Review - Costume Discounters

I was contacted recently by Costume Discounters and offered a chance to review a product of my choosing from their website.  At first I was disappointed because I thought it was just Halloween costumes.  Hubby, the boys, and I don't dress up for Halloween.  I considered picking one for my grand-niece or grand-nephews.  But aha!  After looking a bit more, I noticed the site also had decorations!  Well alright, now this is right up my alley!

The first thing that caught my eye was this 72 inch 'Shaking Cocoon' prop.  It's a skeleton or body hanging upside down in a gauze cocoon, and shakes when you turn it on.  Hubby would have loved to hang this on the porch by the door!  And it was within the price range they were allowing.

Instead, after looking through everything else, I chose this Ultimate Outdoor Decorating Kit.  While the shaking cocoon would have been awesome, I thought having the variety of things in this package would give us more decorating fun.

I received the package a week after making my choice.  I was so excited to find it on my doorstep, I couldn't wait to tear into it!

The kit contains eight of these cute little hanging ghosts.  They are about 12 inches long, and have a piece of clear plastic attached to the head for you to tie it to whatever you want to hang it from.  The heads are stuffed with something so they keep their shape, and the white plastic is a decent quality, heavier than simple garbage bag material.  I've played around with these a bit, sort of puffed out the body, and think they will be a very cute addition to our Halloween decorating this fall.

There is one 65 inch door decoration in the kit.  Again, it is a decent quality plastic, heavier than the inexpensive types I've gotten before at Walmart.  This one is very Halloweeny with its purple background and cute pumpkin and creatures to greet trick-or-treaters at your door.  We live in the country though and don't get trick-or-treaters, so I will put this on one of our inside doors as I have done in the past.

There are two of these decorations in the kit.  They are 65 inches and meant to be window decorations, but since they are the same size as the door one I'd guess you could use these on doors too.  These seem to be slightly different quality of plastic than the door hanging, but are still a decent weight.  I really like these, just simple ghosts on a basic Halloween orange background.  (The yellow in the corner is the sun shining through the window, not yellow strips on the plastic.)  Not sure if we'll try these on windows or just decorate more doors in the house.

It was hard to get a decent picture of this.  Apologies for the size and quality . . . hubby had to hold it up, and then I edited him out of the photo.  Anyway this is a 20 foot plastic fringe banner that has a repeating pattern of 'Happy Halloween' and some ghosts and pumpkins in between.  The fringe hangs down 6 inches and is a lighter, thinner plastic than the previous items, but there is a reinforced band across the top length, with a string woven in so it will be quite strong when hanging up.  This will most definitely be hanging across our wide living room doorway this Halloween.  Well actually, at 20 feet we'll be able to hang some across the living room and have plenty to spare for other spots if we trim it.

And finally in my Ultimate Outdoor Decorating Kit was this . . . a 30 foot bunting.  (Apologies for the photo again.  Hubby had to hold this one up too.)  I had thought this would be heavier than it is, thought it would be a stiffer plastic or perhaps even something solid, but it's not.  This is a light garbage bag type plastic.  While there is a string stitched through the cross-band, the plastic around it still tears quite easily.  I even accidentally ripped part of one while trying to stuff this back into the package after taking pictures.  I was a bit disappointed in this item, just because I thought it would be sturdier if it's meant to be outside.  I wouldn't risk hanging it out and having the wind tear it to bits, but it would still be a fabulous indoor decoration if you're having a Halloween party.  And at 30 feet you can trim sections off and decorate several areas.  Each swag section is about 30 inches across and hangs down about 16 inches.  I do still like this bunting because it incorporates the same designs that were used on the other items.  They are cute and festive and colorful. 

While this package is marketed for outdoor decorating, I don't think I'd use them that way.  Maybe if you were only putting them up for a short time, like only for the day your area has trick-or-treating, then maybe they'd be ok.  For any extended amount of time though, I'd save these for indoor decorating.  And that's ok!  Because these things are perfect for adding some colorful Halloween spirit to any area, and I'm very much looking forward to using them in my own house this year.

This Ultimate Outdoor Decorating Kit is $32.97 right now on the Costume Discounters website.  And there are so many other fun Halloween things on their site . . . inflatables, party supplies, yard decorations, props, and of course tons and tons of costumes for all ages and sizes.  There are several other things I'm considering ordering.  And hubby still wants that Shaking Cocoon!

Be sure to check their Facebook page for discounts on costumes!

I thank Costume Discounters for providing me with this opportunity, and I'd love to hear what catches YOUR eye when you browse their site.