While Starkville may seem to have a limited amount of stores that cater to the Halloween spirit, costume shopping doesn’t have to be an ordeal.
The recently-opened Costume Party in the Cotton Crossing Shopping Center is the obvious choice for creative costumes, but other Starkville stores like the Palmer Home Thrift Store, Walmart and a couple of others can be useful.
The Costume Party is the formerly Nearly Nu that rented out costumes to anyone in Starkville when it was open. Now it has set hours, Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 1 to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.
The new owner, Connie Willsey, will offer opinions to customers trying on costumes and has a good eye for putting costumes together.
They have sexy outfits like Playboy bunny outfits for women, and silly costumes for the men like cockroaches, Scooby-Doo, “Miami Vice” outfits, pirates and pimp suits, she said.
At Costume Party, customers can choose to put their own costumes together with the vintage clothes, hats, shoes and accessories, or they can choose a deluxe rental that has all the clothing and accessories already bundled, Willsey said.
The deluxe rentals generally cost $35 to $45, but intricate costumes like a pimp suit can cost about $60, she said.
“We have a lot of items not in our store that we can get,” Willsey said.
Clothing rented from the store can be kept for three days and two nights unless other arrangements are made, and must be brought back to the store clean, she said.
“If you buy it, you can do whatever you want to it,” Willsey said.
Another option for the costume seeker is the Palmer Home Thrift Store, which has a variety of clothing donations ranging from old wedding dressing to shirts, pants and shoes.
Old wedding dresses cost between $25 and $50, and with a little makeup one of these dresses can turn the costume shopper into a zombie bride. Formal dresses cost $12 and can be used for prom queen attire with a cheap tiara and costume jewelry from Claire’s.
“I just figured I’d come get some really cheap clothes and tear them up to be a zombie,” freshman operational meteorology major Josh Milar said.
Milar said his costume from the thrift store cost him about $15 for the entire outfit.
Using clothing that doesn’t cost much allows for the creative leeway to cut, tear or even spray paint the clothing to fit the costume-wearer’s needs.
“I have to find a black leather jacket and spray-paint it red because they don’t have any red leather jackets anywhere,” freshman chemistry and pre-pharmacy major Gabe Posadas said.
Posadas, who is dressing as Michael Jackson from “Thriller,” said he found red pants to fit his outfit for $3.50 and is hoping to find a jacket for less than $20.
“I have some black leather shoes,” he said.
To tie his costume together he is going to Walmart to pick up the zombie makeup, Posadas said.
Halloween makeup at Walmart costs between $1 and $5. This makeup can turn a person into a zombie, ice princess, vampire, witch, etc.
They also have masks, both funny and scary, that cost $10. Wigs cost about $5 and some specific costumes with a few accessories cost about $20. And of course they have hair colors that can turn someone into a rock star for the night.
Other stores can be useful by just using what they normally market to people in their businesses.
The Diversified Health Center located near the hospital sells scrubs that can work well for someone who wants to dress as a nurse or a doctor.
The Army Navy Pawn Shop sells old military clothes that can be useful in transforming a person into a military man or woman.
If none of these work, look for things that are in the closet of a friend or hanging in a closet at home. MSU clothing can turn the costume hunter into a raging athletics fan with a little maroon paint, pompoms and cowbells.