HOUSTON –  (Feb. 1, 2010) – Spirit Halloween Superstore, the Halloween experience of Houston, and the residents of Houston raised $116 K in donations for Texas Children’s Hospital within a 60-day period. A check was presented to the Child Life program at Texas Children’s Hospital on Friday, January 29.

“Spirit Halloween has been an amazing support for the patient and families. First and foremost the people I have worked with throughout this process at Spirit Halloween have a true passion for their mission,” said Jamie Byrd, manager of Child Life program. “For our Child Life program, this means providing patients and families with even more support and better programming.”

Last year, Spirit Halloween donated $56, 000 to Texas Children's Hospital and more than doubled this year's donation. The money will be used to purchase developmentally appropriate toys for activity room areas and patients throughout the hospital and will also be invested in educational and teaching resources for children with special needs.

The Texas Children's Child Life Department provides developmental, educational and therapeutic interventions for children undergoing medical treatment. Child life services help children effectively manage stress, which reduces the need for potentially dangerous sedatives and pain medications and helps children heal faster with less long-term psychological effects. With more than 30 child life professionals, Texas Children's has one of the largest child life departments in the country.

About Texas Children’s Hospital
Texas Children's Hospital is committed to a community of healthy children by providing the finest pediatric patient care, education and research. Renowned worldwide for its expertise and breakthrough developments in clinical care and research, Texas Children's is nationally ranked in all ten subspecialties in U.S. News & World Report's list of America's Best Children's Hospitals. Texas Children's also operates the nation's largest primary pediatric care network, with over 40 offices throughout the greater Houston community. Texas Children's has embarked on a $1.5 billion expansion, Vision 2010, which includes the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, a comprehensive obstetrics facility focusing on high-risk births and a community hospital in suburban West Houston. For more information on Texas Children's Hospital, go to www.texaschildrens.org. Get the latest news from Texas Children’s Hospital by visiting the online newsroom and on Twitter at twitter.com/tch_news.

About Spirit Halloween
Spirit Halloween’s specialty retail stores are the most comprehensive one-stop destinations for everything shoppers can imagine for Halloween. Through the vast merchandise assortment and memorable visual presentation, Spirit stores provide a truly impressive, unique and unforgettable shopping experience. In addition to being a fun and interactive event for shoppers, the locations offer complete selections of costumes and accessories for infants/toddlers, children, ‘tweens, teens and adults. A large portion of the selection is exclusive merchandise found only at Spirit Halloween.