Spooky season is quickly approaching. Here’s where to find your local CT Halloween shop

The time has come for ghosts and ghouls to take to the streets to trick or treat. Right around Labor Day, your favorite spooky shop opens with decorations and costumes galore, ready to get into the Halloween spirit.

Maybe you’re going as Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce with your special someone. Or you have plans to embody your inner Wednesday from the Addams Family. Other popular costumes this year are expected to be Deadpool and Wolverine, House of Dragons inspired garb, Beetlejuice, Harley Quinn, Mario and Luigi, and The Little Mermaid.

If you haven’t thought about your Halloween costume yet, it’s a great idea to hit up one of the many Connecticut stores to browse the hundreds of costumes they stock. Each year Spirit Halloween takes over a vacant storefront to open shop. Other favorites include Party City and Spooky Town Halloween Superstore . We compiled a map for you to help find your closet location:

Along with your costume, don’t forget about decorating your home. All of the stores also stock spooky outside decorations sure to delight your neighborhood trick or treaters. Other places known for great decorations for Halloween include your local hardware stores such as Home Depot and Lowe’s .

Need a Halloween costume? Here’s the trendiest, goofiest, and downright scariest getups for you, your kids, and your pets.

There are a few budget-friendly tips to make your house really stand out in the neighborhood this Halloween. Consider decorating your windows with artificial spiders and cobwebs. Apply broken glass stickers to the windows too for a haunted house effect. Darken your porch lights from their usual white light to black or yellow bulbs for a spooky look. Hang your porch swing crooked or prop scrap of wood across your windows to make it look boarded up. Grab that old broom that’s been sitting in your garage and make it look like a witch’s broom. If you’re creative, it can look like an entire coven has descended onto your house.

It’s easiest to design when you think of a theme. Maybe your house will be alien and UFO themed with a landing pad in the yard. Or it’ll be a graveyard with tons of creative tombstones. Another fun one is to make it look like a skeleton’s home. Have them walk a skeleton dog or have a dance party on the lawn.

Some people don’t like carving pumpkins. Between the squishy seeds to when they rot and mold later on, carving isn’t for everyone. Instead of carving, consider painting your pumpkins with scary themes or funny faces. If you just like pumpkins as fall décor, give uncarved, unpainted pumpkins and gourds a bleach bath. This will help them stay longer before decaying on your front steps.