The annual ghoulish celebration of Halloween happens this Saturday. In the United States, children have fun dressing up in scary and funny costumes and "trick or treat" to get candy. Costumes used to be simple and often home-made, like a sheet for a ghost or a hat and a broom for a witch, but today, they are a huge industry with lots of choices.
There are scary masks, mustaches, funny hats and costumes galore at Total Fright, one of the biggest Halloween stores in the Washington, DC area.
“I’m going to knock on the door, and then hide, and I’m going to scare them, then they’ll drop their candy and I can get it,” said Robinson Andino, a 9-year-old trick or treater.
But Halloween isn’t just for kids anymore, said Lorenzo Caltagirone, the owner of Total Fright.
“Adults get together and families get together,” he said.
The biggest trend this year are nostalgia costumes -- superheroes from decades-old comic books and TV and movies -- like Batman.
“A lot of costumes are coming from movies or inspired by movies,” noted Caltagirone.
Star Wars costumes are a favorite especially since a new chapter in the series is coming out in December.
“Star Wars has always been popular over the decades, and one of the number one villain to dress up for Halloween is Darth Vader,” Caltagirone added.
And during this political season in the U.S., it's not surprising that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump masks are in demand.
“Clinton is one of our top sellers right now and Donald Trump, we already sold out of Donald Trump masks. Also what’s very popular is the Obama presidential mask. We also have a pumpkin Obama,” said Caltagirone.
French college student Raed Bokhari is going to be a zombie for his first Halloween in the U.S.
“People are scared of them even though they aren’t real. The thing that makes them scary is that they have a thirst for blood than any creature that has ever been in the movies,” said Bokhari.
And it’s not just boys who want to look frightening.
“We see a growing trend that even young girls wanting to be scary,” said Caltagirone.
Margaret Batton, a trapeze performer, is doing something quite out of the ordinary on Halloween.
“I chose a skeleton because I’m going to be doing flying trapeze, and doing a performance, and we’re doing the typical Halloween costumes and this is easy to move in, easy to fly in,” she explained.
So whether flying in the air, going trick or treating on the ground, or attending a party, there’s a costume for every occasion.
