Top Costumes for Fright Night

Halloween retailers: Expect a rush on these popular outfits for the holiday, and update your campaigns accordingly

On 364 nights of the year when you see a guy dressed like Dracula, you better run like heck, in case he’s the real deal. But on October 31, it’s pretty certainly just a guy in a costume, and your bodily fluids should be safe.

According to a study conducted by the National Retail Federation, the average consumer planned to spend $23.33 on Halloween costumes in 2007, with young adults making up the largest group of holiday spenders. If you are a retailer who carries Halloween goods, you’ll want to review the top costumes that consumers were clamoring for in ‘07, as well as which get-ups they’re planning to dress up in during October ‘08.

Traditional and Contemporary
In 2007, the top costume for children (or more specifically, girls) was one that’s been a favorite of female trick-or-treaters for decades: the Princess. In 2007, 10.7% of girls said they’d don a tiara last Halloween, a figure that was only slightly down from 11.8% in 2006 and 11.5% in 2005.

For boys in 2007, the top costume was everyone’s favorite web slinger, Spiderman, with 4.8% of boys surveyed saying they were planning to jump into the red and blue tights of the wall-crawler. Also topping the kids’ list in 2007 were other traditional favorites, such as pirates (4.7%) witches (4.2%) and fairies (2.8%). Some costumes inspired by movie and TC characters also made the must-have list, including Darth Vader, Optimus Prime, Hannah Montana and Harry Potter.

Of course, Halloween is no longer just a holiday for kids. Fully a third (33.8%) of adults interviewed in 2007 said they planned to dress up for Halloween, and they had targeted a wide variety of costumes, led by traditional favorites such as witches (16.9%), pirates (3.8%), vampires (3.1%), cats (2.5%) and princesses (2.2%). Other favorites included characters from “Star Wars” (1.2%), athletes (1.0%) and doctors (0.9%).

Even pets got into the spirit of Halloween in 2007, with more than one in ten human celebrants (11.0%), or 7.4 million households, planning on dressing their furry friends in some sort of costume. Devils (12.0%) and pumpkins (9.2%) topped the list of pet costumes in 2007, with witches (4.5%), princesses (3.8%) and angels (3.3%) rounding out the top five.

Looking Ahead to 10/31/2008
In 2008, we expect that the popular favorites of years past will once again make appearances, so plan on seeing plenty of princesses, pirates, witches and ghosts pounding the pavement in the quest for sweets this Halloween. Of course, every year offers new hot costumes for kids, and 2008 is no exception. The popularity of “The Dark Knight” movie has created a huge demand for both Batman and Joker costumes. Additionally, you can expect Iron Man costumes to shine and Incredible Hulk costumes to be a smash with kids this Halloween.

For adults, 2008’s hottest Halloween looks may be torn from the headlines, with Barack Obama, John McCain and Hillary Clinton being likely costume candidates. You can also expect old favorites like the athlete, monster and movie character costumes for men, and witch, fairy and sexy devil costumes for women, to be in high demand.

As consumer costume sales continue their climb, retailers can look forward to a frighteningly good Halloween season in 2008. Whether you sell costumes or just other Halloween items, now’s the time to review your holiday campaigns and get you keyword lists in order.

Have a safe and happy Halloween: May your candy bag be free of apples and popcorn balls, and your website full of new visitors!

— Noah Belson, Content Quality Analyst