Tell Us: How Do You Reuse or Recycle Halloween Costumes?

Halloween time is always fun, and if your family is anything like mine, the great costume discussion of 2012 has already begun.

Local businesses like Party @ Display and Costume, in its new location, are ready for those must-have new costumes and accessories, and Spirit Halloween has a pop-up store open in the old Albertsons, both on East Lake Sammamish Parkway.

But new threads for a one-night gig are spendy and--also if you're anything like me--you've got at least a half-dozen costumes hanging around from previous years. Well, now, most of my young relatives have outgrown my children's prior haunting duds, so donating or swapping seems like a great plan.

Here's one annual event, National Costume Swap Day, which gives you the opportunity to turn in your old costumes for a swap ticket good at local businesses on Oct. 13. From Macaroni Kid Snoqualmie Valley-Issaquah:

Anytime between now and October 12th, participants are encouraged to drop off swap-able costumes during business hours at one of these locations:

• Small Threads for Kids | 1480 NW Gilman Blvd # 3 | Issaquah
• CleanScapes Store in Gilman Village | 317 NW Gilman Blvd, #22 | Issaquah

In exchange for costume(s) you will be given a Swap Ticket to be brought back for the event on October 13th from 8:00 am to 10:00 am at Small Threads for Kids.

There are a couple of great costumes I hand made with and for my daughter once upon a time that I might have trouble parting with, but clowns, lady pirates, little boy ninjas, Simba from the Lion King circa 1996, and many other great things need new children to bring them back to life again.

So tell me, please, where and how do you trade in, trade up, and share the spookiness?