by Robin Fiedler

Deciding what to dress up as on Halloween can be as momentous as making dinner for your mother-in-law or meeting your girlfriend’s dad for the first time--because people remember. And not only do they remember, they scrutinize costumes until the next year’s competition. Oh yeah, it’s a brutal endeavor, a vicious circle of one-upmanship.  vampire-costumes

What makes it worse is all the mental energy invested for the lowest cost in a one-time costume.  But does it have to be a one-time boom or bust?  The National Retail Federation’s survey for Halloween 2009 indicates “consumers plan to spend an average of $20.75 on costumes, which includes children’s and pets’ costumes.” Wowing family, friends and co-workers with less than $21 takes originality, ingenuity, creativity, and savvy.

In 2008, the NRF reported that the most popular traditional costumes for adults were witches (14.9%), pirates (4.4%), and vampires (3.3%). The top 3 for little girls were princesses (10.5%), witches (3.9%) and Hannah Montana (3.7%) while the top 3 for boys were Spider-man (3.5%), pirates (3.3%), and Star Wars characters (3.0%). Most kids’ costumes are influenced by movie and television icons. Still while the traditional scary witch and pirate seem boring, many add an original twist with unique make-up and accessories to awe the crowd.

But if authentic tradition is the goal, then dress all in white or the risqué drag queen. As Bettina Arnold, Co-Director of the Center for Celtic Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee notes, “In Scotland, Halloween was a night of mischief and confusion. The spirits of the dead were impersonated by young men with masked, veiled or blackened faces, dressed in white or disguises of straw. The boundary between the living and the dead was obliterated together with other divisions, including the separation of the sexes, expressed by cross-gender dressing: boys dressing as girls and vice versa.”

Modern-day costumes look to pop culture.  Blockbusters, such as The Dark Knight, brought Batman into prominence. Twilight just may bring back the Vampire or District 9, aliens. Don’t forget Harry Potter. And a few predict Michael Jackson will be a top choice this year.  If you're more old-school, classic horror inspires trick-or-treaters who want the scare factor, such as Frankenstein, the Werewolf, the Mummy, the Devil, ghosts and zombies.

The sexy costume definitely still sears the brain of fellow adult Halloweeners. According to the NRF the nurse, wench/tart/vixen, and French maid add up to 4%. Adult females take advantage of Halloween to ‘strut their stuff’ one time out of the year. “Looking extremely sexy is a type of high; it makes you feel good about yourself, superior and desirable,” Bethanne Albert-Bruninga, a student at Swarthmore College, said.  "What better time than Halloween to act on this urge?”  Halloween costumes have become more about releasing inner desires rather than imitating the dead.

Footnotes

Arnold, Bettina. “Halloween Costumes in the Celtic World.” University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 31 Oct. 2001. http://www.uwm.edu/~barnold/lectures/holloween.html

Grannis, Kathy. “As Economy Impacts Halloween, Americans Get Creative.” National Retail Federation. 29 Sept. 2009 http://nrf.org/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=790

Grannis, Kathy. “Pop Culture, Election Play Role in Americans’ Halloween Costume Choices.” National Retail Federation. 2 Oct. 2008. http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=582

Wantman, Amber. “Hats off to Creative Costumes, Sexy or Scary.” The Pheonix. 6 Nov. 2008. Swarthmore College. http://phoenix.swarthmore.edu/2008/11/06/living/hats-off-to-creative-costumes-sexy-or-scary

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