I thought I’d offer up a listing of some area Trunk-Or-Treat locations around town. For the uninitiated, Trunk-Or-Treat is basically a fun, safe way to celebrate Halloween; typically in a church, school or mall parking lot, and not necessarily on Halloween itself. It’s actually tons of fun, and seems to really be growing in favor judging by the increasing numbers of events being held. They will be starting tonight and can be enjoyed almost any evening between now and Halloween.

A few tips for a successful night:

• It’s way more fun when you decorate your car!! Many organizations will even award prizes for the “best decorated car” and who wouldn’t want to win that honor?!?

• Take tons of candy! Our church is anticipating over 500 kids at its event. For the biggest bang for your candy buck–head to Sam’s Club or Costco and pick up a few of the enormous bags. Always buy more than you think you’ll need. I made the unfortunate mistake of buying my candy a week ago, and now there are no more Twix bars for the kids. Shame on me.

• Get there on time! Most groups “close” the event a few minutes after the announced start time. This is for obvious safety reasons–you can’t have little ones running wildly through the parking lot if cars are backing in and out.

Here’s the list I came up with–please leave a comment if you have any additional locations to add! Parents–get ready for 9 straight days (at least) of sugar-induced mayhem! (more…)

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.

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!