It’s that time…oh yes, the much beloved or much dreaded search for Halloween costumes is on. Admit it moms and dads - you either LOVE Halloween or you HATE Halloween. KC Kids Fun has given you a list of every pumpkin patch and every apple, harvest, pumpkin or fall festival within a 50 mile radius already. And now we’re moving on to costumes.

Of course, there’s always Target, WalMart and the seasonal Halloween costume shops at the malls and strip centers. But if you’re looking for something more, something different - and you’re not a whiz at the sewing machine - we’ve got a few suggestions for places to check out.

Thrift Stores

Thrift stores like Goodwill, Salvation Army and 2nd Chance (City Union Mission) are a treasure trove of interesting, inspiring and funky clothing which could easily turn into your child’s favorite Halloween costume ever. And you are bound to find something awesome to wear to the adults-only costume party that you’ve been dreading. The best part about thrift store finds? Cheap!

Costume Shops

Sure you can run into Party City and Party America and find a quick costume for your little ones - but there are a lot of places around town to find some a little more unique than what you’ll find at the discount and party stores. The strangely-named Have Guns Will Rent costume shop in Kansas City, Kansas has costumes available for purchase and more elaborate costumes for rent. Costumes and More in North Kansas City also has some interesting selections - including a great variety of historic period costumes. If you REALLY want to go all out, peruse the thousands of costumes available for rent at Kansas City Costume Company. This is the place where stage productions go for costumes - you’re bound to find something fabulous!

My Favorites

My two favorite spots in Kansas City for costume-hunting are Dottie Mae’s at 83rd and Wornall and U.S. Toy at 103rd-ish and State Line. Dottie Mae’s has been around for quite a while and is truly an experience. Not a shop for your littlest goblins but your older elementary, middle school and high schoolers are bound to find lots of fun things to choose from. You and your spouse will find some ridiculously fun options here too.

U.S. Toy has costumes for all ages, wigs, make up and accessories galore. While they have a dedicated costume shop which is great, I often find more for costumes in the party/carnival section of the store. Tiaras, magic wands, fancy gloves, silly hats, swords, bandanas and more can be found - and usually relatively inexpensively.

On the Internet

If you dread the stores, there are TONS of online costume options this year. Many sites have sales and/or shipping deals right about now - but don’t delay! Some of our favorite online spots for costumes are:

• Amazon.com Costume Shop - Offering FREE SHIPPING on orders over $25 thru October 23rd

• Free Shipping On Orders of $50 Or More at The Official CNShop! - check out the Star Wars-Clone Wars and Ben 10 costumes

• Free Shipping On Orders of $50 or More at WBShop.com! - don’t miss the Batman: The Dark Knight, superheroes, Looney Tunes, Harry Potter, Scooby Doo, Flintstones and Wizard of Oz costumes! Oh, I just LOVE the Wizard of Oz costumes - I might have to try to talk my kids into some of those…

• Shop BuyCostumes.com - fulfill all your costume needs! - this is the website I got my son’s Harry Potter robe from last year. (Yes, those are my kids in the photo at the top - not sure why my daughter was making that face!) They were quick, efficient and pretty reasonable. And they have every costume imaginable.

• Costume SuperCenter rivals BuyCostumes.com in selection.

• Check out Nick’s Halloween Shop for your Favorite Characters’ Costumes at Shop.NickJr.com! - They’re offering FREE SHIPPING on Halloween costumes like Dora, Diego, Blue’s Clues, Backyardigans and SpongeBob.

• The Children’s Place has some super cute costumes - especially for babies. You can even get $5 Flat Rate Standard Shipping on all orders at ChildrensPlace.com. Oh! And you can get 15% off of your order (actually off of all ChildrensPlace.com orders)! Just use CODE HAA8 at checkout.

• And there are some really cool princess and knight costumes at FAO Schwarz - you’ll need to search “costumes” to find them.

FABULOUS FAMILY ACTIVITY!!!!! You won’t want to miss this–and, it’s for a good cause; all proceeds benefit Children’s TLC. What could be better? The activity is the 12th Annual Crown Center Pumpkin Patch, presented by KPMG. Saturday, October 11 is the date, with Sunday, October 12 being the rain date. The place–Crown Center Square, at 25th and Grand Blvd in KCMO. The time–10am until 4pm. (And don’t forget to wear your costume!!) Now, for the good stuff!!

The whole day will be packed with fun things to do, including a petting zoo, carnival booths, games, inflatables, concessions and live entertainment. And did I mention PUMPKINS? How about 30,000 pounds of them?!? There will be FREE admission and parking at Crown Center Square. At the event, tickets may be purchased for $0.50 each, and these can be used for pumpkins, games, etc.

