This year's popular Halloween costumes for young children include Spider-Man and Tinker Bell. For teenagers, though, it may be the Mack Daddy Pimp Suit and the devilish red dress of Tinkerhell. In an effort to keep teens interested in Halloween after their trick-or-treat years, the costume business is featuring designs with more adult themes and provocative styles. Regional and national costume sellers say there is an industry and consumer trend toward edgier outfits for younger wearers.
Although some merchants see this fantasy apparel as `harmless fun,' others are reluctant to make it available to anyone but adults. Most are not actively pushing the racier costumes for young teens but young buyers have shown a big interest in campy and risque get-ups. Most of the people having pimp and `ho' costume parties, are in college but some teens are also buying the costumes and having the parties if they can get away with it at home. There is more than just the edginess, that is just one aspect of the expanding variety in teen costumes. A major factor is the increasing stylishness of all costumes. A classic like a witch's costume can't just be something black that hangs on you. It should look more like a clothing fashion. Another trend is sexier costumes for teen girls 16 and above -- a sexy version of a nurse or cop. For teen boys is edginess in the form of gory theatrical makeup, like spikes coming out of their heads.
Halloween retailers say the most popular traditional costumes, across all age categories including adults, tend to be pop culture tie-ins: movie and TV characters, superheroes and the rock-star look.
Last-minute get-ups for Halloween need not tax your brain or break your bank account. With a little ingenuity, you can come up with a host of instant outfits to satisfy even the most fickle trick-or-treater in less time than you'd wait in a checkout line.
The key to a quick, clever costume has less to do with the quality of your accouterments than the creativity of your explanation. Dressing all in white could be your fashion on any given day, but if you don your white clothes on Halloween, just call yourself a bottle of white out, or a blizzard. With a white sheet you can be a roman or a bride. With a little more effort, you can be a glass of milk. Just stick a straw in the neck of your shirt.
Feeling angelic? Twist a pipe cleaner around the middle of a stack of white tissue paper. Fan out the paper to create the celestial wings of an angel. Pin the wings to the back of your shirt.
For an animal costume in a jiffy, cut a 12-inch length of felt two inches wide to create a tail you can pin to the back of your shirt or pants. Dress in different colors to depict various animals. Add a birthday hat and streamers to any animal costume to become a party animal.
Mix holidays for an unconventional Halloween costume. Attach pink and red hearts to your shirt and go as a valentine. Or dress in green, wrap your Christmas tree skirt around your waist, adorn your upper body with ornaments and you're an instant Christmas tree.
For a truly no-fuss costume, muss up your hair, stick a page from the calendar on your chest and go as a bad hair day. Or take a cue from a Reader's Digest joke: Cover yourself with sponges and be self-absorbed.
In today's wired world, computer or Internet themes make great costume options. Probably many homes in Silicon Valley have spare computer parts around, making a robot costume easy to assemble. Cut holes for your arms and head in a paper grocery bag. Attach whatever computer detritus you can find -- spare motherboards, silicon chips, a mouse. Finish off by wearing a metal colander on your head.
But you won't need any computer parts for a simple depiction of the World Wide Web. Just fasten a map (preferably a world map) to your shirt. Cover with a faux spider web found at any Halloween display. Or forget the Internet altogether and go as a keyboard: Glue old house keys to a poster board and hang it from your neck with a length of yarn.
You can do it yourself, save money and be original as well. A little girl can be Snow White, and have seven friends lined up to go as dwarfs. The boy next door may be a firefighter, on a little fire truck with a ladder, bells and whistles. And your kid? What is your kid going to be for Halloween? Here are some quick ideas you can whip up at home. Using simple ingredients children can go trick or treating as:
Use masking tape to outline freeway on black clothes. Attach cars with Velcro tape. (Add lots of cars and it's an Interstate). Take a flashlight or use reflective tape if going out at night. You will need a black shirt, black pants, masking or artist tape, Matchbox cars and Velcro tape.
Grab casual clothes, add accessories, get an attitude! You will need an Hawaiian shirt, loud shorts, a baseball cap, sunglasses, flip-flops, binoculars and a camera.
Cut apron out of table cover. Tape plates and plastic ware to apron. Draw some bugs. Think about gluing last night's dinner to the plate. Then don't. You will need a gingham table cover, a paper plate and cup, plastic fork and spoon, string, Velcro tape and a Sharpie pen for ants.
Search your closet for spring tops and flip-flops, cut AstroTurf into a wraparound skirt, use safety pins to close skirt and attach plastic flowers. Or get the real thing. You will need a piece of AstroTurf, a pink shirt, leggings, flip-flops, plastic flowers and safety pins.