TRICK-OR-TREATING SUNDAY IN CAPE

When Halloween was first celebrated by the Celts hundreds of years ago as a festival to celebrate the coming of the new year, they didn't have to wonder whether the mall would be open on Sunday night.

The West Park Mall will close as usual at 6:30 p.m. this Oct. 31, but the annual trick-or-treating festivities will go on -- just a bit earlier than they ordinarily would.

The mall will host its trick-or-treating bash from 3-6 p.m. on Sunday. Storekeepers are planning to have goodies and costume contests for young people as they have done in the past, even though the little demons and goblins will have to make their appearances in the daylight.

But Halloween festivities are getting under way early this year, with area businesses and organizations hosting costume parties and parades starting as early as Wednesday.

Darlene Williams, co-owner of A Party and Flower Shop, said she sells more adult costumes than children's costumes.

Her store at 2141 Independence is equipped with a special "Halloween room" filled with trinkets, accessories, makeup, hats, plastic swords, fake blood and full-body costumes.

A dark hallway leads to the Halloween room, its walls covered with cobwebs.

"A lot of people stop and ask me, `Nothing's going to jump out at me when I walk down there?'" said Robin Farrow. "They love going in there and picking things out. It makes kids out of all of us."

Williams said the most popular costumes for little boys this year is Batman, dinosaurs and Ninjas; for the little girls, it's fairy princesses and Barbie fashions.

"Costumes aren't plastic anymore," said Farrow. "The kids can play dress-up in these for months after Halloween."

The soft-material jumpsuits which serve as the foundation for many of the costumes can be worn for childrens' bedclothes, too, Farrow said.

Glow-sticks, Halloween flashlights and even lighted wands are available for small children to carry with them while trick-or-treating, making them more visible to motorists.

For the adults, there's just about every kind of costume a person could want available: Fred and Wilma Flintstone outfits, Tom and Jerry, Indian princess and Indian warrior outfits, French chamber maids, lady devils, pirates, Dracula, Frankenstein, mummies and the list goes on.

On the back of the costume packages are instructions on how to apply Halloween makeup to add the finishing touches to the ensemble.

There are even plus-size costumes on the rack for men and women.

At Younghouse Distributing Co., Inc., near the intersection of Interstate 55 and Highway 74 at the Dutchtown exit, "Bill and Hillary" masks -- available with movable or stationary jaws -- are popular.

"People love coming in and trying on the masks," said Debra Ford. "I could leave this room and come back in an hour and every one of the masks will be taken off their perches from people trying them on.

"They come in here and laugh like you wouldn't believe," she said. "They just have the best time trying things on."

Some purchases are institutional. "Boatmen's Bank bought out all of our Coneheads," owner Cecilia Moore told a woman buying "granny glasses" to augment her Beverly Hillbillies ensemble.

Beth Ham, who will be "Granny" of the Beverly Hillbillies, said the bank holds a Halloween pageant in Jackson and Cape Girardeau for its employees.

"We can dress as just about anything -- as an individual or in groups," she said. "But we don't wear masks. Being in the banking business, we think its best that no one walks into the bank wearing a mask."

Moore said Younghouse sells more ready-made costumes for adults than for children.

"Everyone waits until the last minute to buy," Moore said. "They will come in here two or three weeks before Halloween and look around and get ideas, but then they all come back and buy them just a couple days before Halloween."

Younghouse has Halloween costumes available year-round.

"The schools and the university have productions for which they need costumes or makeup, so we stock it all year," Moore explained.

And for do-it-yourselfers, every accessory imaginable is stocked on store shelves. The makeup is non-toxic, but Farrow said users should follow removal directions. Some wash off with soap and water, others require cold cream.

"If you try and wash makeup off which requires cold cream you'll end up smearing it all over your face," she said. "Believe me, I know."

Both Farrow and Williams try to find time to dress in a costume while at work.

"Some days I come in here and there are already people in the store before I get a chance to change into something," Farrow said. "Sometimes if people see you wearing a costume, it gives them a better idea of what it looks like or ideas of what they want to be.

"One of the neatest parts of Halloween is watching the kids -- young and old -- going through this room," said Farrow. "Halloween is one day when you can be whatever you want to be."