Here’s the fantastic lineup of LOCAL talent:

• 10:00 am Miller-Marley Performers
• 12:00 pm Berkley Matthews
• 12:30 pm Costume Parade and Contest
• 1:00 pm The Doo Dads
• 2:00 pm Dino O’Dell
• 3:00 pm Oogles ‘n’ Googles

As previously mentioned, this day of family fun benefits one of KCKidsFun’s community partners, Children’s TLC. The mission of CTLC is to provide therapeutic and educational services for children with disabilities in an environment which fosters their independence and celebrates their successes. CTLC was established in Kansas City in 1947 and is located at 31st and Main Street. No child is denied services due to inablity to pay. That’s where WE come in–grab the family, head out to the Crown Center Pumpkin Patch, and support a great cause!!

If you are unable to make it down to Crown Center on the 11th, or, if you just can’t get your fill of pumpkins, check out our comprehensive listing of city-wide pumpkin patches. There’s lots to do in the next few weeks…don’t miss out!

The NBA is coming to Sprint Center on Friday, October 10th - and guess who is going to be there?

Courtesy of KC Kids Fun, the following three lucky readers won our random drawing for family four-packs of tickets to the game:

• Amy R. of Overland Park, KS

• Tomiko W. of Kansas City, MO

• Bett F. of Lathrop, MO

Congratulations ladies! We hope you have a great time at the game with your families!

For those of you who weren’t so lucky, you still have time to score DISCOUNTED TICKETS to the game - now thru Friday, October 3rd, KC Kids Fun readers can take advantage of a special offer - just click HERE and enter “kckids” when prompted for a special code!

If you’ve spent any time on the Kansas City kids’ festival, fair or storytime circuit over the past few years, you’ve surely had the fantastic opportunity to experience a Funky Mama performance. Krista Eyler, a.k.a. Funky Mama, is a local mom (and former television reporter) who knows how to get your kids moving, singing and laughing!

Funky Mama plays a cherry red electric guitar and her music really has a bluesy rock and roll feel - but it’s all geared to the kids. Her third and most recent release is the full length CD “Moo Juice.” It came out in late summer and I was lucky enough to get a copy to test drive. Things have been so busy here on KC Kids Fun and with school, sports, dance, church - you know the drill - that I haven’t gotten around to talking about it yet!

The CD is good - it’s really good! (Not that it’s a big surprise that it’s good!) Songs like the title track “Moo Juice” -about milk - and “Pop ‘n Hop” - about making popcorn - took my kids by surprise though. I don’t think they thought it was “their kind of music” until they really started listening to the lyrics. And then the smiles broke out.

My favorite songs on the CD are “Sippy” which has a great shout-out, sing-along chorus, perfect for annoying my children in the car and “Ooo, Aah, Ow!” (about hair-brushing) which just causes my daughter to roll her eyes while I laugh. It’s not just funny lyrics though - the music is really solid. And Krista has such a full, soulful voice - so easy to listen to.

The kids swiped the CD from the car and it has now disappeared into the abyss of their bedrooms. I can report though that I regularly hear them singing some of the songs around the house, especially “Down, Down Baby” (a fabulous a cappella song) and “Freeze Dance.”

So, we’re big Funky Mama fans at our house. We highly recommend “Moo Juice” and we highly, highly recommend catching Krista live around Kansas City. She’s playing this weekend (September 27, 2008) at the Plant Hope for Hearts fundraiser at English Landing Park in Parkville. And at the Johnson County Museum on October 1, at a shopping benefit for Abby’s Run in Overland Park on October 4 and at Wonderscope on October 8! Check the KC Kids Fun Events Calendar for more details.

If you love Kansas City’s kids’ music scene, check out these KC Kids Music articles:

• Jim Cosgrove (a.k.a. Mr. Stinky Feet)

• The Terrible Twos

• Rock Daddy Rock

• The La La’s

(You can buy CD’s from lots of Kansas City’s kids’ musicians at the KC KIDS STORE too!)

*********THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN AT RANDOM AND NOTIFIED VIA EMAIL THIS WEEKEND. TICKET DISCOUNTS ARE STILL AVAILABLE THRU OCTOBER 3 BY CLICKING HERE AND ENTERING “kckids” WHEN PROMPTED FOR A SPECIAL CODE.***********

The NBA makes its Sprint Center debut on Friday night, October 10th. The Portland Trailblazers will take on the Atlanta Hawks. It’s a Friday night, folks! Not a school night! And it’s pro basketball in Kansas City!

