Even though Halloween is over, you can still get into the spirit by donating a used children's costume to a family in need.
Starting Monday, the Onward Willow Neighbourhood Group will be collecting old Halloween costumes to create a free costume closet for kids. Residents can drop off donations at the OWNG and Community Centre 15 Willow Rd., from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
If residents can't make it on Monday, the group will be accepting donations on Wednesday, Nov 3. and Friday, Nov. 5. On each day, residents can donate between the hours of 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Shauna Brown, neighbourhood group assistant, explains the idea is to build up inventory this year for Halloween 2022. The organization is looking for costumes for toddlers, little girls and little boys.
“I’m excited, but we're going to get them all together and will have to wait a year before we see the results of it,” she said.
"It's a magical time and you're only little for a very short period of time when you get to enjoy that ... It's a great feeling to see little kids get dressed up and the smile that they have."
Brown adds the event was inspired by a conversation with a co-worker about a resident who was forced between choosing a Halloween costume for their child or buying groceries.
“A lot of people that we have, have two or three (kids),” said Brown, recalling the conversation, "Even if you have two kids, they're normally between $30 to $35 for a costume, So you’re looking at 70-75 bucks which could be groceries for a week."
"Well what do people do with their costumes? Usually, people just donate them somewhere, but they don't think to give them to us because we never said, ‘Hey, let’s do this.’”
By putting out the call for used costumes, Brown adds it was easier to collect costumes at the end of the season instead of encouraging people to buy costumes to donate.
"As long as they're clean and ready to be worn, you can just donate them to us."
Since asking for donations, Brown mentions receiving many positive responses from the community.
"When we do call outs, we get good quality and we get a good amount of donations," said Brown about the generosity of Guelph residents.
While the Onward Willow Neighbourhood Group is organizing this event, Brown mentions another neighbourhood group, Parkwood Neighbourhood Group, is also planning to collect Halloween costumes through their own event.
"There are 14 neighbourhood groups and we're hoping to get all of them involved," said Brown about the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition. "But, things like this take time, and we already have so many other programs going."
"I'm hoping this maybe sparks other people knowing about Onward Willow and the work that we do."
To learn more about the costume drop-off days, you can contact Onward Willow NG at 519-824-6892 for further details.
