Caravan of Curiosities

November 5, 2008

coke cans!

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A little late for Halloween posts, but we left our cameras at home!

The whole buying team and some of Free People Direct dressed up as coke cans on Halloween! One of the buyers made all of the red tube dresses and everyone stenciled their own, added their own Americana accessories (denim jackets and Converse) and wore can tabs on chains around their necks.

October 31, 2008

Anthro's Dog Parade!

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone has a fun way to celebrate and have a big hurrah before winter arrives!
Here at the home office, we are happily enjoying a number of festivities, including an adorable doggy costume parade thrown by our sister brand, Anthropologie! I went over and had a look, and there were so many cute little costumes! I snapped a few pictures; check them out!

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Here comes the parade, led by a cute lobster and a football star!

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A cute little bat!

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Detective Pug is looking for clues...

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Meanwhile Hula Dancer Pug gets ready to dance!

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Here we have a great big bumble bee!

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...And a little tiny bumble bee!

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Last but not least, my personal favorite doggy costume, the Phillies Phanatic! So cute!

vintage poison

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Spookshows.com just added a collection of vintage poison labels to their collection of Halloween images. You can download a zip file with high quality images and can do with them what you wish. The site suggests cutting them out and putting them on cocktail glasses for your Halloween party!

October 30, 2008

halloween capital of the world

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Did you know there was one? Check out this info about Anoka, the Halloween capital!

"Anoka, Minnesota is believed to be the first city in the United States to put on a Halloween celebration to divert its youngsters from Halloween pranks. When Anokans awoke to find their cows roaming Main Street, their windows soaped and their outhouses tipped over, they decided something had to be done."

"Anoka has always worked to keep a family spirit alive in its Halloween festivities. Activities have included pillow fights, a kangaroo court, fireworks displays, royalty coronations, concerts, dances, window painting contests, house decorating contests, celebrity appearances, costume contests, style shows, story-telling, races and, in the 1960s, a snake dance that took long lines of participants in and out of area businesses and homes."

Sounds like fun! Check out the site for more history and some cute old photos.

cute pumpkin cards!

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I am loving this cute little pumpkin stationary from Winifred Studios! I love the different patterns on the pumpkins!

batty finger puppet

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Soto Softies provided step by step instructions for this adorable bat finger puppet! I love him! He'd be such a cute Halloween gift.

They even provided a PDF pattern. Check out the blog for more pictures.

Found via Indie Fixx. Check it for more Spooktacular Craftiness.

October 29, 2008

corn husk horse

Check out this fun horsey that showed up outside of Building 543 today! He is so festive and perfect for the season! The horse was bought at a charity pumpkin auction!

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Those googly eyes crack me up!

gingerbread skeletons!

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Heidi over on My Paper Crane made these amazing gingerbread skeleton cookies. They look so cute and delicious. The recipe is vegan and can be found on ChooseVeg.com.

October 27, 2008

a robot visits Free People

On this past Friday, one of our accessories designers showed off her Halloween costume for our viewing pleasure, and turned briefly into a robot!

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The robot waited for a turn at the color copier, like so many of us do...

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It also needed to approve some fabric swatches.

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Home-made costumes are the best!

October 24, 2008

FP Halloween Video!

As you might have noticed, we are really getting in the mood for the Halloween Season here at Free People! It's so much fun!
We went around the home office and asked people to tell us about their most memorable Halloweens. There were so many cute and hilarious stories - have a look at our video and see for yourself!



Don't forget to check out our latest B15 Threads as well! Luren from our Visual Display Team shows us how to make the cutest tutus!

Free People Halloween Wallpaper for your Desktop!

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Hooray! We have a new Free People wallpaper for you, and it has a super cute Halloween-theme, made for you by our graphic designers! I have it as my desktop right now!
Go here to download it, and be sure to check out our desktop wallpaper set on Flickr for more fun FP wallpaper!

candy corn soap

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Loving this candy corn soap from Smoky Mountain Scents on Etsy! Found it on Etsy's Halloween Gift Guide. Check it out for a lot more spooky handmade gifts!

October 23, 2008

ghost cats

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Halloween in Philadelphia always brings talk of the Eastern State Penitentiary, a creepy old historical prison where they do a haunted house every year.

Right now you can also view an exhibit called Ghost Cats by Linda Brenner. The work consists of a series of white cat sculptures, representing the colony of cats that lived on the prison grounds until the closing in 1971.

The photos are by Freddy Sarabia on JPG

October 22, 2008

ann wood castle

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I've posted one of Ann Wood's castles and a boat before, but this one was made for Halloween! Ann constructed this cardboard wonder for the window at the Lower East Side shop Johnson (you can see it in person until Halloween).

Check out her blog for some detail shots and to hear about the hidden ghosts and enchanted horse!

October 20, 2008

charity pumpkins

It's getting very autumnal outside, and here at the home office, that means it's time to paint pumpkins! People from all the brands got together this afternoon and painted pumpkins which will be auctioned off to raise money for the Children’s Scholarship Fund of Philadelphia. The fund provides tuition assistance to help Philadelphia children, in K- 8th grades gain access to safe, high quality schools. We had such a blast painting pumpkins! Some of them turned out to be real works of art!



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Yay autumn!

October 16, 2007

pumpkin patterns

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How About Orange posted these free pumpkin carving patterns from World Wildlife Fund. Check her site, she also posted some other pumpkin carving sites. I did a google search to try to find really amazing pumpkins, but all I could find were pumpkins carved into creepy animals or presidents' heads. Does anyone have any cool links???

October 20, 2006

vintage halloween

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Another cool feature happening with flickr groups... Check out this collection of vintage halloween images. Anyone can post images from the 1800's-1960's. Find amazing postcards, decorations, and costumes. Does anyone still bob for apples?