John Lewis 2019

A brief visit to John Lewis, and as always beautifully presented, however nothing new of personal interest for me. Some of the bigger decorations were the same designs as last year, and their confectionery is always on the pricey side. However they did have some nice looking wire crows - such a shame they are coated with that horrible black glitter.

Friday 25th October 2019

Dead Of Night - Hugo

I went with a couple of friends yesterday for our, slightly earlier than usual, Halloween meet-up, and we ended up in Deal. Taking the chance to visit the Museum of the Moving Image there, which is a house run by a couple of enthusiastic collectors supplemented by volunteers, I would well recommend a trip to this museum. Chronicling early pre-cinema days of shadow plays and magic lanterns the museum moves forward through the early years of cinema and has a fabulous collection of old posters and ephemera mainly from the Ealing films era. There's not so much on modern films or too many different genres, but this is a small museum and hopefully over the next few years will rotate some of their collection and exhibitions.

Anyway apart from buying a biography of Boris Karloff from their second-hand books shelf, we all had a laugh at the display containing one of the most odd merchandising toys ever sold.

A firm favourite of mine is the 1945 British portmanteau horror film 'Dead of Night,' so imaging our surprise to pull out a drawer and see a Hugo ventriloquist's dummy in front of our eyes! I can't imagine why, if you have seen the film you would have ever wanted to buy your child one of these disturbing toys!

Monday 21st October 2019

More from Morrisons 2019

Well my first visit to Morrisons yields little results apart from the selling of the white 'ghost' pumpkins, but my second trip was a bit more fruitful. Alas there were no themed beers in their Autumn beer festival display... however...

In the Christmas gifts aisle was a devil's head glass bottle of 'Hotter Than Hell' chilli sauce.

And in the normal Halloween aisle, at least Morrisons have tried something different by selling Halloween party games designed for children's parties. So one can play Jenga with skeleton bones, throw the hoop over witches hats, play a guess who game, knock down Halloween designed cans or throw pumpkin fuzzy balls to be caught by someone with a velcro hat!

Monday 14th October 2019

Tesco Halloween 2019

The local store in Folkestone has had some interesting fare in recent years but this sadly, like last year, isn't one of those good years. About a third of an aisle is taken up with mainly children's costumes, a few disappointing items of partyware, make-up, and decorations. Sandwiched between the costumes and Christmas items was an even more disappointing selection of sweets.

There were a couple of adult men's tshirts in the clothing department, but not clearly on view. Perhaps better luck next year!

Saturday 12th October 2019

Rye Ghost Walks

I was lucky enough to do one of these on last Halloween night, and whilst in Rye, (East Sussex, UK) yesterday happened upon this poster. Personally I thought it well worth the money.

Sunday 6th October 2019

Halloween Jewellery

In the Creative Quarter in Folkestone at the top of the Old High Street, it is good to see the funky bespoke costume jewellery shop embrace the Halloween season again with some eye-catching designs.

Sunday 6th October 2019

Wilko Halloween 2019

Wilko have their Halloween items out too. Similar to last year but there were a couple of items of merit - cocktail mixers and bottle labels (the latter perhaps not the same qualilty of design that john Lewis did a few years back, but nice to see all the same.)

Sunday 6 October 2019

A Tale of Two Supermarkets

The local Asda and Sainsburys supermarkets put out their Halloween fare this last week... but having got a somewhat sizeable collection of quality decorations I didn't feel tempted and there wasn't anything too exceptional that tempted me to make a purchase.

However, I did notice the difference in quality and presentation this year. I always had favoured Asda in their commitment to having a scary Halloween themed aisle and along with the kids costumes there was always some unusual yet reasonably priced bits and bobs, but I got the feeling this year that they weren't trying as much as in previous years.

Whereas the in-town, small Sainsburys had its aisle visible when you first walk in the store, and although having fairly similar costumes and sweets at least their designs and items had more of a seasonal feel and where more enticing than the sterility of Asda.

Morrisons hadn't put decorations out when I visited, however they did have the white pumpkins in stock again this year. But their 'beer festival' seemed sadly devoid of Halloween themed beers.

Sunday 6th October 2019