Kmart Archives - MomStart

Unveiling My Haunted House: Get Ready To Spook With Kmart!

October 28, 2013 by Beeb 15 Comments

Gift cards provided by Kmart to create a howling good Halloween display!

Over the course of this month, I’ve been showing you the step-by-step process of creating my perfect Haunted House with goodies found at Kmart. Are you ready to see the frightful finished product and hear about my grand unveiling party?

Check out my video tour of our haunted house:

Haunted House Overview

Lights

We knew that to make our yard pop, we’d need a lot of lights. We strung a strand of 200 white dome LEDs over the driveway, with a charming skull as an accent! These LED lights are great because since they’re a neutral color, they can easily be reused for Christmas – or put in an upstairs room for track lighting, if you’re us!

I also set this grim reaper flaming head outside for the public unveiling. He’s actually not an outdoor decoration – something clearly marked on the package that I failed to read – however, he works as long as he’s set on a flat surface. I thought he’d be OK outside just for an hour to welcome guests to the party, and it worked like a charm.

We also had Marcus the Carcass, who sits in the grass by the driveway and gives a great illusion of being buried in the leaves.

For the front porch, we put up a black light strip under the eve and swapped out our regular porch light for a black light bulb to add a little florescent glow. We then hung up strands of red globe lights to give a creepy red atmosphere. (These, too, would be great to reuse at Christmas! Think ahead!)

We also ran a 12 foot purple rope light along the grass to illuminate the walkway up to the front door.

In the porch window, I hung up this garland of black fabric and purple lights which I love. This framed my spiderweb nicely!

We also had a pair of eerie eyes watching all those who came and went!

Accents

This “Creepy fabric” made a nice accent for our front door, along with a large Grim Reaper hanging ominously by the door and the giant spiderweb in the window!

Effects

Pepper’s Ghost was set up in our window to provide a 3-D illusion to haunt our guests – for the full explanation and how-to, click here. This got a lot of notice from our guests, who had never heard of this illusion and seemed pretty impressed by it.

Our scary flying ghostie is motion-activated and skulks along a braided cord, with optional haunted groans. We hung him up in the living room to give the appearance of floating by the window, and it also tied in (literally) to Pepper’s Ghost and gave a fun conversation piece for our guests, who congregated in the living room. My aunt in particular commented on how much she loved the ghost and thought it was so cute; it was also a hit with the one year old who kept running around the room!

Costumes

Jai picked out the pirate captain costume, and I thought he looked very dashing. The costume looked more elaborate than I expected!

I picked the witch costume and broke out the black lipgloss, drawing a spiderweb on my face with an eyeliner pencil. This whole look doesn’t even seem like a costume to me because I dressed just like this in my most heavily goth days (makeup and all). That was actually my inspiration for this costume – I wanted a dress I could wear again! 😀

Interactive Fun

Our little DIY photobooth consisted of a Halloween backdrop and black curtains, with an LED light strip hung overhead. I brought out the camera and tripod and snapped some fun pics of the guests who mugged for the camera!

I'll get you, my pretties! Mwuahahahahaha!

Candy

I served these Crazy Bones suckers, and let me tell you, the little one went nuts for these (and us adults liked them too!) I was totally sold by the skeleton handles, which I totally saved and ran through the dishwasher to use as cupcake toppers later because that’s just the kind of frugal goth I am.

Now I know what you’re thinking: “Beeb, didn’t you buy some “Good” candy too?” Yes, yes I did…and Jai and I ate it all before the party. Whoooooops. 😉 I will need to restock before Halloween so I have something for any little ghosts and goblins that come trick-or-treating – we pretty much never get trick or treaters because we live down a dark rural road with no sidewalks, but I’m hoping that since we’ve done up the yard so much, maybe some parents will park the cars so their kids can get out and stop by for tricks and treats. I practically have a neon sign in my yard saying “I have candy!” with all these decorations, so here’s hoping kids come so we don’t eat a second bag of candy by ourselves. 😉