And did I mention we’ve got tickets to give away?

KC Kids Fun has three (3) family four-packs of tickets that we would LOVE to give to you guys!

Enter today thru Friday night! TELL YOUR FRIENDS! You could win FOUR FREE TICKETS to the Hawks-Trailblazers game - a value of $120!

So, here’s what you need to do to enter the random drawing - (1) submit a comment by clicking the Comments link at the end of this article; (2) the form will require a valid email address which will NOT be made public with your comment; (3) just tell us your favorite fall activity in the Kansas City metro and you’re entered!

**Or if you’d just like ticket discounts - Click on this link to discounted NBA tickets at Sprint Center and enter “kckids” when prompted for a Special Offer code. This discount offer is good through October 3rd at 7:00 pm or until supplies last.

RULES: Comments/entries must be submitted before 11:59pm CDT on Friday, September 26, 2008. Three winning entries will be drawn at random and the winners will be notified by KC Kids Fun via email.

Must be 21 years of age to enter and win. Only one entry per household will be considered. No substitutions or transfers. Giveaway prize is not redeemable for cash. By entering, winner consents to allow the use of his/her name for promotional purposes without further compensation. Winner releases all sponsors of liability regarding use and enjoyment of the prize. No purchase necessary to enter or win.

It’s that wonderful time of year when thoughts turn from swimming pools and sunscreen to pumpkins and hardy mums! There are more than a few options around for you and your family to welcome fall, meander through a corn maze, sip some cider, and pick some PUMPKINS!! KCKidsFun has done all the legwork for you…all you need to do is load up the family and have some FUN! As always, if we’ve missed anything…feel free to leave a comment or shoot us an email. We’d be happy to add your favorites to our growing list of places to partake in pumpkins. Enjoy!

The Berry Patch (just south of Leawood & Martin City) Features fall blackberry picking. Train ride, Haybale mountain and maze also on site!

Carolyn’s Country Cousins Pumpkin Patch & Corn Maze (Liberty, MO) Has a mining camp, corn maze and railroad!

Faulkner’s Pumpkin Farm (Kansas City, MO - south of I-470) -check out the NEW LOCATION at 10600 Raytown Road with farm, ranch and train rides

Johnson Farms (Belton, MO) Pony rides, hay rides, and farm animal corral

KC Pumpkin Patch (Gardner, KS) Features petting zoo, haunted barn, and the ever-popular pumpkin launch!

Looper Farms (Holt, MO - just north of Clay County on I-35) - u-pick pumpkin patch, hayrides, trainrides

Louisburg Cider Mill (Louisburg, KS) -named one of the top 10 cider mills in America!

Louisburg Corn Maze (Louisburg, KS)

Pendleton’s Country Market (Lawrence, KS)

Powell Pumpkin Patch (Louisburg, KS) - FREE admission! Pack a lunch and enjoy the picnic area.

Pumpkins, Etc. (Platte City, MO)

Red Barn Farm (Weston, MO) -features pony rides, pumpkins and apples

Schaakes Pumpkin Patch (Lawrence, KS) - hayrides, hay maze and 35 varieties of PUMPKINS!  Free admission.

Sibley Orchards (Sibley, Jackson County, MO) -for apples, pumpkins, cider and homemade FRUIT PIES!

Vaughn Orchard, 816-386-2900 (Weston, MO)

Wagon Wheel Orchard (Gardner, KS)

Did you catch a glimpse of the oh-so-elusive sun that came out of hiding yesterday?! How nice was that? If you’ve been feeling like a prisoner in your water-logged home the past week or two, now’s your time to get back outside. We are supposed to have a fantastic week, with September-appropriate temperatures nearing 80 degrees each day. Warm sunny days followed by cool nights…what could be better?

With gas prices so expensive and the weather so nice, how about hitting the trails with your kids? Grab your bikes and helmets, and get pedaling! Biking and walking trails have been a hot topic lately in the local news. According to Jennifer Blattman of the Mid-America Regional Council, the Kansas City region boasts nationally recognized trails and parks systems, including MetroGreen, a partially completed 1144-mile interconnected system of public and private open spaces, greenways and trails designed to link seven counties in the metro. The plan covers Leavenworth County, Johnson County and Wyandotte County as well as Cass, Clay, Jackson and Platte counties in Missouri. There is also a new initiative in place for Kansas City, Mo–Trails! KC aims to add an additional 200 miles of connected trails to the system.

