Americans will spend nearly $3 billion on Halloween costumes this year, and the majority of them will dress as witches, vampires, princesses and in other traditional Halloween attire.
The National Retail Federation’s 2012 Top Halloween Costumes survey reports that 10 percent of kids plan to dress as a princess, while six million adults plan to go as a witch.
Batman is the second most popular Halloween costume for kids, while the character — along with other characters from The Dark Knight Rises — is fourth for adults.
Some people plan to turn to current events as inspiration for their Halloween costume, whether it’s an athlete, political figure or something else entirely.
“With nearly one in ten celebrants taking their costume cues from current events, we’ll see plenty of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney look-alikes out-and-about for Halloween,” said Pam Goodfellow, a director at the survey firm BIGinsight. “However, we expect these ‘rivals’ will be able to find some common ground over the punch bowl or a bag of candy.”
Pets will also play a big part in the holiday, as owners are expected to spend $370 million on outfits for the pets. The most popular Halloween costumes in that category are pumpkins, devils and hot dogs.
The full list from the National Retail Federation
Top Adult Costumes
Top Children’s Costumes
Top Pet Costumes
1. Witch
1. Princess
1. Pumpkin
2. Vampire
2. Batman
2. Devil
3. Pirate
3. Spiderman
3. Hot dog
4. Batman character
4. Witch
4. Cat
5. Zombie
5. Disney princess
5. Bee
6. Vixen
6. Action/super Hero
6(tie). Dog and Ghost
7. Princess
7. Pirate
7. Action/Super Hero
8(tie). Ghost and Nurse
8. Vampire
8. Witch
9. Cat
9. Zombie
9. Bowties/Fancy Collars/Bandanas
10. Superman
10. Ghost
10. Superman
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