We had 8 guests over for our little haunted house unveiling, and it was a great way to kick off the spooky season! Halloween is coming up fast, but there’s still time to pick up fun items at Kmart that you can put up with a minimal of fuss. Since my partygoers knew this endeavor was sponsored by Kmart, they kept asking, “But did THIS come from Kmart? But what about this?” And they were impressed/surprised to learn that every single piece came from there. Kmart truly had a spook-tacular variety of Halloween items, so go pick up some fun decorations for the yard and some bags of candy for the kiddos! (Or, um, yourself! ;))

Beeb's Spooktacular Halloween Party Catalog

If you’d like some simple last-minute inspiration to prepare for Halloween on Thursday, check out my ShopYourWay Catalog for details and pricing information on the ghoulish goods I picked up to created this display!

Have you decorated for Halloween yet?

Creating a Frightful Front Yard For Halloween!

October 20, 2013 by Beeb 6 Comments

Gift cards were provided by our spookactular sponsor Kmart in order to pick up decorations!

Last week, Jai and I made a trip to Kmart to pick up everything we’d need to create our best Halloween display yet! This weekend, we set about setting it all up (Ha!) – here’s a little sneak peek of our haunted house, along with some DIY tips for your own ghoulish goings-on!

The first thing I did was get my porch prettied up by knocking down cobwebs. You would think that a Halloween party would be the one time I’d want to leave cobwebs around for effect, but I seem to end up cleaning up the real spiderwebs and replacing them with fake ones. What’s wrong with me?! 😉

While I worked on replacing real arachnids with fake ones, Jai was setting up our light display in the driveway.

This is “Marcus The Carcass”, who looks like he’s trying to crawl out of the leaves!

Next, we began setting up our DIY photobooth!

How to Create a Homemade Halloween Photobooth

These were the supplies we bought to make our homemade Halloween photobooth:

Items For Creating Our Halloween Photobooth

The first step was taking the Halloween tablecloth and nailing it to one side of the porch to create the backdrop.

Next, we installed two small hooks in the porch roof and tied two pieces of twine to them, which were used to hang the curtain rod.

Finally, we hung the curtains to form the front of the photobooth area and frame the pictures.

The LED light is hung by twine using the same hooks supporting the curtain rod and hidden behind the curtain. Since we have a number of other lights on the porch as part of the display, we had no trouble plugging it in. The light put too much glare in the photos at first, so we wrapped a plastic bag around it to deflect some of the light. Fancy, I know. 😉

To snap photos, simply have your subject stand in front of the backdrop and use your tripod to capture their portrait, as Jai so kindly demonstrates here:

We also discovered an unexpected way to use the photobooth that is perfect for Halloween. Since we set it up on our porch, the photobooth directly faces a window, and Jai noticed that it was reflecting his image back in the window. He told me to turn the camera around to take a “Selfie” of our reflection – with all of the lights and decorations, it makes us look like ghosts! This is our ghostly selfie, straight out of the camera – no editing or Instagram filters necessary for this spookacular effect!

Another DIY project that we took some time with was our “Pepper’s Ghost“, an illusion which is created when you reflect an image using a piece of glass.

This illusion is often created by propping a piece of plexiglass over a TV, as demonstrated in this video; we actually used a vintage jewelry display cabinet which we already owned, since it not only allowed a spot for the flatscreen to sit, but its lid was much easier to prop up than a freestanding piece of glass. We ran a black piece of cord through the latch on the lid and tied it to a hook in the ceiling:

The cord actually belongs to the Tekky Toys Scary Flying Ghost, which we had hooked up in the living room so that it could “Fly” by the window and create a fun effect. It made sense to tie both of these together, literally and figuratively. Har har!

Once the TV and piece of glass was in place, we could get started with the fun part. Since the RCA 24″ LED Flatscreen HDTV that we bought for this can also hook up to a computer, we simply plugged it in to my PC and used it to play an animated GIF. We set the display case up on a card table in the living room, so the illusion would be shown in the front yard – here’s a short video to give you an idea of what it looks like:

I created the animated GIF of the floating head myself. I did this by propping up my Totally Ghoul Light Up Reaper with Flames in front of the black plastic tub I bought and filmed a short video of it with the Canon Rebel. I then converted the video to a GIF with openAviToGif, and played it at fullscreen on my computer, creating an endless loop. We adjusted the contrast on the TV to reduce the backlight glare as much as possible. Since the display case does have a border around it, we minimized its appearance by pulling the curtains partly shut and taping black fabric over the top and bottom of the lid.

