Coffee Time Bolton to host annual Costume Swap

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Diana Mollicone, owner of Coffee Time in Bolton, took an early trip to “Spirit Halloween” in 2023 to buy Halloween costumes for her kids. She was met with the high price of costumes, and “the cheapest fabric ever,” she said.

Mollicone has three kids and had already cycled through a few costumes by then. She always thought of donating them rather than reselling or letting them sit in a closet.

“I figured there's got to be more who think like this,” she said.

She pitched her idea to a group on Facebook, and after receiving such positive feedback, began collecting costumes.

In the first year of “Coffee Time's Costume Swap,” more than 100 costumes were rehomed, and the remaining ones were donated to the Bolton Kin for their toonie sale. 

She shared that they kept this up since and many families have mentioned how much they appreciate it. 

“Holidays and events get super expensive real quick and it puts a lot of pressure on parents to ‘keep up' with the parties, the loot bags for the classmates, the dance fundraiser, candy for guests, and, of course, the costumes on top of all that. It shouldn't be that way, and if we can take away one stress from our community, that's all we need to keep going,” she says.

Mollicone said Coffee Time absolutely loves the town-wide “trick or treating” initiative put forth by the Bolton Community Crew, where kids can visit businesses in their costumes.

This year it's also their 40th anniversary in the Bolton community, between the two ownerships around the same time of the event. 

“Needless to say, we're going absolutely mental that day,” said Mollicone.

Community members are invited to attend this year's Costume Swap at Coffee Time on September 5 from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm.