Halloween Is Tomorrow. The Cookie Shop Wants Three Weeks' Notice.

I called it "planning ahead" when I bought a costume on Wednesday. Then I read the fine print at The Cookie Cottage: hand-decorated custom cut-out cookies need about three weeks' notice, and more around holidays.

Three weeks before Halloween was October 10. I was eating a pierogi.

So if you also missed the window, good news! There are two very respectable ways to show up Saturday with something spooky in a box, and neither involves your oven.

Option one: do it yourself, downtown

The Cookie Cottage, tucked at 335 Gillespie Ave. a block off Washington, does drop-in decorating any day it's open. You get a kit of 8 themed cookies plus candies and decorate at your own pace for $10, per the shop's own page. A fabric-marker apron is another $3, which is the best $3 a parent will spend all weekend.

Saturday drop-in hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The shop says to call ahead on Saturdays (941-552-6914), because the voicemail tells you which times to dodge for big parties. Do that. You don't want to walk in on a 12-kid birthday at peak frosting.

Prefer to make the mess at home? Take-home kits are $15 for holiday themes, with cookies, frosting packets, a brush and candies, but they have to be ordered ahead. Call first thing.

Here's my honest prediction for every kid at that table: one ghost, 15 candy eyes. And nobody has ever looked at a ghost cookie and said, "That one needs fewer eyes."

Option two: let a professional handle it

Sarasota Bakehouse, the shop that used to be Cupcakes A Go-Go, is running Halloween 4-packs: Fright Bite Cupcakes and Boo Bite Cupcakes. That's the whole announcement on their homepage, and honestly, it's enough. Four cupcakes. Already decorated. Nobody cried.

They've been baking around Sarasota for 20 years, with 24-plus cupcake flavors, a big lineup of gluten-free and vegan ones, and half-pound Cosmic Cookies, which is not a cookie so much as a commitment. Owner Richard handles the classics and the seasonal flavors, per the shop.

The shop at 2079 Siesta Dr. is open Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. You can order online or get delivery through the usual apps if your costume involves something you can't drive in.

Go

• The Cookie Cottage: 335 Gillespie Ave., Sarasota. Drop-in decorating Sat 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., $10 for 8 cookies. Call ahead: 941-552-6914. They plan to stay at this spot through 2026 before a move, so go while you know where it is.
• Sarasota Bakehouse: 2079 Siesta Dr., Sarasota. Sat 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed Sunday and Monday. Ask for the Fright Bite and Boo Bite 4-packs.
• Do this: decorate in the morning, grab cupcakes after, and present both. Let the cupcakes make you look good. Let the 15-eyed ghost make you look human.

Need the rest of the weekend? The Halloween Finder has the spooky stuff, Brooke has the outdoors, and Sandy has the meetups and the week.

— Marina