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Louise Thomas
Editor
The spooky season is soon becoming the jolly season.
Spirit Halloween stores are planning to open 10 Spirit Christmas stores across the United States starting in November. The retail chain will be selling both winter and holiday-themed items, such as gifts and decorations, in addition to a “life-sized” gingerbread village with the ability to take a photo with Santa Claus himself.
“Each store offers a unique shopping experience, brimming with a vast assortment of holiday décor, apparel, inflatables, gifts, and stocking stuffers,” a spokesperson told People about the new stores.
“Guests can meet Santa for their annual Christmas card photo and receive a free digital postcard featuring you and Santa,” the spokesperson continued. “Wander through the life-sized gingerbread village, where you can mail your letter to Santa at the North Pole and find out whether you’ve been naughty or nice.”
According to the Spirit Christmas website, families can take pictures with Santa in a large chair surrounded by oversized presents and gingerbread houses.
While some stores will be opened in brand-new locations, others will be converted from Spirit Halloween stores once the holiday season begins. The first Spirit Christmas store will be opening on October 18 in Mays Landing, New Jersey, with the other nine locations scheduled to open in early November.
The news regarding the Halloween-themed outlets comes after the company posted on X (formerly Twitter) about Saturday Night Live’s recent sketch mocking the store.
In the voiceover for the sketch, SNL cast member Heidi Gardner said: “Times may be good on Wall Street, but on Main Street, communities are struggling. Closed stores, shuttered businesses, empty parking lots… When hard times hit, it’s easy to feel like no one cares.”
Gardner continues, adding that “help is on the way because when others leave, we show up” and that they will be welcoming customers “for six weeks and then bouncing.”
Cast Member Chloe Fineman then takes a dig at Spirit Halloween’s costumes, which often have vague descriptions to avoid any copyright issues. In the sketch, a young girl asks for a Taylor Swift outfit and is handed a disguise called “blonde singing woman.”
Fineman says: “We’re here providing vulnerable communities with the things they need most: Wigs that give you a rash, single-use fog machines, and costumes of famous characters tweaked just enough to avoid a lawsuit.”
Spirit Halloween then responded to the skit on X, as the company wrote: “We are great at raising things back from the dead @nbcsnl.” The post also included an image of a Spirit Halloween costume that was meant to be SNL itself, as the company jokingly called it an “irrelevant 50-year-old TV show.”
The costume’s packaging also featured other negative descriptions for the show including, “dated references, unknown cast members, and shrinking ratings.” Meanwhile, many people turned to the comments section to applaud the store’s post.
“Not gonna lie: this was funnier than many of the skits I have recently watched on SNL. And I say this as a long-time fan of the show who still enjoys it for the most part,” one comment read.
Another commenter agreed, writing: “Looks like @nbcsnl needs to hire the social media team of @SpiritHalloween to be writers. This is funnier than anything I have seen in recent years on snl.”
