It's Halloween galore at Michael's!!!

So, I went to Michael's again today, and could not BELIEVE all the Halloween stuff they had out! I was so excited to see that they had a bunch of new stuff this year. Unfortunately, I am on a bit of a budget, so I was only able to buy a few small things (which made my day, nonetheless!). I've decided that I want to carve more fake pumpkins this year, in addition to a few real ones, and I'd like to start carving them now. I want a fairly good assortment by the time Halloween gets here. I figure that with all the time and effort that I put into my jack-o-lantern designs, it would be nice to have some that will last for many Halloweens to come. I'll have to go back and get a few in different sizes. I purchased some new carving tools that are designed specifically for fake pumpkins. They're stronger than the regular tools, and should work great on real pumpkins, too. I also bought a medium-sized, ceramic pumpkin candle holder, and one of those pumpkin lights that's designed to flicker like a real candle. Besides the strings of lights that I always line the deck with, I think I also want to put out some of these jack-o-lantern candle holders using flicker lights instead of real candles. As much as I love real candlelight, I love the idea of coming home late on Halloween night to my house glowing with spooky little jack-o-lanterns. It's the only safe way to go without worrying about burning the place down. LOL I saw that Michael's now has tall candle pillars that are made out of real wax, but they use the LED flicker lights. They had several different decorated ones, like a witch, a skeleton, spider webs, and a haunted house. They glow and flicker like a real candle, but these also make spooky sounds! I was thinking about getting some and putting them along the railing of our deck. One other thing that I thought was cool was a large light-up sign that counts down the days until Halloween. I would love to put that sucker at the end of our driveway for all to see. Michael's had some big, new props, too-- like a life-size bride and groom that has a motion sensor. The bride carries her head in one of her hands, and the groom says funny things like, "You look like you've seen a ghost. You must have met my bride!" and then finishes with an evil laugh. The other customers in the store really got a kick out of these guys whenever they walked by them, and I think they'd be a great touch to any haunt. There were quite a few other animated props that I would love to add to my haunt this year. I love nothing more than finding new things to add to my collection every year. I can't wait to go back and get some more stuff later on this week. Hooray! Halloween is coming soon!! Pics coming soon!! ;)