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SURVEY: Top Halloween picks for 2026

By Brian Weckerly,

13 hours ago

We're officially in 'spooky season,' and October 31 is creeping up, but what can we expect to see for Halloween this year?

Results from a recent survey give a glimpse of what people are shopping for and thinking about for Halloween:

Top costume themes:

Spider-Man
Little Mermaid
Country Singer
Slinky Dog from "Toy Story"
Michael Jackson's "Thriller"

Top-selling decorations

Animated crawling zombie
Hanging Slimer from Ghostbusters
Lock, Shock and Barrel animatronic from "The Nightmare Before Christmas"
Animated rocking horse with doll
Area 51 Roswell alien animatronic

Among the survey, shoppers spoke out about these factors:

🎃 Comfort is now the top priority: 30% say comfort and fit are the most important factors when buying a costume, up from 20% in 2024. Quality dropped to second at 26%.
🎃 Costumes are the biggest Halloween expense: Costumes rank as the #1 highest-spend Halloween category, followed closely by inside home décor.
🎃 Costumes are becoming year-round: 48% of respondents wear costumes for cosplay, festivals, parties and other events throughout the year.
🎃 More consumers feel represented: 63% say there are enough inclusive costume options, including plus-size, adaptive and maternity costumes. That's nearly double the 33% reported in 2022 and up from 49% in 2023.

For more information, click here.

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Community Policy

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Local 4 WHBF

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ourquadcities.com

The latest Quad Cities news, weather and sports from Local 4 WHBF on https://OurQuadCities.com.

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SURVEY: Top Halloween picks for 2026

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