More Halloween Shopping: Khargo and Halloween Town in Portland

 

By Gemma Cleanslate

 

Khargo is another terrific place not only to shop but to enjoy the fun scenes for Halloween.

The various skeleton scenes are cute rather than scary but that is part of Halloween too, being amusing. Skeletons rule performing all kinds of spooky activities . It seems they like the water in this region and have boats that would look good if you have a waterfront property anywhere. Listen for sounds and use the shared environment for the best experience.

They also have a beach filled with skeletons sunbathing, serving drinks and having a great time. If you have a beach to decorate check here. Elsewhere I saw a burnt out house filled with skeletons that evidently make it out that would be a decoration for a dark region or parcel.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Yellowstone%20Falls/216/113/22

At this “shop” not only can you do your shopping but you can do it by taking a ride and buying as you go along. Take a tour of Halloween town at Portland , Maine. There are many little scenes for sale. 

There are three tours to chose that are really fun to ride and see wonderful views ... not all of  the tours show items that are for sale, just a great Halloween experience. It is getting closer and there will be so many experience tours and rides to just sit back and enjoy in a scary way. I will be visiting some and let you know. 

Since I recommended checking out several full perm shops for Halloween items you might like to go over to see what they are offering at the Full Perm event til November 15. There are advertised “40 full perm stores in one place. Full perm mesh, animations, sounds, textures, builders kits, mesh templates, creator kits. B2B event, market, fair. *by entering this land you will automatically be added to our subscribers list* / Halloween party mesh” I checked it out and you should too.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cartier/24/160/3760

Gemma Cleanslate 

 

Early Halloween Shopping

 

By Gemma Cleanslate

 Halloween looms. In one chat I heard the other day someone said they saw a store full and posted a slurl. Another remarked ,”I had better check my Christmas decorations” Well, it is not around the corner but Halloween shopping has opened at various popular stores so it is time to start looking. I flew over to one of my favorite Halloween shops I knew would be open to look . There is so much! Dench is a shop where I always find cute décor for any holiday.

 The Halloween shop is massive as usual. Before you enter the building itself check the outside lawns filled with outdoor décor for your parcels. Inside find skellies , wanderers, wearable spooky dancers that you can try out by sitting on them, and so much more. Check out the ghouls and goblins and lots of pumpkins.Some moan, or groan and add to the spookiness. How about getting a full avatar for the holiday. There are always gifts for group members and so many bargains! There is a whole wall full of 5L decorations. Large and small . Do not miss it!!

 

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rookery/20/33/222

I have a friend who always gives me a rezzday or Christmas gift that she created from a collection of fun things. I finally asked her where she gets the pieces she puts together so well with animation and sound sometimes. She pointed me to full perm places to look at the offerings. I went over to two just to see what was available. The places are amazing ! The walls of both full perm sites were full of items that could be used to build a display of your liking. Some of the stores have vendors on the wall that are collected for the holiday or type. Others are spread around all the walls. So searching for Halloween or autumn related items takes a while. Caming is necessary. I did see a couple of shoppers flying to be closer to choose what they wanted. Regular builders probably are used to this and have no problem. That is not me . Go take a look though if you love to combine items or pass them along to others .

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Optimal/230/244/21  

 

Also, there is the Sweetlips store which had great pumpkins!!

I love the name of this place, Meshed Potato.
 

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Graybar/135/93/21

There are many more autumn and Halloween sales to check out and I will be back with a few more.

Gemma Cleanslate

More Christmas Shops

 

By Gemma Cleanslate

I have been doing some of the Advent Calendars this year but since I am almost out of groups I decided to stick with those where no group is necessary. While I was at a region I took a good look around at some and saw the nice arrangement of items they had in Kiosks or all over the property. I picked some that had really nice or unusual décor for sale and am passing the along to you in case you are a late shopper or are looking for that special gift.