Here is the floating head GIF that I made for this Pepper’s Ghost illusion – please feel free to use it for your own haunted house illusions!

So there’s your sneaky peek at what we’ve been working on thus far – I will be unveiling my finished haunted house the week of Halloween, so check back to see how all of my devious decor turned out! In the meantime, I’d love to hear how all your Halloween decorating is coming!

Getting Ready For Halloween With Kmart: $500 Gift Card Giveaway

October 13, 2013 by Beeb 287 Comments

Gift cards were provided so I could put together a boo-tiful Halloween display!

Halloween is a really big deal to me – I’ve always loved it! I’ve been hosting Halloween parties for most of adult life, and they seem to get more involved every year. It started with some spooky treats set out on a platter for a few friends when I was 20 and just went from there. Now, I’m famous for my elaborate parties and decorations! I get really excited when I find see Halloween stuff in stores and usually can’t resist picking up something new to add to the collection. So when Kmart challenged me to deck out my whole home in fiendish finds from their store, I knew this was the kind of project I could really sink my (vampire) teeth into!

Since we don’t have a Kmart in my small town (Sniff), Jai and I paid a visit to a location in Portland on Friday, which was conveniently nearby to an event we were going to that day. Even the tree outside the store was setting the mood for Fall fun with its bright orange leaves!

Now, anyone who knows me is aware that I’ve been a huge Maroon 5 fan for almost as long as I’ve been throwing these Halloween parties. Well, when I walked into Kmart the first thing I laid eyes on was a big display for Adam Levine’s new 222 clothing line. Between the giant poster of Adam and the huge Halloween store, they may as well have put a sign up reading, “Welcome to your favorite store, Beeb!” 😉

After I finished being distracted by the Adam Levine display, I got down to the business at hand of picking up everything I would need for tricks and treats! Decorations? Check. Candy? Check. Costumes? Check. Discounted Grim Reaper? Check!

Grim Reaper chilling in my shopping cart

Here’s Jai deciding if he should be a piece of bacon for Halloween.

Should I be a slice of bacon for Halloween?

And here’s me shopping for a costume. I’m noticing that the tights in the display behind me are almost identical to what I am wearing – every day is Halloween for me! 😉

By the end of my shopping trip, my cart was overflowing with Halloween goodies!

I think I’m ready to check out!

Here’s all my spooktacular swag! I got so many ghastly goodies that, when I was going through the checkout, the cashier said – completely unprompted by me – “I want to come to YOUR house for Halloween!!”

I got two bags of candy for trick-or-treats to hand out to my Halloween guests, plus two large Tupperware containers to use as candy bowls. This makes it simple, because you can slap the lid on to store any leftover candy after the party!

Jai decided to be a pirate for Halloween, while I picked out a witch costume. I bought this one because I will probably wear the dress again – with my goth tastes, half the Halloween costumes look like “Regular” dresses to me! 😉

We got a ton of lights to decorate our yard with, from spooky garlands and creepy light-up eyes to black lights. We also got some long strands of lights to hang over the porch, driveway, and side of the house, along with extension cords, since I always seem to forget these when I get ready to do outdoor decorations. 😉 We really wanted to do a spooky window display, so we also picked up a 24″ flat screen TV that Kmart had on sale. These flat screens can also be hooked up to a computer and used as a giant monitor, to create a ghastly DIY “Pepper’s Ghost” floating head effect. (You can see an example of what I’m talking about here.)

