What is your favourite Halloween costume?
Classic costumes reign supreme
Poll says 34% of adults to dress up this year
Plan on seeing plenty of little princesses prancing and pirates parading around this Halloween.
In what has increasingly become an extended seasonal holiday, the top Halloween costumes for kids this year are expected to be princesses, pirates, witches, Spider-Man and Superman, according to a National Retail Federation poll.
This is the second year that the princess has reigned as the No. 1 children's costume. At Halloween USA in Cuyahoga Falls, little girls have more than three aisles of princess costumes from which to choose. And many are glamming up these girly costumes even further with glitter-colored hair spray.
The kids' costumes are awfully cute, but that's only part of the story. Halloween has become increasingly big business for adults, illustrating that Americans of all ages just want to have fun.
According to the retail group's consumer poll, 34 percent of adults will dress in costume on Halloween. And a survey by Corporate Research International of Findlay says more than three-quarters of adults will attend a Halloween party or haunted house this year.
The word is that the witch, pirate, vampire, cat and clown are the most popular adult costumes this year.
Retailers are expecting a surge in Halloween participation this year, with nearly 64 percent of consumers expected to celebrate the season in comparison with 52 percent of the population last year. Americans also are expected to spend 50 percent more this year than last on candy, decorations and costumes, for a total of nearly $5 billion compared with $3.29 billion last year.
According to the retail group, the average consumer will spend just over $59 on all things Halloween (candy, costumes and decorations).
Whew.
Whatever happened to the days when Mom stuffed you -- bundled up in multiple sweaters -- into her own adult genie costume year after year for a single night of trick-or-treating? Families like mine didn't buy new Halloween garb or decorative items each year. We just made do with what we had in the house.
Not so anymore.
Al Shumate of Halloween USA in Cuyahoga Falls said Halloween lovers are very specific about how they want to put together distinctive looks. For example, as much as Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean has become a pop icon, many folks aren't satisfied with simply replicating the movie look by buying the licensed movie costume, which comes in both adult and child sizes at Halloween USA.
``You don't want 100 Jack Sparrows walking down the street,'' Shumate said.
Customers have been throwing in a variety of wig, hat, hook, facial hair, patch and boot accessories to spice things up. They're choosing looks from among some 30 girl and boy pirate costumes as well as a bevy of adult versions at the store.
Superheroes sell big
Halloween USA, a temporary store also located in Fairlawn and Belden Village, opened in late September and will close by early November.
As well as the pirate costumes are selling there, Shumate said superheroes such as Batman, Spider-Man and Superman are doing even better. Star Wars characters are big there, too, especially Darth Vader for boys.
Girls also have been snatching up the Batgirl costumes, saleswoman Audra Hileman said.
``With the girls, there's no fine line anymore. They either want to be pretty princesses or they want to be superheroes. They want to be bad like the boys,'' she said.
The number of choices in costumes and costume accessories at this store is almost overwhelming: For witches alone, there are about 25 choices in adult costumes and more than 75 varieties for kids.
Plus, there's a huge array of masks, with one of the newest being a demented puppet from the movie Saw (Saw III will be released Oct. 27) with wild red swirls on its cheeks.
Haunted houses
Halloween has become the second-biggest decorating holiday of the year after Christmas: The NRF survey says nearly half of consumers plan to decorate their home or yard.
Transforming your home for Halloween has become easier and way more accessible for the average Joe: Check out the 50-foot, glow-in-the-dark Scene Setter rolls and borders that you can tape up on your walls to create the illusion of a graveyard, spooky basement, spiders, bats and skulls.
Some of the grossest accessories you can buy at Halloween USA are from Cannibal's Meat Shop, featuring brains, hearts, hands and feet packaged like meat. They look life-sized and cost from $8.99 to $9.99.
Regardless of the hubbub on this year's top Halloween costumes, 2-year-old Ally Lavy of Uniontown followed her instincts Wednesday as she chose a sparkly baby bee costume at Halloween USA.
``She's going to dance to her own tune, I guess,'' said mom Lisa.
Shumate said his biggest-selling couple's costume is a plug-and-socket number, which comes as a set. He said the socket-wearing women like to add a ball and chain accessory to their plug-wearing partners' ankles.
Why?
``Everything doesn't have to make sense on Halloween, because it's Halloween,'' he said.
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