David M Mangelsen’s

I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. While known for their extensive Halloween and costuming department, they also have a nice selection of supplies for parties, cake decoration, scrapbooking, sewing, knitting, painting, crafts, floral arrangement — the list goes on and on. They are also known for their beautiful Christmas area and framing department. I personally have had several posters and puzzles framed here and the staff has always been very helpful and knowledgeable in selection of all the options. While smaller than the big box hobby stores, they are locally owned and provide personal service. Knowing they are dog-​friendly, I recently took my pooch here to browse around on a cold day. It was fun to look and without even buying anything, they gave me a dog toy to take home. That was nice!

I like their craft areas, I enjoy many crafts, they have items other craft stores don’t carry.

Thanks Mr. Mangelsen for helping us with our Halloween costumes tonight! Great, personable service to spend your time fixing Petey the Parrot free of charge. He’s doing much better now! Wonderful store and great owner. Will shop here more often with great service like this!

Love this place. From memories as a child walking though it, to now with my own kids. Its always great to walk around the mask room and start thinking for halloween… even in July.
The back area with the Christmas arrangements is the same way. They pay close attention to every detail and provides any onlooker with an abundance of ideas to plagiarize for their own holiday theme.

I normally love this store until I found out they do not carry the Cricut machines or any product for this item. I thought this was a craft /​Hobby store??? I guess they do not want you to be creative and buy premade crap!

Good location. Great selection of everything arts and craft. Plus a go-​to spot for Halloween.
Even though crafty stores like these drive me kind of crazy (I think it’s a combo of them making me feel claustrophobic while simultaneously inhaling that weird potpourri smell), I have to say I’ve always enjoyed briefly stopping by Mangelsen’s when I need some fabric or similar random item for a project I’m working on (*cough* Klingon costume *cough*).
The staff is friendly and the store is large, but not gigantic. It’s locally owned, which is also a plus. It’s always a zoo during Halloween, but hey, they’ll have what you’re looking for (*cough* Marilyn Monroe wig *cough*).
Pro tip: Check in here on Unilocal and receive 25% off a single item purchase!

Great variety of stuff and amazing customer service! Plus who doesn’t love a locally owned business! Halloween time is my favorite with Mangelsons

Called several of times and the lady asked for my phone number to get back to me never got a call back!

This place is absolutely amazing! Everything you could ever need or want for crafts, Halloween, party planning.
I love the free popcorn :)
David is a great guy as well. Have spoken to him a few times when my scouts sell their popcorn/​cookies there. I love it here!
Only reason it’s not a 5-​star is the bathroom situation. Had to wait 30 minutes once for the bathroom, and by the time I could use it… I really didn’t want to if you get my drift.

I love Mangelsen’s! This place is always busy, but hardly ever crowded… making it pretty easy to get to what you want to see. They have everything from a Christmas room, collectibles, party supplies, a spooky area with masks, fake blood, etc., a fabric area, a floral and bridal area, candles, cake and candy making supplies (my fave), you name it. When I am going to Manelsen’s, I make sure that it is around lunch or supper, so that I can eat at the Farmhouse Café, which is connected to the store… and owned by them. Wonderful place. Mangelsens also has Fun Money… if you spend X amount of dollars, they will send you Fun Money in the mail to use with your next purchase. Not hard to do. :D

I love Mangelsen’s… I mean I LOVE THIS PLACE. I find it hard to come in this place and not leave without spending $ 50 (or more). The service is great, the selection is top-​notch. I recently took a cake pop class to learn how to make some fabulous cake pops… LOVED IT! The only thing– with the class, we got a list of 20++ items that we were supposed to bring.
My aunt and I picked up most of the stuff for the class and even shared some of the stuff and it totaled over $ 100…which I think is a pretty exorbiant list for one class. I understand that the idea is to generate sales for the store by the students purchasing items for the class fromt the store, but considering we didn’t even use ¼ of the items we were told to buy, it was a little much (they do give a 15% discount on items for the class, which helps).
Also, we had a list of 20+ items we needed to bring from our own kitchens for the class, everything from mixing bowls to paper towels. Again, I can understand they cannot provide all of the items needed for all of the students in the class, but for $ 25 they should have provided something. We even had to bake a cake and make frosting and bring it with us. The instructor was good, but we never received any written instructions on HOW to make the cake balls. I spent the majority of the class racing to write down the information she was telling us so I could remember how to do it for an upcoming graduation party (which is why we were taking the class). The class description mentioned we would be learning how to make eggs, chicks, and bunnies, but we didn’t even have time to really start decorating the cake pops, let alone do specialty decorating like bunnies, etc. Overall, I did enjoy the class and the experience and this would never deter me from shopping here but I do think we should have gotten instructions on how to make and decorate the cake pops, and that they should have provided some of the basic materials (like the cake or mixing bowls or paper towels, etc).
And the only other thing about this place that I really do not like is their bathroom. I think it is disgusting, to be perfectly frank. It always smells (and I’m there at least once per week for my job and my hobbies). It’s rather dirty, they offer soap from a gross dispenser, and considering the number of shoppers in and out of that place, plus employees, ought to have a full-​size bathroom with several stalls and sinks (and it should be kept cleaner).

This store is awesome! They have everything you need to have any kind of party! From birthday parties, bachelor or bachelorette parties, mardi gras parties, and much more! If you need a Halloween costume, they have so many options with many options for accessories as well. They have cake decorating supplies, scrapbooking supplies, just everything! If you need it, Mangelsen’s probably has it! What’s even MORE convienient about this place, is that they are connected to Farmhouse café, so if you are hungry after shopping at Mangelsen’s, you can stop in for lunch! So, if you’re having any sort of party or need any type of crafting supplies, you must go here!

Mangelsen’s is an Omaha institution. It’s a giant fabric/​craft store, with a costumes/​stage makeup/​wigs section that operates year-​round but gets really big around Halloween. If you want to get a wig for a costume in Omaha and you want to deal with people who understand the theatrical mindset, you get it here. (This is also where to come if you want an Elvis wig, etc. and you don’t want the bother of getting it styled.) Around Halloween they go totally bonkers and stock a bunch of extra stuff, some of which you might find at a Halloween store, but then if you’re at a Halloween store, you don’t get all the good stuff they carry year-​round.
I don’t come for the fabric or the craft stuff; I come for the stage makeup. They carry Ben Nye, Graftobian, Kryolan, and Mehron, and probably a bunch of other brands. Most of the good stuff is at the counter, though some of the hanging stuff is OK. They have a pretty good selection of false eyelashes and a couple of things I haven’t found elsewhere yet, like lipstick-​like sticks in white. (I suspect they’re used by clowns; anyway, they’re handy if you need a bunch of white and want easy application.) I bought my first pot of clown white here (Kryolan) and it lasted most of a decade without getting sticky or separating. Good stuff! They also sell pencils, very finely ground powder to set your makeup, etc.
They have cut back on carrying some items over the years based on what sells, so some of my favorite items (like a really great eyeliner that lasted forever) are gone now.
I don’t always know what I want when I come in, and I often kick myself for not bringing my makeup when I realize I’ve found just the thing and don’t know if it matches exactly.