There were so many ghastly goodies to choose from! I bought a light-up, color-changing skull, a giant cobweb, a large grim reaper to hang by the front door, a flying ghost, “Creepy fabric”, a flaming skull, and “Marcus the carcass”, a light up dude that looks like he’s sinking into the ground. Since I live on the wetlands, this is not too far-fetched. 😉

I really wanted to make my haunted house pop with something interactive, so I decided to create a Halloween photobooth on the porch. A photobooth rental in the Portland area seems to range in the $650+ price range for a booth that does digital copies only. I spent $528.84 on supplies to create my own DIY photo booth – that includes a DSLR camera with lens, a tripod, a camera case, LED light, and a curtain rod, curtains and Halloween tablecloth to create the booth itself. A homespun photo booth may not be quite as slick as hiring a photo booth, but instead of spending all that money for just a few hours, you could create your own and have a professional camera to use long after your event is through. Now that we’re in the thick of holiday season, there will be family photos to capture during Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s – so if you’ve been wanting to take better photos but been intimidated by the cost, you might be surprised to see how relatively inexpensive this setup was that I picked up at Kmart.

I also bought a black plastic tub to store all my new decorations in!

Before my shopping trip, I printed out my ShopYourWay Rewards Card to use in the store. This is Kmart’s loyalty card and savings program which I’ve been a member of for a few years. I honestly never did too much with it because I found the website to be confusing and never really figured it out; but it was actually a lot easier to use in the brick-and-mortar store. I ended up being really glad I had my card with me, because it saved me quite a bit of cash. Members receive lower prices on certain items, so it knocked off $44.50 total from the standard price on two of my items; and I also received points that I was able to redeem for money off my purchase. In a bit of serendipity, I got an email the night before my shopping trip letting me know I had 8,000 in points in my account expiring on October 16th – this equaled $8 off my purchase. I bought the camera first, and since it was in the electronics department, I paid for it separately and redeemed my $8 in points to bring the price down. I also received 4,420 in points back for buying the camera, which is equivalent to $4.42. The points are available to use immediately, so when I picked out the rest of my Halloween goodies and headed to the checkout, I was able to knock another $4.42 off my total! I had added up all my purchases before checking out and expected to max out my gift cards and spend a few bucks out of pocket, but was pleasantly surprised when it ended up being $46 less than I expected – so Jai and I actually hit up a second Kmart in Beaverton on our way home from the event we were at, so that we could use up the rest of the gift card! And, since I had also received points for my second transaction, I had an extra $5.11 to spend as well. All said, I received an extra $17.53 to spend because of ShopYourWay Rewards, so I have warmed to the program a bit since this shopping trip – anything that equals free cash is good in my book!

If you’d like to check out more details on my Halloween haul, click here to view my ShopYourWay Catalog for this shopping trip – it includes product details, prices, and can be used to add products to your online cart in one click if you’re feeling inspired!

Enter to Win:

And now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for! TWO MomStart readers will each win (1) $500 Kmart gift card so they can have their own frightfully fun shopping spree!

To Enter:

Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter this giveaway, which ends on October 20th, 2013 at 11:00 PM PST. Giveaway is open to residents of the United States, 18 years of age or older. Prizes will be shipped via Priority Mail upon receipt of winners’ information – we are making every effort to get gift cards to the winners in time for Halloween, but please be aware that there can sometimes be unexpected delays with the Post Office. Please click here to read our giveaway rules.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Kmart Spooktacular Challenge: Everything You Need to Halloween Your Home

October 16, 2012 by Momstart 7 Comments

Our House is the Spookiest on the Street! We Found it ALL at Kmart!

By: Ashley

Maybe it’s because I used to teach kindergarten, maybe it’s because I’ve always loved getting festive for any occasion, or maybe it’s just because Halloween is fun… but whatever the case, I love decorating for the spooky spirited night of Halloween. After moving into a new place, decorating for every holiday is an exciting adventure in itself, but when I had the chance to take a spooktacular challenge from Kmart, I was all in! You might not know it, but Kmart has one of the best selections of all things Halloween this year. From costumes to cauldrons to eerie skeletons – Kmart Halloween has it all!

Here was my challenge – spend $100 at Kmart and turn my house into the spookiest spot on the street. Everyone knows that shopping for decorations of any kind can be pretty pricey, so I wasn’t too sure how this was going to go. It sounded like a challenge well worth taking though, and now I am SO glad that I did.

