Kitchen Killers

We've explored the Home Improvement store and Thrift Store for budget friendly Halloween props.  Now it's time to give the Kitchen Supply Store some love.

My go-to here in LA is Kitchen Depot in Glendale.  Well stocked, great prices and I'm a big fan of the owners who are helpful, friendly & hardworking.  I go year round for all sorts of needs - before camping or festivals, parties, Christmas & Housewarming gifts so have gotten to know the store fairly well.  Even then, I feel like I'm constantly discovering some new corner or item I never knew was there.  Smart & Final has a decent selection of kitchen supplies to explore as well.

I've cooked up some ideas that are either display ready or DIY to varying degrees.  If you're doing a Pirate theme, Haunted House, Witch's Liar or Priestess Shack, the kitchen store is literally aisles and aisles of opportunity.  Take your time, look high and low, there's always something interesting stuck in a corner.  Prices and stock are constantly changing, look for things already marked down that are gathering dust and offer them even less.  They're looking to move stock so give them a reason to say "yes."

Don't forget these are real, ready to be used kitchen items so consider safety when displaying.  Dull knives and secure breakables, etc. as needed.


15 days till Halloween...



Knives & Cleavers - For Kill Rooms & Slaughter Houses, Dungeon's, Witch's Lairs and Voodoo Priestess Shacks...everyone could use a good knife.

Bloody up knives you use year round

Cheese Cloth - For creepy curtains or mummy wraps, can be dyed yellow/brown for an aged look or grey/black for old curtains.

Coffee Warmers - Add to an Apothecary, Witch's Lair, Voodoo Priestess Shack or Laboratory.  They come in assorted styles and finishes.

Arabic Tea Pots - Shapley and eye catching both of these were on sale right by the door for 50% off.  Probably could have offered even less and walked out the door with them.

Cooling Racks - Spray paint these black and attach hanging planter chain to the feet.  Viola!  Pumpkin hanger.  Glorious hanging prop.

Metal Colander - Same vein as the cooling rack, spray paint and attach planter chain. to the handles.  Fill the basket with skulls & Spanish Moss, rotten apples, body parts, pearl necklaces & treasure, whatever you haunt needs more storage space for.  Bonus points for hanging prop!

Wooden Ladles & Spoons - For stirring potions, of course.

Look at this big bad boy. Perfect for
stirring bubbling cauldrons of potion

Great colors and visual intrigue

Ladles & Fry Baskets - For more brew making...

This ladle is like 3 feet long

Mortar & Pestle - For grinding Nightshade...or bones

Gotta love options

Clay Jars - Canopic jars for a tomb or for storing potion ingredients.

Pot Fork - Makes "meat" transportation and cooking much easier, wouldn't want to get all that blood on yourself.

Garlic Crusher - Variation on the Mortar & Pestle, specifically designed to repel vampires.

Turkey Lifter - These seriously look like they're up to no good

Steel Wool - Plop a wad in a container of vinegar and let sit for hours or days to create the perfect solution for antiquing wood (18 pcs for $0.99!!)

Brooms - Typically they carry a variety.  Antique a bare, new wood handle with a Steel Wool/SOS pad solution

Wild, raw fiber look and inexpensive

BBQ Claws - I shudder whenever I see these.

Compass Saw - Every Slaughter House needs a variety of saw options

Metal Cups & Serviceware- Gotta keep your rum safe on a ship as it gets tossed by the seas.  

I can almost smell the salt air and bone soup

Coffee/Tea Sets - Even witches, beggars, blighters and ne'er-do-well-cads like a cup of tea.  Just don't ask what's in it.  A fine addition to a Haunted House, Witch's Lair or Priestess Shack depending on which style you choose.  A perfect year round product that get's to role play in October.

Watch for sales, or dust and make an offer

Cups & Glasses - More treasure for a pirate or for elegantly serving witch's brew.

Woven Baskets - More storage for the shack or lair and at $0.99 there's no reason not to pick some up.

Incense Burners - This will likely depend on the owners of your supply store.  Kitchen Depot also sells incense and scented oils for oil burners.

Gathered on journeys to far flung places, these burners entice the
nose with fragrant secrets

Scented Oil Burners & Candle Holders - Real opportunity for oddity here plus the scented oil adds mystery to the air.

Giraffes? Dragons? Giraffe dragons?

Random Egyptian themed candle holder for a tomb haunt

Vases & Bowls - Beautiful booty or bizarre bauble, this random find would catch any pirate or witch's eye.

So weird it's simply wonderful

Metal Buckets - Rust it up with salt & vinegar or leave be, metal is Halloween ready for a Pirate Ship, Lair, Shack or Haunted House.

Stainless Steel Skewers - Ominous, long blades are so great.  Just like, in general.  So many questions.  Mostly, "why do you have those and what do you use them for?"

Skewers for days

Utensil Holders/Displays - This will vary on your location but they typically are fantastic and reasonably priced.  Use as treasure on a Pirate Ship, or for a Haunted House or Lair.  Another item to be willing to haggle over.  Buying more than one makes negotiating even easier and everyone feels victorious in the transaction.

A table set for dinner or a highboy filled with all this booty and
you may find yourself fighting off an invasion

Utensils - Gold utensils pilfered from a Galleon are perfect for a pirate.

So much treasure...

Haunt Supplies - Latex gloves, tape, glue, super glue, string, trash bags... all the nuts and bolts at rock bottom prices.  If you're already there, stock up!

Gloves for everyone!