torey Hebb, manager of Party Universe in Houma. “We are also sold out of ladies sailor and military costumes and Ninja Turtle costumes for kids. But the ‘Duck Dynasty’ costumes went the fastest.”
The costume package for “Duck Dynasty” includes a camouflage vest, bandana, wig and beard. The outfit is one of about 900 adult, teen and children’s costumes the store has in stock. The party supply store started selling costumes in August, and Hebb estimates the store sells thousands of costumes each Halloween. Costumes start out as $14.99 for children’s costumes and some of the adult costumes can cost upward of $100.
“Some people will spend $200 to get a costume and all the accessories,” Hebb said. “Those who buy accessories are coming in for hats, masks, jewelry and makeup. With masks, the scarier, the better. Michael Meyers and Freddy Kruger masks are some of the popular sellers.”
In addition to dressing up like characters from “Duck Dynasty,” guys are also coming in for morph suits, head-to-toe, full body costumes that come in solid colors and prints like camouflage, skeleton, muscle and mummy.
According to Hebb, the morph suits are also a popular costume choice for boys.
“The Ninja Turtles and plain ninja costumes are selling well for boys, too,” she said. “For baby boys, it’s the biker outfits with the vests and shirts with the tattoo sleeves.”
While looking like “Duck Dynasty” characters Phil, Willie, Jase or Uncle Si is tops for men, most ladies are purchasing nurse, fireman and high school student costumes.
“Anything sexy,” Hebb said. “For the young girls, costumes from the Monster High television show and any of the Disney princesses are popular. The Disney princess costumes are also popular for baby girls – anything cute that makes them look like a baby doll.”
Rachel Conway of Raceland and Leon Chiasson of Lockport were at Party Universe last week looking for hippy costumes.
“We thought about dressing up as Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, but a lot of the Red Riding Hood costumes are a little too short,” Conway said. “I’m not really big on dresses anyway, so I’m hoping to find a costume with pants.”
Conway and Chiasson were purchasing costumes to take their daughter Sabrina, who will be going as Dorothy from the “Wizard of Oz,” trick-or-treating for Halloween.
Theresa Dulaune of Thibodaux bought a Raphael – the red Ninja Turtle – costume for her three-year-old son T.J.
“T.J. wanted to dress as a doctor and Jesus, but we didn’t know how we were going to pull that one off,” she said, laughing. “I finally just showed him some pictures of costumes, and he eventually settled on the Ninja Turtle one.”
Dulaune’s one-year-old daughter Sadie will be dressed as a cat for the family’s trick-or-treating activities.
Thersea Hester of Houma was helping her children Wilontray, Tanisha and Antwonasia pick out costumes.
“We want to dress up as killer clowns,” Tanisha said. “We want to be scary.”
The children could not find the costumes in their sizes, and Tanisha and Antwonasia eventually settled on matching kitten costumes while Wilontray continued to consider his costume options. The children planned to attend a Halloween party at a friend’s home.
Morph suits and “Monster University” costumes are also flying off the racks at the Halloween Boutique in the Southland Mall.
“The invisible suits have been popular costumes for both adults and children,” said Halloween Boutique assistant manager Cindy Stringer. “Superhero costumes are also selling really well for adults and kids. For babies, people really want pumpkin costumes.”
Halloween Boutique has several hundred costume options, and shoppers at the store can find costumes on sale for as little as $1.99. More expensive costumes, like a full body gorilla costume, cost $99.
“People are coming in and spending an average of about $40 on a costume,” Stringer said. “It’s been non-stop since we opened at the beginning of September.”
TRICK OR TREATING SAFETY
Trick-or-treating in the Tri-parishes will be from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, and local law enforcement agencies will step up patrols in each of the parishes.
In Lafourche Parish, deputies in units will patrol neighborhoods with their emergency lights activated during trick-or-treating hours as part of the department’s annual Blue Light Special patrol. This will be the third year the special patrol features a compliance check for sex offenders in the parish. Officers will visit each registered Tier 3 sex offender in the parish to make sure they are complying with their sentences, especially the condition that prohibits them from wearing masks or handing out candy or gifts on holidays like Halloween.
“The idea of providing some peace of mind is precisely the reason we added the sex offender compliance checks to this event,” said Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre. “It’s just one more way we are doing ‘whatever it takes’ to ensure everyone is having a safe and happy Halloween. We do, however, still encourage all participants to follow our safety guidelines to help protect themselves as well.”
In the two years since the department began checking on sex offenders, only one person was not in compliance. The man was not distributing candy, but he had altered his driver’s license to hide his sex offender status.
Terrebonne and Lafourche parish residents may check www.icrimewatch.net to check for sex offenders in their area. St. Mary Parish residents can visit www.sheriffalerts.com to find out the home location of sex offenders in the parish.
“We will be increasing patrols during trick-or-treating hours on Halloween,” said Traci Landry, spokeswoman for the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office. “We’ve also posted a safety flyer on our Facebook page and have given out some to parents in our area.”
Leon Chiasson, left, of Lockport and Rachel Conway of Raceland model hippy costumes with their daughter Sabrina. The couple had already purchased a “Wizard of Oz” Dorothy costume for Sabrina. Local costume sales are brisk in anticipation of Halloween tomorrow night.
