Plan your Halloween just right and you could come home with a frightening amount of free treats and gifts. Here’s a list of stores that are offering treats, freebies, and good times for kids of all ages. (If you know of any local stores having great Halloween specials, add them in. Try Twitter’s advanced search for some help.)

Toys “R” Us – Arrive at any Toys “R” Us store on Saturday, October 31st between noon and 3pm to participate in their spooktacularly safe Halloween celebration. Kids can join in Geoffrey’s Trick “R” Treat Parade and receive a free reusable bag that can then be filled with goodies and giveaways.

Bass Pro Shops – Celebrate Halloween in Bass Pro Style by stopping by on Friday, October 30th between 4-7pm. Kids will have the chance to trick-or-treat throughout the store. Then head back on the 31st between Noon and 4pm when Mask decorating and marshmallow roasting will be on the list of things to do. You’ll also have a chance to sample Dutch Oven Apple Cobbler.

Sears – On Saturday, October 31st, all kids that stop by their local Sears store will receive a free Mattel toy. Supplies are limited, we recommend getting there early.

Michaels – The month of October has been a busy month for Michaels, with Halloween events throughout. Join them on Saturday, October 31st for the Knack Free Family Halloween Event. Starting at 10am and ending at 2pm, each child receives a trick-or-treat pail, 3 fun activities, candy and a balloon.

Macy’s – This one offers something for the adults as well. Be one of the first 100 customers to arrive when the doors open on Saturday, October 31st to receive a free $10 “treat card”. Kids will get a free face painting, and a trick-or-treat bag.

Dirty Laundry – Grab a laundry basket and cut out the bottom. You may need to secure it with string to create “suspenders” that will hold the basket in place around your waist. Fill it with dirty laundry and you’re good to go.

Cereal Killer – If you like puns this costume is for you. All you need are empty mini cereal boxes, fake blood, plastic knives and some safety pins. Stab the cereal boxes with the knives and apply fake blood. Attach the cereal boxes to a plain t-shirt using safety pins and there you have it — a scary cereal killer.

Bunch of Grapes – Start with a purple or green sweat suit or leotard, green or purple balloons, and brown tights or leggings. Blow up small purple or green balloons and carefully pin the ends to the sweat suit or leotard.

A Recyclable – Wear a trash bag and adorn with empty bottles and cans.

Backwards Man – You simply put on a shirt and a pair of pants backwards, then put a couple of T-shirts or other padding into the pants butt, to give yourself some “back.”

It’s National Candy Corn Day!

Candy corn was created in the 1880s by George Renninger of the Wunderle Candy Company.

The three colors of the candy are meant to mimic corn. Each piece is approximately the size of a whole kernel of corn, as if it fell off a ripe or dried ear of corn. The candy is usually tri-colored with a yellow base, orange center, and white tip, although the color combinations may vary.

The National Confectioners Association estimate 20 million pounds of candy corn are sold each year. Although regular candy corn is most popular at Halloween, it is available year-round.

According to candy maker Brach’s, the top branded retailer of candy corn, each year Americans eat enough Brach’s candy corn that if the kernels were laid end to end, they would circle the Earth four times.

Candy corn is made primarily from sugar, corn syrup and honey.

An advocacy group is objecting to the casting of Abigail Breslin as Helen Keller, in her Broadway debut. Sharon Jensen, executive director of the Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts tells the New York Times that the role should go an actress “from our community,” meaning an actress who shares Helen’s disabilities. The lead producer of the play says he had already made up his mind about his casting criteria for Helen when he chose to revive the William Gibson play -– he wanted a star. But Richenthal said that he and the production’s director, as well as their casting director, plan to audition deaf or blind actresses to be Breslin’s understudy. The show opens March 3.

Rumors were swirling this week that a Jon Gosselin Octomom reality TV show is in the works, but looks like the rumors are just that. The rumor was that Jon has agreed to star in a cheesy new reality show in which he would date Nadya Suleman. Jon Gosselin said a couple of days ago it wasn’t happening, and now Octomom agrees. “It was a joke. No offense to Jon Gosselin but I’m all about my kids right now. I don’t have time for a man in my life. As far as the reality show goes, I can’t speak for Jon but as far as I know presently there are no definitive plans for a TV show.”

Nicolas Cage’s father, literature professor August Coppola, has died. He was 75. August was the brother of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. He taught literature and served as dean of creative arts at San Francisco State University.

Most Americans can get an extra hour of sleep this weekend. Standard time returns at 2am Sunday, with clocks falling back to offer an extra hour of rest. Daylight saving time returns March 13.

A right foot has been found inside a running shoe on a beach in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada — the seventh foot found along B.C.’s coast in two years. Two men walking on the beach this week found the foot in a white size 8.5 Nike running shoe. A coroner confirmed the remains were human. The first severed foot, discovered in August 2007, was associated with a deceased man whose name police withheld at the request of his family. A man’s right foot found on Gabriola Island in August 2007 remains unidentified. Two feet found on Valdez and Westham islands in July 2008 belonged to the same man. And two feet found in Richmond in December 2008 belonged to the same woman.

Are you a bad driver? If so, maybe it’s not your fault. Difficulty driving may be pegged to a genetic trait, according to a new study published Thursday. If the results hold true then it’s estimated that 30 percent of Americans have the bad driving gene. The driving test required participants to take 15 laps on a simulator complete with bends and turns and measured how well the drivers stayed on course. Researchers said the bad drivers in their test made more errors from the get-go, and forgot more of what they learned after time away.