Your Halloween party is in 26 hours and you've got a limp bit of orange crepe paper over the door? We won't tsk you; we've been there. There's still time to haunt your abode in a stylish way without having to turn out all the lights and hand guests flashlights. Stop numero uno: the drugstore -- don't count out the power of fake cobwebs for a couple of bucks -- and thrift emporiums, which might have the perfect mannequin arm to hang over the fireplace. And we usually dig out some old, fraying dolls and put them in strategic spots, like the bathtub and in the fridge.
But our main ghosty go-to has always been Stats Floral Supply in Pasadena. An enormous store that contains a veritable Christmas tree forest -- really, we've never seen so much Yuletide greenery in a single spot outside of a national park -- Stats is a crafts/ribbon/lighting/holiday institution. And at Halloween, the historic building gets tricked out with all sorts of giant devilish figures, dead trees, goblins that glare at passersby, eerie flickering lanterns, and wispy bits of ghoulish gauze.
The spooky set-up must take the employees a full week or more, and the stuff? It really seems unique and unusual, like we haven't seen it on every corner. We're rather obsessed with the weird old lantern we bought at Stats a few years back. In fact, we now leave up in the living room all year long (the cocked eyebrows of friends do not deter us). A bit of Halloween in April is not a bad thing.
Stats Floral Supply, 120 S. Raymond Avenue, Pasadena
626-795-9308
