Because good costumes always get more candy …

Besides being the absolute best place to find random crap you don’t really need but buy anyway, thrift stores are a last-minute costume-shopper’s dream. If you can’t find a Halloween ensemble here you may as well stay home Saturday night and drown your unimaginative sorrows in a bowl of bite-sized Twix bars.

The Valley’s Value Village has new costumes (still in the original package with all necessary pieces included) the likes of Naughty Chamber Maid, Purple Velvet Pimp Daddy, Wicked Wizard and Fairy Tale Princess, with price tags that range from $9.99 to $29.99

There are gently used costumes from Halloweens past (much cheaper than the new ones and quite a bargain since they were probably only worn once – except for maybe the Naughty Chamber Maid, I can see how that little getup might have some staying power …) that include Red Velvet Devil Woman (the dress in the photo was going for $6.99),  Rhinestone Cowboy, Buxom Barmaid and – horror or horrors – Circus Clowns. These prices are all over the place – I saw stickers from 99 cents to $17ish.

For those with a little creativity there are racks of random costume cast-offs that can be whipped into something truly one-of-a-kind and totally memorable (Dominatrix Elf? Werewolf Ice Dancer? Corporate Butt Rocker?). Plus, racks and racks of new wigs, masks and accoutrements of all sorts mean if worse comes to worst you can just strap on some wings, pull on a pink pixie ‘do, sprinkle your bad self with glitter and go as the I’m Just Here for the Party Fairy.