The first thing to know about Halloween shopping at Kmart, is that every Friday and Saturday leading up to Halloween, they have their big Orange and Black Halloween Blowout Sale – 50% off costumes! It just so happened that we were there on a Friday… JACKPOT!

I was really impressed with the costume selection and decoration selection that Kmart had to offer. Everything was neat, organized and easy to find. The prices were unbeatable!

After a morning of shopping to spookify our house, here’s what we ended up with:

– 3 packages of spider web (only used 2)

– 2 red light bulbs

– 1 giant skeleton

– 1 plug in jack-o-lantern

– 1 motion activated singing skull

– 2 giant spiders

– 1 package of stick on bloody hands

– 2 pumpkin garage light covers

– 2 glow necklaces (for safe trick-or-treating)

– 1 puppy dog costume

We’ve already gotten compliments from our neighbors and I can definitely say that our house is indeed the spookiest on the street… and I have to say this is by far the cutest puppy dog on the street, too! 😉

Through October 18 Kmart has costumes on sale with Free Shipping using coupon code SPOOKYSHIP.

About Ashley (Managing Editor at MomStart): Ashley is a mom, wife, sister, daughter, friend, and former teacher working to navigate through the mysterious world of Mommyia. Read more about her adventures at Momicles and follow her @Momicles2010

I received a $100 Kmart gift card to take the challenge.

Kmart Kostume Kreator – Super”ghoul” Online Costume Contest

October 8, 2012 by Momstart 7 Comments

By: Ashley

Halloween is just a few weeks away, so it is definitely time to pick out the perfect costume. I am a huge fan of homemade costumes, but sometimes with school, work, extra activities, and all of the life that just seems to be happening, a costume from the store is a much better idea. Costumes from the store are actually pretty amazing… and when you shop smart, they can come at a great price. By using the Kmart Kostume Kreator, you can browse all of the ghoulishly great costumes that Kmart has to offer AND enter a perfect as a pumpkin Kreature contest.

I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but Kmart’s Halloween selection is HUGE this year. Decorations, costumes, and accessories can all be found at Kmart. The selection is great, the products are nice, and the price is affordable. The Kostume Kreator is a fun and interactive way to dive right into Kmart’s selection of costumes, and you could even win up to $100 in Kmart gift cards!

Head on over to the Kmart Kostume Kreator and get started. It is SO much fun! You choose a category of costume that you’re interested in, choose a costume, and upload a photo from your computer to see what it would like like on you… or your little one, your husband, or even your dog!

The next step is to add accessories, wigs, and whatever else you can possibly imagine. End it all up by seeing what great background your character ends up in front of. When you’re all done, you can share your creation by sharing it to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and SYW.com (Shop Your Way). Make sure you tell everyone to vote for your Kreature so that YOU can earn points and have a better shot at winning the grand prize. All of the rules and prize information for the Kmart Kostume Kreator contest are available online. Check it out and get creative!

I was compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.

Kmart Summer Camping Giveaway

July 11, 2010 by Momstart 595 Comments

A year ago, I visited Sears Holding Corporations in Chicago and I saw first hand that Kmart is more upscale than I previously thought. I’m quite impressed with the brands they carry and their advertising in the Sunday paper almost always catches my eye. With Summer in full swing there are plenty of summer items to be found a excellent prices.

Check Out these Products by Coleman now available at Kmart:

4D LED Rugged Rechargeable Battery Lantern – $37.99
-          Ultra bright – 190 Lumens(*)
-          Includes 6V XPS Rechargeable Cartridge (120v adapter for home and 12v adapter for car or boat are also included)
-          Three position switch – choose from high, low or off settings
-          Lifetime bulb – LED never needs to be replaced
-          Durable – Water and Impact resistant
-          Flexible Power – Easily switch to operate on standard disposable batteries (using 4D Battery Cartridge, sold separately)

2 Mantle QuickPack Propane Lantern – $24.99

-          Runtime is 7.75 hours on high; 13.8 hours on low
-          967 lumens on high
-          Two-mantle design includes pre-installed mantles
-          Adjustable brightness from low to high
-          Matchlight
-          Includes cover for easy transport and storage

As you pack for any upcoming trips this summer, you can save time by using Kmart’s helpful camping resources at http://www.Kmart.com/camping. As an added treat, Kmart is offering a variety of deals on camping gear such as coolers, tents, and portable chairs—and an additional 15% off all adult and kids Coleman sleeping bags for online purchases only at http://www.kmart.com from now until 7/24! Just use the promo code FITFACEBK610.