For some great ideas on where to bike, check out this site. Or if hiking is more your speed, take a look at the book Hiking Kansas City for some cool ideas. Get outside with your kids, get pedaling or hiking, and soak up that sun!

WE HAVE THREE WINNERS!

Congratulations to:

• Steve H. of Tonganoxie

• Marnie E. of Lee’s Summit

• Angie C. of Overland Park

They each won a family pack of four tickets to see the St. Louis Blues take on the Los Angeles Kings in Sprint Center’s first NHL hockey game on Monday, September 22nd!

Tickets are still available via the Sprint Center and Ticketmaster. Check out Sprint Center’s website for details!

Thanks to everyone who entered our drawing for the hockey tickets. We have a lot of fun with our giveaways and can’t wait for the next one. (It just might possibly be for tickets to the NBA game at Sprint Center on Friday, October 10th - wouldn’t that be a blast to take the kids to?! Take a look at the special discount we’re offering if you just can’t wait for the giveaway!!)

I’m sitting here listening to the torrential rains run through my gutters and onto my deck, hoping that the creek behind my house doesn’t burst its banks overnight! Soccer games have already been canceled for Saturday. So…what to do in soggy Kansas City with the kids in the rain?!

• Arcades, bowling or movies? Check out our list of Indoor Activities for more ideas.
• Hit the crafts stores and work on some projects at your dry kitchen table. Take a look at our list of cool Arts & Crafts stores to spark your imagination.
• How about some books? Head to your local library or check out the newest offerings at the Reading Reptile in Brookside.
• The Toy & Miniature Museum, Wonderscope Children’s Museum, Science City, College Basketball Experience, the National World War I Museum. Haven’t been yet? Then, this is the perfect day for these and any of Kansas City’s other museums. Choose from our Museum directory!
• Paradise Park, Zonkers and other indoor playzones are bound to be crowded in the rain - but guaranteed fun! We’ve got a good list of play places to check out!
• The circus is in town! The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is at Sprint Center all weekend!
• Moms - you can check out the HUGE consignment sale at the Overland Park International Trade Center on Saturday and Sunday -Just Between Friends
  
• Start working on Halloween costumes! Hit the thrift stores before anyone else does. Play around at U.S. Toy in Leawood - they’ve got great costume fixins! (You’ll find a link to their website in our right sidebar.) Our partner The WB Shop has great costumes of all sorts of characters. (Click here to check them out - Get Your Batman Costumes While They Still Last, Only At BatmanShop.com!). I got a great Harry Potter robe for my 6 year old last year from BuyCostumes.com. Good price, too. Another online costumer worth checking out is Costume SuperCenter. And one last costume tip! - Check out Nick’s Halloween Shop for your Favorite Characters’ Costumes at Shop.NickJr.com!

And if the rain lets up - there are a lot of fantastic events in the works! Check out our Events Calendar for more info!

***COMMENTS/ENTRIES ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS GIVEAWAY. THREE ENTRIES WILL BE CHOSEN AT RANDOM AND NOTIFIED VIA THE EMAIL ADDRESS PROVIDED. WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON THIS SITE ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15TH. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED!***

KC Kids Fun is EXCITED about hockey! The NHL is coming to Sprint Center on September 22nd - and we’ve got TICKETS TO GIVE AWAY!

The St. Louis Blues and the Los Angeles Kings will face off in Sprint Center’s first hockey game. Your family will love the fast-paced action and a fun night out.

So…we want to share THREE Family 4-packs of tickets with our KC Kids Fun readers. Enter today thru Friday night! TELL YOUR FRIENDS! You could win FOUR FREE TICKETS to the Blues-Kings game - a value of $100!

So, here’s what you need to do to enter the random drawing - (1) submit a comment by clicking the Comments link at the end of this article; (2) the form will require a valid email address which will NOT be made public with your comment; (3) just tell us the best activity you shared with your kids this summer around the Kansas City metro and you’re entered!

**Or if you’d just like ticket discounts - Click on this link to discounted NHL tickets at Sprint Center and enter “kckidsfun” when prompted for a Special Offer code. This discount offer is good through September 12th at 7:00 pm or until supplies last.

RULES: Comments/entries must be submitted before 11:59pm CDT on Friday, September 12, 2008. Three winning entries will be drawn at random and the winners will be notified by KC Kids Fun via email.

Must be 21 years of age to enter and win. Only one entry per household will be considered. No substitutions or transfers. Giveaway prize is not redeemable for cash. By entering, winner consents to allow the use of his/her name for promotional purposes without further compensation. Winner releases all sponsors of liability regarding use and enjoyment of the prize. No purchase necessary to enter or win.