Dear Shopaholic: Hunting for a Halloween Costume

In TALK's October issue, our Shopaholics Anonymous columnist answered a reader's question about where to find a Halloween get-up in Shanghai.

Dear Shopaholic,
It’s that time of year again, when we’ve got to get costumes sorted for us and the kids for Halloween. We like to get into the spirit of things so it would probably be useful if you know of a one-stop shop where we can get costumes, decorations and everything else we need.
Thanks for your help!
Horror Story

Dear Horror,
Don’t you just love this time of the year, the yards all decorated up for the celebration of the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian All Saints day. More commonly celebrated because the kids love it – and all the more reason to celebrate in Shanghai where there are fabulous costumes available to dress up in for trick-or-treating, or just generally getting into the Halloween spirit.

There is no shortage of places to buy Halloween decorations for the yard and costumes for trick-or-treating and we’re not going to pretend this is a comprehensive list.

One of the best places in Shanghai for this sort of thing is Holiday House (1188 Panyu Lu, near Yishan Lu), they specialise in party goods, seasonal costumes and decorations for Halloween, Christmas, St Pat’s day and any other event on the calendar. They have a huge array of costumes, accessories and decorations, probably the best selection in Shanghai.

If you are in Pudong, check out Party Monster (41 Songlin Lu, near Rushan Lu) for all your ghoulish party requirements.

For convenience, Carrefour in Gubei (and probably Jinqiao) has lots of decorations and accessories, pumpkin bags for the lollies, fake cobwebs, hanging spiders, Halloween balloons and more.

For those of you keen to do it yourself, the accessory market at Yu gardens has a range of masks, swords, some costumes and accessories. The fabric market is another option for getting that special something made.

There are many other places to buy Halloween outfits and accessories, Partypop Party Shop (5F, 3211 Hongmei Lu) has a good range and the Hongqiao flower market and pearl market both have shops selling these things.

The main thing is to make sure you have plenty of sweets and goodies to give away to the kids, while you eat your fill of caramel corn and candied apples!

Shopping Tours Shanghai offers set tour options or custom designed tours to cater to your needs (or the needs of your visitors). For more information, visit the website, www.shoppingtoursshanghai.com, or email Suzy on [email protected]