“I Was A Picnic Table”: 50 Kids’ Halloween Costume Ideas That Worked Like Magic

Adults usually don't shy away from spending during Halloween. The National Retail Federation (NRF) claims that an average person plans to spend $104 during Halloween this year. Decorations, costumes, candy – they call count when it comes to Halloween spending. And parents usually have to spend even more with the addition of children's costumes.

The NRF estimates that spending on children's Halloween costumes should be around $1.3 billion this year. For adult costumes, the number is only slightly higher – $1.8 billion. The most popular costume should be Spider-Man, followed by the classics: ghost, witch, princess, and the generic superhero.

While it's certainly easier to pop into a Halloween costume shop or order a costume online, it's not very sustainable. People wear most costumes only once and then chuck them after Halloween is over. Thrifting or DIYing a costume might be the better choice for those who wish to be more eco-conscious.

In some cases, a DIYed costume might be the only choice. Some people come up with costumes so elaborate or obscure that the only way to fulfil their vision is to go the DIY route. Creative Fabrica analyzed the Google search volume for Halloween last year and found that Barbie, pirate, scarecrow, and Velma Dinkley were the most popular costumes people DIYed for Halloween 2023.

DIYing a costume for kids has another upside: parents can choose sensory-friendly materials. Oftentimes, Halloween costumes are made from synthetic fabrics which can feel itchy and unpleasant to the touch. Kids rarely are able to tolerate cheap fabrics on their skin for long, and DIYing allows parents to choose fabrics like cotton which are way more comfortable and breathable.

Superheros and princesses became popular Halloween costumes only around the 1950s. Before then, people would mostly DIY their costumes: ghosts, witches, fairies, and etc. Teens and youths would also use Halloween as an opportunity for vandalism. So much so, that some cities even considered banning the holiday.

In the '50s, kids started dressing up as characters from popular culture. Cowboys, Batman, Frankenstein, and Mickey Mouse were some of the most popular costumes. At the end of the '60s, after the Apollo 11 mission, kids also started dressing up as astronauts. In 1966, Barbie was the most popular Halloween costume, although the first doll came out in 1959.

The '70s changed the game and people have been dressing up as horror movie characters ever since. Michael Myers from Halloween, Freddy Krueger, Ghostface from Scream and many other now-pop culture staples became the most popular Halloween costumes. And so did other cartoon characters from the 1990s and the 2000s: Bart Simpson, Spongebob Squarepants, and the Power Rangers. 

Dressing up is only one part of the Halloween fun. For kids, trick or treating is just (if not more) as exciting. Although some polls show that people get fewer trick-or-treaters each year, the tradition is still very much alive and well. Today, we say that trick-or-treating became a staple of popular culture when it was featured in the Peanuts comic strip in 1951.

Trick or treating was starting to become popular in the U.S. in the '20s and '30s. Unfortunately, WWII derailed its rise. The government had to start rationing sugar and that led to a shortage of sweets children could use for Halloween festivities. As soon as they lifted the ban in 1947, companies rushed to commercialize Halloween once again.

Disney showed kids how trick-or-treating should be done exactly in their 1956 eight-minute short film featuring Donald Duck. Even the UN got into the trick-or-treating game when, in 1950, they gave kids cardboard boxes to collect any spare coins from their Halloween fun.

Do you remember your best childhood Halloween costume, Pandas? Or maybe you have some little Pandas of your own for whom you can make these kinds of cute outfits? Are you going DIY or buying? Maybe you're making a family costume? Let us know in the comments!