By Veronique Werz
Special to The Collegian
Since its opening in 1957, the store Valley Novelty, located on 2902 Ventura St. in Fresno, has had three owners. The store has kept the same type of products since its opening, and stocks holiday items year-round.
Halloween is “creeping” up on us with exciting costume ideas for all ages.
Steve Curtis, assistant manager at the Spirit Halloween store on Shaw and West avenues in Fresno, said since the television show “The Walking Dead” has become very popular, zombie looks have been picking up with people of every age group.
“For adults, the most popular costumes have been super heroes,” Curtis said. “Everybody wants to do what’s new in the movies.
“For boys, it’s the action characters. They want the zombie, zombie hunters and super heroes.
For girls, Curtis said the “Monster High” dolls and Barbie-type looks are popular, but said costumes for women have less of a variety.
“For women, it’s the risqué, sexy adult costumes, but then again that’s getting borderline because that is what a lot of teenagers fit into,” Curtis said. “So that is all that is available, and then that is what they get.”
Curtis said this year, he is going to dress up as a zombie and create his own makeup look.
“I want to be a zombie to scare little kids to be honest,” Curtis said. “I have four kids myself, but I think Halloween is supposed to be scary.”
Although Curtis said he tries to be more traditional when it comes to costumes, because “back in the day” when he was a kid, he made his own costumes.
“I don’t want to go as Scorpio from “Mortal Combat” and walk two blocks and see somebody with the same costume,” Curtis said.
Curtis said one of his favorite costumes was dressing up as a giant white teddy bear.
“I decided to do it for my kids’ sake and purchased a giant white teddy bear costume off of ebay,” Curtis said. “It was really hard to get into the costume, I couldn’t drive, and it was really hot inside.
“It was fun to see little kids come up and want to give me a hug, give me a high-five, shake my hand and take a picture.”
Ultimately, Curtis said Halloween is for kids, and as long as they’re having fun, that is all that matters.
Aleecia Evans, a Fresno State student majoring in liberal studies, said Halloween is a fun holiday for her to spend time with friends, some of whom come to Fresno from out of town.
For her costume, she said she purchased a Minions T-shirt from the Universal Studios movie “Despicable Me,” and already has a pair of overalls and a hat.
“I want to dress up like this because my brother really likes Despicable Me, and I like it too because they’re so cute, and I loved the movie,” Evans said.
Judy Xiong, a Fresno State student majoring in community health, said this Halloween, she is definitely thinking of doing something scary since scary costumes have been popular.
She also wants to do something creative with her makeup.
“I want to be something scary because it’s different, you can make it yourself and a lot of times it’s not something everybody else is,” Xiong said. “It allows you to be unique with your makeup.”
Curtis said it is important to always be aware and safe on Halloween, especially those with children.
“Regardless of how old a child is, they shouldn’t be out by themselves without an adult because it’s just too dangerous,” Curtis said.
Curtis also said parents should check the candy children get.
“Just because they get candy and it’s sweet, yeah the kid will want it, but you never know what is inside that piece of candy,” Curtis said.
Curtis also encourages parents to not be too lenient, even though it’s Halloween.
“They let kids go wherever they want by themselves, and Halloween is the one day that you don’t want to let them do that,” Curtis said.