“Santa Claus dropped his presents through the Christmas Wonderland event. There are free gifts in the large calendar and EXCLUSIVE very cheap Christmas outfits in front of it. Don’t miss them and grab them all – Date: Dec 1 to Dec 24 – Contact Person: Rani Rosenhauch “

Rani said it well. Santa has left some great items all over the region. There are many boxes in front of the calendar for sale really low prices! Then take a walk around to see the nice items for sale at the stands.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Forgotten%20Mountains/21/118/27

LouChara sells Furniture and decorations and has weekend sales right at the entrance . Her furniture is divided in to the various types in each building there which makes it easier to shop. The Christmas area had terrific items on display.

I really enjoyed looking at the variety of styles and ended up buying one new holiday bench.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tropical%20Bay/137/171/4001

Another wonderful furniture venue with a calendar is C.M.D. Christmas store. All sorts of Christmas décor is scattered over the region. 

 

What caught my eye was a cute little fairy pushing huge snowballs. Maybe it is not unique but I have never seen it before. There is another one throwing snowballs too.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Thee%20Enchanted%20Forest/203/183/21

 

One more super area to visit for those last minute decorations inside or out is Christmas Delights. Again this is a marvelous place filled with sweet décor. I am happy to see a nice selection of flat décor that is only one prim and looks great . It is good if you need to watch your prim count.

Santa’s Closet is a whole wall filled with all sorts of Christmas clothing with a choice of elegant or cute.There is also a rezz area for greeter bots , AI bots and animesh bots so you can try them out before buying. Stop over there to check them out. RAGDOLL/183/193/1801

I hope you are finished shopping now and can begin enjoying all the winter fun areas that I will be writing about for you.

Gemma Cleanslate

 

More Christmas Stores

By Gemma Cleanslate

Here are a few more shopping areas for you and you can check the destination guide for more.

 

Gnomes and Elves greet you on arrival at Christmas Lane near the Gotchas. Just a sprinkle of snow was falling when I visited. Santa and reindeer were parked in front of a shop ready for you to take him home for a good price. This is another great place for shopping for the home decor, inside and out. Dinner tables all set for you . I saw some wonderful fireplaces all set to put in your home decorated with the stockings ready for Santa to fill.There was a sweet little chapel . I passed  Santa walking his dog .Just waking along the roads and looking at all the goodies is a lot of fun even if you don’t buy anything but I bet you will! I could not resist! I bought a Christmas bench for the front of my home. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Christmas%20Lane/48/134/23

 

Christmas at snuggles was also a lot of fun for roaming and shopping. I was taken with some cute Santa and helper avatars and am thinking about that idea.Along the walkway there are wonderful little poinsettias and Bulbs for sale. They have outdoor, indoor , lighting, cards and so much to look at here and the decor in the sim is lovely. I found some more Christmas cards for sharing too. (these articles can get expensive!) That shop had some absolutely lovely snow globes with music for sale to give to loved ones and friends .That store was packed full with wonderful gifts to share. There is another large shop also just jampacked with decorations for the table and more. This merchant is very creative!  I plan to go back!  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Snuggles/151/225/26

 

One of my favorite shopping places in Second Life  at this season , and has been for 9 years is the Winter Holiday Village. I still have winter outfits from 5 or 6 years ago that I have saved because they are so attractive and comfortable to wear. And I know I will be getting something new.

There is so much going on in the region I will be sending time here for events and for the wonderful skating and visits with Santa. Visiting here is like a vacation in a mountain village and a place to relax and enjoy winter sports and scenery. There will be lots of performers and parties taking place on the ice . Join the group to hear all about it. Pick up a notecard that will help you get around to all the venues.

 

The owners say,”We also have cross country skiing (free ski's provided), fun horse drawn carriage rides and the Magic of Christmas Shop loaded with all your winter holiday needs at reasonable prices. Santa had begun his live appearances Dec. 1st. Come sit on his lap, have your picture taken on Santa's lap while being entertained by the elves of the North Pole and Mrs. Claus! A free gift for each person who comes to visit with Santa.

