Every year in Chicago at the Rosemont Convention Center (near O'Hare) they have the nation's largest Halloween and Party show. It is a real fashion preview for what you'll see people wearing at parties in the coming year. 

This year undoubtedly belongs to Harry Potter and Planet of the Apes. The largest costuming company on the planet, Rubies, purchased the licenses for both properties and completely re-designed their space at the show to feature a castle theme. The last big merchandising push like this happened just before Star Wars Episode I - and the similarities don't end there.

For Harry Potter, Rubies constructed a small castle to feature the Potter items - complete with a video presentation behind seldom-closed large wooden doors. Slinking around, so as not to be confronted about my camera, I listening carefully to the sales staff making their pitches to prospective customers. 

It seems that there are two types of Potter costumes and products available. Those for the books and those for the movie. They are obviously trying to recreate the sales environment prior to Star Wars Episode I. A swelling demand for (and hopeful sell-off) of the pre-movie items followed by a flood of new movie-related goods. It's a good plan - and if the movie lives-up to the wildly popular books, it could work. 

The movie costumes (and I would assume everything else) can't be shipped until August - prior to that, you can expect big discounts on all the currently-available book related items. If the movie licensing department has done it's job, store shelves around the planet will be full of Harry Potter items for Christmas.

Apart from the movie items, there were also many other types of costuming ideas at the show. The popularity of Zoot-suits continues to grow. My favorites are made by a company called Rasta Imposta. I want to give them a big plug because they always give away the coolest cloth bags every year at the show. 

Halloween encompasses much more than costumes you wear and so did the show. Most of the nation's haunted house producers go to the show to see the many makeup and appliance demonstrations. I was particularly fond of the face painters. One lady, who works for the Universal theme parks, had herself made up as a feline complete with eyes on her own eyelids. 

Half the show is made of party items; balloons, confetti, and decorations, but my favorite part is titled "The Dark Zone." That's where haunted house designers display their creations in the dark to show them off and sell them. It's fun to take bets on which contraptions will last the weekend before breaking down - many of the items are under-engineered and suffer from a weekend of constant use. It's a good bet that any prop that doesn't last a weekend - won't last a month of haunted house wear and tear. The Effectech crew, our haunted house company, got some great ideas from the show and are looking forward to incorporating them into our haunted houses for this fall. Get ready to get scared!

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