Halloween Costumes Scare up Big Business

With Halloween just a days away, kids are narrowing down their costume ideas.

What’s flying off the shelves locally?

This year some of the most popular kids costumes include Super Mario, Angry Birds, vampires, zombies and witches, according to an employee from Halloween City at 1316 Butterfield Road in Downers Grove.

One of those costumes coincides with what’s trending nationwide.

According to the National Retail Federation 2011 Top Costumes survey, conducted by BIGresearch, more than 2.6 million men, women and children plan to dress as zombies this Halloween. Due to the popularity of the characters in recent books, television shows and video games, zombie costumes jumped from number 22 last year to number nine on children’s top costume list and from number seven to four on the adult list.

This Halloween, Americans are expected to spend $2.5 billion on costumes, according to an NRF survey, spending more than $1 billion on children’s costumes, $1.2 billion on adult costumes and $310 million on pet costumes. The average person will spend $72.31 on Halloween candy, costumes and decor, bringing total spending to $6.86 billion - the most in the survey’s nine-year history.

“Halloween isn’t just for kids anymore, as adults are just as likely to get in on the fun with clever, unique costumes,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “With Halloween falling on a Monday, restaurants and retailers will benefit as many Americans celebrate all weekend long.”

As in previous years, traditional costumes still rank as consumer favorites, according to the National Retail Federation. Witches (13.4%) will be the top choice for adults while pirates (3.9%) and vampires (3.7%) win out thanks to popular television, movie and pop-culture characters. Batman (2.2%), cats (2.2%) and vixens (2.1%) will also be popular with adults this year.

Pint-sized princesses (11%) continue their seven-year reign as the top children’s costume while other top choices for kids include Spiderman (3.1%), Batman (2.4%) and Superman (1.3%), according to the National Retail Federation. Additionally, fairies (2.6%), Disney princesses (2.2%) and vampires (2.4%) made the top 10 for children.

Darien’s , 7511 Lemont Road, will likely see an upswing in sales due to the holiday.

“Halloween is a very big business for us,” said Margaret Skinner, director of corporate communications for the franchise.

Skinner said the Jo-Ann Fabrics stores sells ready-made costumes as well as the components for people to create their own.

“We cater to both the customers that are making their own costumes an being really specific and unique to the mother that wants a very quick costume for their kids,” she said.