It's That Time of Year: Halloween Season Is Here!

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J., Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Spirit Halloween, the largest seasonal Halloween retailer in North America, officially kicked off the 2011 Halloween season by opening its doors in the United States and Canada.

For almost thirty years, Spirit has been providing Halloween enthusiasts the best costume and home decor merchandise selection available, with items at every price point and to suit all ghoulish tastes. This year, Spirit Halloween will open close to 1,000 stores in Canada and the United States, all of which offer an unforgettable in-store experience. All stores will feature five interactive zones to fright and delight all consumers, including a Vampire Cemetery, Zombie Baby Amusement Park, Scream House of Horrors, and a Zombie Waste Land complete with fog machines for effect. The fifth is for kids and their amusement – a Cars 2 experience zone allows children to have their picture taken with Lightning McQueen.

"The opening of Spirit Halloween stores has always signified the kick-off to Halloween season," said Steven Silverstein, President and CEO, Spirit Halloween. "We pride ourselves on giving consumers of all ages the best interactive Halloween experience they can find, along with the widest selection of both classic favorites and this season's hottest items."

All Spirit Halloween stores offer a robust selection of costumes and accessories for adults, teens, 'tweens, children, toddlers and infants. Decor items range from theatre-quality animatronics to smaller party goods, suiting any budget and home. Much of the merchandise is exclusive to Spirit Halloween and additional items, including costumes and accessories for pets, are available on SpiritHalloween.com. Each Spirit Halloween store raises money for its local hospital through the Spirit of Children program, which brings Halloween celebrations to patients at Halloween and funding to the hospital all year long. The program supports more than 100 hospitals throughout the United States and Canada, including Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital, Maimonides Medical Center and several Shriners Hospitals for Children amongst many others. Local donations stay local, and every dollar donated goes directly to the hospitals.

To locate a Spirit Halloween store in your area, visit www.spirithalloween.com or call 1-800-COSTUMES. For exclusive discounts and the inside scoop on all things Halloween, "Like" the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/spirithalloween and follow us on Twitter @SpiritHalloween.

About Spirit Halloween

Spirit Halloween (www.spirithalloween.com) is the largest seasonal Halloween retailer in the country with nearly 1,000 locations in strip centers and malls across North America. The authority on all things Halloween, Spirit has offered one-stop shopping -- ranging from costumes to decor and party goods to accessories -- for nearly 30 years.  In addition to being a fun and interactive event for shoppers, Spirit stores offer complete selections of costumes and accessories for infants/toddlers, children, 'tweens, teens, adults, and even pets. At the heart of Spirit Halloween is the Spirit of Children program which brings fun and funding to hospitals at Halloween and all year long.

SOURCE Spirit Halloween