From superheroes to spooky creatures, Iowans are snapping up new costumes for this weekend’s Halloween parties.
Jenny Mally, marketing director for the Theatrical Shop in West Des Moines, says the movies are a big influence this year.
“‘Joker’ has been a big request, ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Beetlejuice,’ ‘Adams Family,'” Mally says. “We’re getting lots of requests for clown costumes and I don’t know if that’s because of the last ‘It’ movie and even ‘Wizard of Oz.'”
The younger Halloween shoppers are looking for a certain type of movie character. “All of the superheroes are really popular for kids, Spiderman, Batman, Wonder Woman,” Mally says. “Also for kids, Forky from ‘Toy Story,’ and we’ve got this costume called the Cemetery Bride, which is a combination between a ghost and a vampire. That’s also been popular this year.”
Mally says interest in political costumes is slow even though the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucuses are about three months away.
“We haven’t seen a lot of that,” she says. “We do have Trump wigs and that kind of thing available but there really haven’t been a lot of requests for that.”
Many Iowans are holding Halloween parties this weekend as October 31st falls on a Wednesday this year.
(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)