Drop it, swap it or take it: Dress your little monster without spending a scary sum

Now definitely isn’t the time for splashing out on a Halloween costume for children to wear for one night only. Thankfully, the powers that be at Sale’s Stanley Square have organised an innovative solution – a Halloween costume exchange ‘spooktacular’!

The centre’s ‘Drop it, Swap it or Take it’ initiative has been running throughout October and thanks to local community donations, the team collected two rails of children’s outfits that were snapped up by grateful families within hours. 

Due to the huge popularity of the initiative, Stanley Square is still accepting donations of unwanted Halloween costumes and accessories. All items can be left at the centre’s management office. 

Tony Martin, general manager at Stanley Square, said “We launched the ‘drop it’ part of our Halloween initiative in early October and we quickly had lots of fabulous costumes and accessories coming in. We will do the same with Christmas jumpers as there is clearly the demand and once again, we will do the winter coats hooks on our community wall from November.”

Tony, who given his position is obviously a huge advocate of Sale’s regeneration, went on to say, “It’s great to have the opportunity to manage Stanley Square in my home town especially as it is undergoing such transformation, having lived in Sale all of my life I have a strong passion for the community and I don’t just see coming to work as a job, I see it as an opportunity to work with and support the local community by introducing initiatives that I know they want.”

Stanley Square will be launching similar initiatives for winter coats and Christmas jumpers in November.

💭 Thought bubble: Initiatives like these are not just a good opportunity to show how Sale’s community comes together to help others. With the current cost of living crisis, it allows those in greater need to participate in local activities without worrying about unwanted, additional costs. Not to mention, it ticks that important sustainability box too – why wear something just once, when it could be worn again and again? 

👉 Looking for some spooky things to do over October half term?