Loads of wintertime fun to be had with the largest network of ice ponds on the grid. Free skates available. Skate tours for single skaters and couples. We also have cross country skiing (free ski's provided), fun horse drawn carriage rides and the Magic of Christmas Shop loaded with all your winter holiday needs at reasonable prices.”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mazur/133/168/32

 

Another shopping  village I found  the Winter Wonderland and Christmas Bazaar in Andarah. If you are looking for an igloo I saw one there. You are invited to shop, skate , takes some rides as on the reindeer carousel or the miniature train . I went skating with the skating snowmen on the iced over pond. In one shop I found a wonderful selection of gift bags that saves wrappmy favorite thing. It is a good area to go through on your shopping travels. Don’t miss the very attractive snowglobes scattered about the snowy area.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Andarah%20Island/206/97/22

 

That is enough of shopping! I will be visiting the other lovely regions decorated for the winter season , just for walking, sleigh riding , horse back riding , winter sports that are around the grid until Christmas . There are some places that stay yearlong for your winter pleasure . I will note those too. Enjoy your shopping.

 

Gemma Cleanslate

Hair Fair 2016

By Becky "Sha" Shamen

When our Editor, Bixyl, sent out a list of possible stories to report on, it included the Hair Fair 2016. Sha has a large collection of  hairs and is always on the look-out for new, unique, high quality hairs. In her early days as an exotic dancer, she had spotted an avatar with a beautiful long braid and spent months tracking down the shop it came from. The Hair Fair includes many designers, with new creations, that would give a percent of the profits to "Wigs for Kids." We copied three possible SLURLs and took off to find our next "to die for" hair.

The first attempt to TP did not work, informing us that the sim was too full to allow any more to enter. Our second SLURL got us in and we land next to a large "You Are Here" map. The Fair was spread out across multiple sims and the street layout reminded us of the Nazca lines, in the deserts of Peru or the swirls in a finger print. We selected a path that would cover all the shops. Unlike the RFL Walk, there were no arrows on the street, to keep us on our selected path. At ground level, we would need some help navigating. The map and mini-map were no help here, because they didn't show the streets. We soon came up with a better way to check our progress. At the end of each block, Sha would stop and panned her cam to directly over head, high enough to see which direction to head next.

The next thing we notice is that this is like a suburban housing development. All the houses look alike and there are few landmarks to tell you if you have passed the same place before. Each vendor is set up in a garage, so it's like being in a town that only allows garage sales on one Saturday each month. I spent four hours at the Fair and managed to see all the vendors.

There are a few landmarks, scattered about the Fair, that created a secondary background theme. Here and there, we find film crews and their equipment. If you live in Los Angeles, this is a common sight (left), but here it kept me from going in circles, in a sea of ticky-tacky, at several street corners.

Scattered around the fair, we find several shops that provided head-wear for bald avatars, We wished we had known of them, during the month Sha was bald. The other shops displayed every style you can imagine. They also have hair for both women and men and even beards. In a shop, called Bizarre, I spotted one that would be perfect for Valkyrie, with bird wings on it.

All of the styles had free demos to try on before you buy and if you like a store's designs, you can also get a LM to their main store. Each time we tried a demo, we also added our Kemono head, to see if it would also work with all our mods. It was also fun to watch others trying on the demos. You could almost hear the sound of their minds, being made up, as they admired themselves wearing the demo. If you like the style, you then pick a color, like blonde, brown, red, etc. and it will come with a HUD for changing shades. Many were also available in fat-packs, with all the colors.

We had set a budget for this adventure and Sha managed, after four hours of shopping, to escape with two new styles that she could not live without, while staying well within the budget. Our new number one is this blonde, multi braid hippy look, which also has a base piece to adapt it to my Kemono head. We also got a blonde, straight, floor length style. I'll probably be wearing one or the other, next time you see me.

