Community Corner

Watch Out for Zombies

Inspired by movies, books and TV, the undead are big this Halloween.

Harry Potter is out. Zombies are in.

As far as the most popular getups for Halloween 2011, “the trendiest costume is—literally—coming back from the dead,” according to the National Retail Federation (NRF)'s Web site. The NRF, which has surveyed Halloween trends for the past nine years, says more than 2.6 million men, women, and children are dressing up 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,” according to the NRF.

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Julane Sullivan of All Dressed Up, 901 N. Batavia Ave., Batavia, agrees.

The 20-year owner of one of the suburbs’ few theatrical costume rental companies, said, “I notice what is different this year is that people are looking for levity, but what is really big is zombies. Which surprise me because of the popularity of vampires on TV.”

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What else is popular?

“Pirates are always popular,” Sullivan said. “Especially since the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies.”

Halloween is increasingly popular with adults. And, fairy tales are becoming a big adult genre, but with a little darker adult tone, she said, citing the popularity of the Disney movie, “Tangled” the new TV show, “Once upon a Time” and the future Julia Roberts’ movie about Snow White.

According to the NRF survey, Americans will spend $2.5 billion on costumes, with the spending on adult costumes outpacing that of children’s, $1.2 billion and $1 billion respectively. And don’t forget, the family pets, which will be dressed up to the tune of $300,000,00.

"Eager to shake off the summer heat and forget about the economy for a few days, Americans are looking forward to having some fun this Halloween," NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay said in a statement.

The survey says the top children’s costumes are princess, witch, Spiderman, pirate, pumpkin, fairy, action/super hero, Batman, vampire, Disney princess, zombies and Star War characters.

Spirit Halloween, the largest seasonal Halloween retailer in the country with nearly 1,000 locations in strip centers and malls across North America, has its own predictions for the top costumes of 2011. While sexy costumes no doubt heated up many a Halloween party this weekend, Spirit predicts that more than a few revelers will look to recent movies, books and television shows when selecting a costume. 

"Our team of expert buyers scours the world and the headlines to identify the hottest trends so that every Spirit Halloween shopper walks away with the best costume,” Steven Silverstein, president and CEO, of Spirit Halloween said in a statement. “This year's selections are a reflection of pop culture—a combination of newsworthy people, the most popular movies and familiar retro favorites."

Spirit Halloween’s top costume predictions include Green Lantern, Captain America, Thor, vampires, Smurfs, Charlie Sheen, Monster High, Angry Birds, Lightning McQueen and Lady Gaga.

If Party City’s Web site is any indication, Lady Gaga is a hit with teen girls. Its Web site is sold out of the international singing star’s costume. Including Lady Gaga, other Party City staff’s picks for teen girls—cheerleader, Mad Hatter and a number of other Alice in Wonderland characters—are also sold out.

Party City, a leading national retailer of party goods and greeting cards, has stores in Wheaton, Downers Grove, St. Charles and Geneva.

Spirit Halloween has locations in Downers Grove and Western Springs.

Meanwhile, back at All Dressed Up, Sullivan was up to her eyeballs in zombies Saturday. The store’s makeup artists were making up 15 zombies, a Frankenstein, a devil and a demon.

“The other day, we made up a guy to look like Grumpy,” Sullivan said. “We fashioned a nose for him and made a beard from scratch and sent him on his way.”

Has anyone come to All Dressed Up to be transformed into Charlie Sheen?

“Not a soul,” Sullivan said.

Patch readers will know the popular costumes in their neigborhoods when the last trick-or-treater comes to the door Monday night.

 


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