Despite supply chain issues plaguing all retailers the past few months, Party City reported Halloween season revenue of $415.5 million, nearly closing the gap with October 2019 sales (which totaled $432.6 million). For the full third quarter this year, their retail sales were up 8.9% from the previous quarter. According to foot traffic analytics firm Placer.ai, on a per-store basis, visits to Halloween City were up 3% from 2019 levels in September, which may be due to earlier shopping for the season that other data has documented. In October, visits remained 8.6% below 2019. At Party City's namesake stores, visits were up for both months on a per-store basis — with an 11% increase in October. In comparison, visits to competitor Spirit Halloween were up 0.7% from 2019 on a per-store basis in September, and down 5.7% in October, according to Placer.ai.

Spirit Halloween is helping to ease the post-Halloween blues with the release of two new  animatronics. Lil' Nester is a two-foot tall scarecrow on a swing with green LED eyes, who will beckon you to play with him via two pre-recorded sayings. Bloody Bag of Jokes is a nearly five-foot tall green-haired clown named "Joe the Jokester" hanging upside down in a morgue body bag. When activated, Joe twists around spouting his own brand of macabre humor. Lil' Nester is currently priced at $149.99 and Bloody Bag of Jokes is priced at $179.99.
 

Repurposing Your Halloween Leftovers
 

Wondering what to do with your Halloween costume after the season? Donate it! Julian Thomas Elementary School in Racine, Wisconsin is holding a Halloween Costume Drive through December 3rd to benefit all three of Racine's community schools. After learning that some students did not have costumes to participate in the school's Halloween parade this year, Community School Coordinator Leigh Ann Martinez decided to coordinate the drive. “Many of the students that attend the community schools belong to families that are in low socio-economic income brackets in Racine and purchasing a new costume for their children may be an expense that they cannot afford,” said Martinez. “In an effort to see more smiles on children’s faces next year, the staff asked if I could coordinate a collection of costumes from the community.” New or gently used costumes can be dropped off directly at the school. 

The Discovery Center Museum in Rockford, Illinois has come up with a fun and educational way to dispose of Halloween pumpkins at the end of the year. For their annual "Smashing Pumpkins" event, Discovery Center staff catapult pumpkin projectiles towards targets to teach visitors about science and physics. The repurposing of the pumpkins did not stop there - once sufficiently smashed, all pumpkin bits were fed to Stateline animals, who greatly enjoyed their post-Halloween treat.