First impressions are lasting and the face and hair stand above in our display. If you want to change how people respond to you, a good looking hair style covers a multitude of sins. If you want to be "saved", come to Hair Fair 2016 and while you're at it, you'll also be helping those poor bald kids get wigs of their own.

Platinum (220/128/23)

Sha

The Steampunk Meets Flowerpower Hunt

By DrFran Babcock

 Admit it, you love hunts. For me, a hunt is a way to chill out from a hard day in the non-digital world, or when things get drama-laden here. Which never happens, right?

 
Well, if you are like me, the lure of freebies, meeting people, and finding just that special treasure keep me searching. The Peace on Earth Hunt, over for now, is my favorite, but the name of this hunt grabbed me. I love Steampunk, and I am a hippie. What could go wrong?

 DrFran was a little busy with real news, so she sent her alt: Mai Waffle out to do the hunting. Below are the things she found. The hunt item you are looking for is a gear that is pink.

There are 25 items in the grid-wide hunt, and Mai was able to find all but one. She enlisted the help of Oakesy Ogg to help her show off the items that had both male and female items.

IMPORTANT: The Newser is usually not on the Hunt trail. If you are interested in seeing more hunt reports, please let Editor Bixyl Shuftan know. Thanks.
 

The Steampunk Meets Flowerpower Hunt runs from January 1^st – January 31^st. The blog for the hunt, with hints and teleports is here:
http://insidethepeapod.tumblr.com/post/39071952659/steam-punk-meets-flower-power-hunt-212

 DrFran Babcock

Editor's note, Luminous Designs has informed the Newser it will soon be joining the  hunt.

Steelhead Participates in the Hunt Steam 5

The steampunk hunt, Steam 5, began September 1 and continues throughout the month. It has with over 200 residents officially signed up to participate. Since the Hunt is free and doesn’t require any special gear to play, there are probably more residents who are hunting informally. Approximately 190 stores are participating.

Since I had recently visited Steelhead and liked it, I decided to visit the shops that are located there. The first shop I went to was Peterman Ltd Dry Goods, located at Steelhead (88, 214, 25). Peterman’s are “purveyors of 19th century clothing, hats, and objects d'art.” Like all great general stores, they carry a little bit of everything. In this case that includes oil paintings by Pacific Northwest artists, Victorian, Edwardian, Western, and of course Steampunk clothing and items. This cog was easy to find, and the gift was a unique outfit.

Next I strolled around Port Harbor to find Cedar Bay Home Furnishings. This store is located at Steelhead Harborside (159, 15, 25). Many of the stores in the Hunt, especially the larger ones, leave a hint near the sign. The hint at Cedar Bay was great. It read, “Avast ye scurvy dogs! Hoist th' mizzen, fire th' guns an' prepare for plunder!” As you can see in the picture, the clue was as good as a treasure map. The treasure at Cedar Bay is a tea set that tells fortunes. I hope it predicts that I’ll find all the hidden cogs.

The third shop on Steelhead that I visited was Luminous Designs. This shop advertises that it carries “clothing for the elegant brat.” The store, located at Steelhead Shanghai (68, 13, 56) is a tall cylinder shaped building. An easy-to-use teleport system zips you quickly from area to area, or you can use the ladders to go at a more leisurely pace. Luminous Designs (LD) carries everything from elegant evening gowns to historically accurate outfits. This cog was harder to find, but probably because I was window shopping as much as hunting. They gave out both a men’s gift and one for women. Foxettes, I decided, were allowed one of each. I can’t wait to wear them.

The last two shops were smaller, but they gave out very unique prizes. Froobert’s Furthest West is the smallest of the participating Steelhead stores. It is located at Froobert's Furthest West , Steelhead Shanghai (153, 32, 49). Their gift included AOs for both gents and ladies, a pose stand and more. St Helens Dry Goods, located at Steelhead St Helens (73, 146, 39), gave out a revolving dance gear.

If you are a Steampunk fan or like the challenge of a hunt, Steam 5 is a great way to visit new sites and have fun in Second Life.

Grey Lupindo