Charlie Sheen trick-or-treat? iParty gears up for Halloween

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

There’s the antics of loopy TV star Charlie Sheen and the sad demise of songbird Amy Winehouse, not to mention Arnold Schwarzenegger and a host of politicians behaving badly, notes Sal Perisano, chairman and chief executive of iParty Corp.

For Perisano’s Dedham-based chain of 53 party-goods stores, celebrity scandals help drive its all-important Halloween business --- a Hollywood star messes up, and college kids want to impersonate said star on Oct. 31. More scandals mean more iParty business, according to Perisano.

So far, 2011 has been a banner year for scandal, and that’s a good for iParty, which is starting to open 11 temporary Halloween stores, Perisano said. Given the popularity of Halloween among college students, some of those stores will be located near big campuses such as the University of Massachusetts and the University of New Hampshire, he said.

Besides masks and costumes for the spooky scandalmonger, there will also be plenty of costumes inspired by recent movies. “Captain America” should be big this Halloween, and maybe “Green Lantern” too. Perennials such as “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter” should also do well.

IParty could use a nice Halloween lift. The company is coming off a disappointing second quarter. In early 2010, silly bands --- multi-colored rubber bands that come in odd shapes --- were all the rage, and the silly-band fad boosted iParty’s results.

In the second quarter of 2011, there was no comparable novelty to drive business, and results fell off.

The 2011 calendar is also a bit of a challenge. For iParty, Halloween falling on a weekend is ideal, and a mid-week Halloween is the toughest.

Monday “isn’t too bad,” Perisano said. It’s still close enough to the weekend to crank up big-time parties.

Meanwhile, he hopes for more celebrities to land on the gossip pages. And he notes with satisfaction, “It’s been a year of scandals and outrageous behavior.”