Value Village second-hand stores, including the Redmond location at 16771 Redmond Way, are inviting Halloween costume-challenged customers to free, weekly Costume Catwalk fashion events throughout the month of October.

The Costume Catwalk events will be held at 3 p.m. every Thursday in all Value Village locations. Costume consultants will be on-hand to help shoppers build outfits from gently-used clothing and accessories and enhance ready-made costumes with unique makeup and accessories.

“This year, we conducted a Halloween shopping survey that showed many consumers are unable to create the costume of their dreams every year, due to a lack of time or inspiration,” said Meg Allan Cole, national costume consultant at Value Village.

The Value Village “Halloween Shopping Survey” polled 1,000 adults about Halloween shopping habits and identified popular costumes and hot trends for this year.

Celebrities and pop culture icons are very popular this year, including Snooki, “The Situation” and other members of MTV’s “Jersey Shores” cast and characters from the movies “Alice in Wonderland,” “Avatar” and “Toy Story 3.”

Value Village costume consultants also expect strong interest in Steampunk costumes, which can be created from Victorian-inspired clothing, leather jackets and vest and aviator accessories.

Ten percent of Value Village survey respondents said they wear more than one costume per year — for example, one to go to an office party and another to go out with friends. Shoppers can combine new costume pieces with second-hand items to create two or more looks for the price of one.

In addition to in-store offerings, Value Village provides fun do-it-yourself Halloween projects at www.valuevillage.com.

Shopping at Value Village saves money and also the environment because purchasing second-hand items is a form of recycling. And every costume donated to Value Village benefits a local non-profit organization.

For more information about the Redmond Value Village store, call (425) 883-2049.