The Monmouth County Eek-O-Fabulous Costume Swap Oct. 11, saw families trading in slightly used children, adult and pet costumes for other slightly used costumes as a way for families to save money and re-use costumes only worn one season. STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER KAYLA MARSH Halloween is quickly approaching and, between buying candy and setting up spooky decorations, a tough decision has to be made about which celebrity, superhero or other fictional character to become.
The privilege of buying a new costume each year can come at a hefty price, and a Monmouth County Park System program showed residents the benefits old, outworn costumes can have.
“Costumes are just so expensive today, and kids outgrow them in one season, which is a shame,” Ann Sage, recreation program director for the park system, said.
According to Sage, the Eek-O-Fabulous Costume Swap, held this year on Oct. 11 at the Thompson Park Visitor Center in Lincroft, was about saving the money and, by extension, the planet by turning those used costumes (whether for children, adults or pets) into something new for someone else.
“I heard some parents talking and I heard one father saying, ‘Oh I hope you enjoy that costume, that is what [my son] was last year’ and then the other saying ‘Oh and you have our costume from last year] … it is kind of cool and cute and what this event is all about,” said Annie Lang, a park naturalist with the county park system.
The idea behind the costume swap is simple, Lang said. During the week of Oct. 5, families were able to bring gently used costumes to one of five locations in the county; including Huber Woods Environmental Center, Manasquan Reservoir Environmental Center, Thompson Park Visitor Center, Dorbrook Recreation Activity Area Center and Fort Monmouth Recreation Center.
For each costume that was brought in, families received a token entitling them to a new costume the day of the swap.
“We take pretty much any costume and try to go through and make sure that they are not completely damaged,” Sage said. “If you give a costume, you get that token and can take another costume, and the beauty is that you don’t have to take the same size costume you give. … The token is good for whatever, so if mom gets rid of her old costumes, but the kids need new ones, then she can do that,” she said.
Since children quickly outgrow costumes, Lang said many of the costumes at the swap are left over from last year.
“Some of these costumes are left over from last year because we had a lot of people that just gave them away as a donation,” Lang said.
“It always seems like a lot of people trade up, giving a smaller costume and taking a bigger one, so we always tend to have more toddler costumes than anything else,” she said.
With more than 200 costumes, including Disney princesses, superheroes, animals and other favorite characters filling several racks inside a room that holds 137 people, Sage said it was a joy to see the mad rush of county residents partaking in the swap.
“Seeing and hearing people’s reaction about the swap is amazing,” Sage said. “Seeing dozens of people already lined up before we even opened the swap was so exciting … and it shows me how much they just love it.”
For Sage, a little idea that popped into her head several years ago has become a park favorite event.
“My supervisor and I came up with this idea independently of each other … just saying how big having an event such as this could be, and we were right,” she said. “We worked together and … it has just expanded.”
For Tinton Falls parent Joanna Ashton, the swap was a great way to find what she was looking for at a great price.
“I think that this is an amazing event,” she said. “Costumes are so expensive these days, and it doesn’t pay when after one season you get rid of them.”
“This is my first year coming to this, and I think it is nice to be able to get rid of all the waste, but be able to do something positive and pass on these costumes you’re unable to use anymore,” she said. “I came in looking for ladybug costumes, and that is exactly what I found so I think it is a great benefit for many families.”
For one Long Branch father, taking part in the swap is about making his daughter happy.
“She loves wearing costumes and wears them all the time around the house,” said the father, who asked to be mentioned only by the first name of Michael.
“A lot of times costumes get worn once, maybe twice at most, so the swap is a great place to get new costumes and find some fun things for her to wear, while also allowing someone else to get use out of costumes she has outgrown or just doesn’t want any more instead of just getting rid of them.”
According to Sage, one of the other fun things about the swap is that it introduces attendees to different craft ideas they may not have thought about before.
“We are very big on recycling in the park system … and have added different elements since we started this four years ago that promote recycling while putting an emphasis on crafts,” Sage said.
“The first year we had recycled crafts going on in one room that the kids could do … but then we realized that the focus of this event is really just on the swap,” she said.
Not long after, crafts were relegated to a single table at the swap.
“Children and even parents didn’t necessarily want to sit and stay and do extra things, so we cut that part of it out and turned the crafts into more of a display saying ‘here are some things you can do with common items found throughout your house’ and we link it to our website so people can see it and download instructions if they want to try it on their own,” Sage said.
“We just try to give those ideas so that they don’t throw perfectly good things away and instead try to use it for something else,” she said.
One popular recycled craft project used at this year’s swap was a collection of tote bags made from old T-shirts.
“The tote bags when we started giving these out was an idea my supervisor had come up with many years ago,” Sage said. “She saw it on a website, and we always have extra T-shirts from all the races we hold, so it was a great way to recycle those.”
“It shows people exactly what they can do with their old T-shirts … it makes for a nice grocery bag … and is a simple design anybody can do,” she said. “Now we give them away here for free as an extra item so hopefully people will get the idea and use old T-shirts as a bag instead of just throwing them away.”