OK, the other Target was (almost) at fully armed and operational Halloween status. Halloween greetings cards out, Bullseye's Playground full of stuff, and almost all the costume & decor section fully populated. And there were beginning to set up the candy!
Dear Target Corporate, please stop trying to make "Lewis" happen. It's never going to happen. You can't just make up a store-brand mascot for Halloween and expect it to take off. Chuck a few bucks at NHK and bring Domo-kun back, please.
The more I see of Target's quasi-retro decor and 'party favor' stuff, the more I am impressed. They've got glow in the dark stickers! Shaped pencil topper / erasers! Cutesy tiny 'launch the plastic BB into the teeny basketball hoop' type toys in little clear domes!
I'm not stupid, I know I am the target (ha ha) for this overpriced and cheap tchochki type stuff, but I would enjoy populating some kids' goodie bags. I'm sure 90% of children on Halloween would smack me in the face and demand actual candy they could shove in their mouths, but the lucky few who are slightly more discerning would enjoy it... Maybe I do dare to do up a few for whoever brings their kids to work... Gotta be careful – last year I did overspend on that stuff and had 90% of the tiny toys and candy left over.
But never mind the bollocks, here's the Spooky Particulars:
The Monster cereals have arrived! With the Jim Henson muppety looking mascots. "Tastes more like fresh muppets!" Oddly, I noticed that these boxes are solid white cardstock, not the coated grey chipboard stuff that cereal boxes usually are. I wonder why. The backs are a sort of faux montage of framed photos of some Jim Henson monsters, including Ludo from Labyrinth! At least, on the back of Count Chocula. Seemingly no actual famous Muppets or Sesame Street characters, because General Mills would have to be crazy to pay for those and this cereal monsters cross-promotion when the Monsters are taking center stage. But now that Disney owns the Muppets, maybe a Muppets cereal is in our future? Who can say?
Ooooh, shapéd KitKat bar figural Draculers, AKA "KitKat Counts." Cute. I like the little skull clasp on the cape –
They also put little bat wings on the "o" and fangs on the "n." I feel like they must have made similar figural Kitkats before, but I can't exactly name them. Maybe ghosts or Santy Clauses or something? These look delightful.
Oh, this has to be deliberate – a bag of Halloween candy that weighs exactly 13.13 ounces?
... Anyways ...
Ooooooh, a big bag of ALL the various exciting Halloween KitKats! The mallow-flavored green ones, the figural 'Counts', the cinnamon-toast-flavored orange ones, and the normal ones. It's nature's perfect meal. And it's addressed to us, Halloween Lovers!
And there are these guys – seasonally-flavored popcorn. Sounds good. IIRC, last year there were stuffing-flavored potato chips, those were delicious. OK, not explicitly Halloween-y, but arguably Halloween-adjacent.