Halloween costumes are a popular societal tradition that has evolved. In recent decades, the most popular costumes have been ones that mimic society’s favorite shows and movies. 

For example, in the 1980s the most common costumes were based on the recently released movie Star Wars. These costumes consisted of characters such as Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Yoda, and Princess Leia. To fully embrace their characters, masks, makeup, and props are commonly used. 

In the following decade in the 1990s, the most popular costumes jumped from Star Wars characters to Powers Rangers. Using gloves, masks, and boots, kids from ages 6-10 choose the color of their favorite Power Ranger and fulfill the role of becoming city-saving superheroes for the night of Halloween.

As time progressed the chosen Halloween costumes changed from being favorite characters to becoming more fitting to the holiday. From the superheroes in 1990, in the decade 2000 villains began to make an appearance. Adolescents of all ages began to dress up as their favorite villains, most commonly seen being the Joker. Using face paint and hair dye, fans of the Batman series that features the favorite villain Joker began to walk the streets on Halloween night. 

After the trend of villain-related costumes began, they didn’t stop. Following the Joker in 2000, Harley Quinn became the next front-runner for most popular costume in 2010. Blonde wigs with pink and blue split dip hair dye became the most common costume you could expect to see throughout the neighborhoods on Halloween.

Most recently in the decade 2020, the most popular Halloween costume began to take a more spooky turn. The most popular costume became The Sanderson Sisters from the Halloween movie Hocus Pocus which was released years earlier in 1993.

Although the most popular costume changes so much over the years, it doesn’t change the enjoyment the spooky season brings to everyone who dresses up and celebrates.