Williamsville, N.Y. (WBEN) - It's time to get spooky!
All Hallows' Eve is two weeks from today and Western New Yorkers are gathering their ideas for the perfect costume for the trick-or-treatin', Halloween party season.
Party supply stores and costume shops are starting to see a steady stream of customers coming to either purchase supplies and accessories for their own D.I.Y. costume or coming in to pick up those costumes in a bag that comes with everything you need.
"They're starting now to come in, people usually wait to that last minute to come in. They look and they get ideas online," says Karen Noe, Store Manager for George and Company, a novelty shop on Transit Road in Williamsville that sells everything from magic sets and board games, to wigs, masks and other dress up accessories for the best Halloween costume.
Noe expects a big crowd of Halloween costume shoppers next weekend. Like Christmas shopping, most folks like to do it last minute.
"Next week, I think is going to be the really busy week, the 27th and 28th," Noe notes.
Noe notes that some people come in and know exactly what they want to be, and if they don't have it in a full package, they will happily assist you in piecing out and locating in the shop what the customer needs to complete their costume ensemble.
"Most of them know what they want. And we just [assist] like 'You need this, this and this to, you know, you want to make scars, you need Rigid Collodion, and you need latex, and here's our mustaches.' So we can kind of get them whatever they plan. If we don't have it in the package, then if it's not like a full package costume, we can we've just like pull up the picture on our phone and go, 'Oh, this is the person you want to be. Here's the wig. Here's the mustache. Oh, look your glasses!' So we can help them create what they need."
The most popular costumes this year? Noe says she has had a lot of requests for Barbie and Ken, most likely due to the success of the popular Greta Gerwig film, as well as a resurgence of the classics, like Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees. It also probably helps that last week was Friday the 13th. In addition, your classic superhero costumes will always be amongst the top sellers.
"People always want to be superheroes, that never gets old," Noe jokes.
We asked Noe how much do people spend on the average costume.
"It depends on what you're looking for, but I would say the average cost for an 'everything costume' is about $60."