Enter to Win:

4D LED Rugged Rechargeable Battery Lantern – $37.99

To Enter:

Visit Kmart and Tell me what your favorite thing to do while camping is in the comment section.

Extra Entries:

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Kmart Coleman Rechargeable Lantern #Giveaway http://bit.ly/aemNCM

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This giveaway Ends July 26th. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

This is a sponsored giveaway. I have worked with Sears Holding Corporation in the past. I was even in one of the Kmart on-line marketing pieces.

Today’s Bluelight Specials at Kmart #KmartBLS

December 19, 2009 by Momstart 3 Comments

Here are the teasers for this weekend December 19^th and 20th:

· Boys/Girls Licensed Hoodies $8 (reg. $18.99)

· Essential Home 10 pc Sets $29.99 (reg. $49.99)

· Rollercade $49.99 (reg. $79.99)

Don’t forget to follow @KmartDealsnNews and use the #KmartBLS hashtag for a chance to win every day! For more info & rules: http://tr.im/KmartBLS. Good luck!

Blue Light Specials for 11/26 through 11/29 #kmartbls

November 25, 2009 by Momstart 1 Comment

· Kids Route 66 Graphic Tees $3.99 (Reg. $7.99)

· Essential Home 7.5′ x 9.5′ Rug in a Bag $34.99 (Reg. $69.99)

· All Multi-Roll Wrap 50% Off (Reg. $7.99)

Kmart will be giving shoppers on Twitter a chance to win a $50 gift card everyday! In addition to the chance to win daily, everyone following @KmartDealsnNews on Twitter will be automatically entered for a chance to win a $500 Kmart shopping spree. At Kmart you are going to find a lot of stuff for 500.00.

The sweepstakes runs from November 12^th until December 23^rd

Blue Light Specials for November 21 – 22

November 21, 2009 by Momstart 1 Comment

11/21-11/22 Bluelight Specials!

Home/All Frames 50% off (reg range $1-$29.99)

Boys and Girls Basic Edition turtlenecks $2.99 (reg.$7.99)

Home/All Cookware 40% off (reg. $6.99-169.99)

Don’t forget to follow @KmartDealsnNews and use the #KmartBLS hashtag for a chance to win every day! For more info & rules: http://tr.im/KmartBLS. Good luck!

Blue Light Specials at K-Mart and chances to win 50.00 every day.

November 15, 2009 by Momstart 2 Comments

I’m following @KmartDealsnNews and so should you.

Bluelight Specials are back, and to celebrate in style Kmart will be giving shoppers on Twitter a chance to win a $50 gift card everyday! In addition to the chance to win daily, everyone following @KmartDealsnNews on Twitter will be automatically entered for a chance to win a $500 Kmart shopping spree. At Kmart you are going to find a lot of stuff for 500.00.

The sweepstakes runs from November 12^th until December 23^rd

To Enter:

all you have to do is follow @KmartDealsnNews on Twitter from your personal Twitter account and issue a Tweet everyday using our hashtag: #KmartBLS. Each day is a new opportunity to win, so the more often you tweet – the better your chances are to win a Daily prize!

Of course, this is all in celebration of the return of Bluelight Specials at Kmart! There are over 40 great Bluelight Specials throughout the weekend in-store, and other great offers online at Kmart.com, too, only on Saturdays and Sundays. A little preview for this weekend’s (11/15 – 11/16) Specials:

· Essential Home Complete Bed set $29.99 (reg. $49.99)

· All Trim-A-Home lights 50% off (reg $8.99-$29.99)

· 9 Piece Luggage Set $49.99 (reg $99.99)

· Juniors Leggings 50% off

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