As Iowa kids prepare for trick-or-treating, adults are also getting geared up for Halloween and costumes are flying off the racks as fast as vampire bats. Katherine Neary, who helps run a costume shop in the Omaha-Council Bluffs area, says grown-ups are gravitating to outfits from decades past this season, especially the 1960s.
“The big kids are being a lot of Sonny and Chers and Woodstock,” Neary says. “We’ve had a number of flappers and gangsters, and Lady Gaga has been a big one and cops and robbers.” While some might think it’s a challenge to get men to select a costume, Neary says that’s not been the case at her store.
“Oh, no, we actually had a terrific Elvis rental yesterday. It was a younger guy and he just looked hot,” Neary says, laughing. “Guys have a lot of fun playing dress-up too.” Another costume shop worker, Jeremy Lubash, says the little goblins are going for variety this season, but there are a few costumes that are beating out the others.
“For boys, I’ve noticed the video game Halo, all the characters from that have been really popular,” Lubash says. As for girls, he says he’s noticed a lot of girls coming in wanting to be the Candy Corn Witch, “which pretty much you look like a piece of candy corn candy. They’re also really into pirates this year, the girls, too.” Lubash says he’s also seeing a lot of parents coming in who want to dress up the very little tykes.
“We’ve had a lot of people coming in for infant and toddler costumes for Curious George,” he says. “I also noticed a lot of people are looking for Star Wars costumes for infants…and a lot of people are looking for bats and bumble bees and ladybugs.” For adults, Lubash suggests Snooki from TV’s “Jersey Shore” and adds, the Michael Meyers hockey mask from “Halloween” never gets old.