What Are the Most Popular Costumes at Spirit Halloween?
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As we were doing our research on Halloween trends, we kept noticing one phrase popping up time and again: Spirit Halloween. Wait — the costume store we see while froggering through crowds on Broadway? It turns out, the Halloween costume and décor store is something of a sleeper behemoth, ringing up$400 million in sales in 2015.
Owned by Spencer Gifts (your gag-gift HQ), the 34-year-old Halloween costume and décor store operates on a pop-up model — every year, the retail locations open for business from mid-August until November 2 (they’ve recently found opportunities in dying malls). And while there are now 1,300 locations all over North America (and 11 in Manhattan alone), your best bet for finding that pitch-perfect Gaston costume is actually online. “You can find everything in our stores online,” says PR manager Erin Springer, “plus lots of exclusive online-only items.” We asked Springer for a preview of the most popular costumes we can expect come the 31st.
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For a touch of realism, add some fake blood to this Eleven costume. If you want to go a cheekier route, you could be Barb, instead.
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The cutest (and most surprisingly high-quality) doody costume you’ll ever find.
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The next best thing to actually being Gal Gadot.
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Grab yourself a packet of Szechuan sauce and make it a double whammy of pop-culture topicality.
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If you’re not aware (we weren’t), Rusty Rivets is an engineer known for his inventions, and also the main character of the Nickelodeon show by the same name. He’s huge with kids.
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One more point in favor of Halloween in the great The Nightmare Before Christmas debate.
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It’s a simple costume, but if you really want to pull off a Slater look, better start hitting the creatine and free weights now.
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Millennials who came of age during the ’90s love Hocus Pocus, especially Bette Midler’s put-upon oldest Sanderson sister Winifred. They might be remaking it, but there’s no topping the original.
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The Steven Universe costume comes with a built-in party trick and icebreaker — you get to show off your gemstone belly button (it’s a sticker).
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You’re looking at this year’s (not quite as ubiquitous) Elsa costume.
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The cheapskate’s choice: a Snapchat puppy filter come to life. Let us know if it’s as deceptively flattering as the smartphone version.
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Is this costume a commentary on subverting power dynamics? Backbreaking labor made manifest? Simple wish fulfillment? (The piggyback genre — which includes mom and baby, leprechaun, Santa Claus, bear, and gnome — is full of the last one.) We’re dismayed that this costume is this popular. But if you really must.
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