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Halloween Costume Preview

By Bill Tancer

Where the Wild Things Are
Photo: Warner Bros.

New Halloween costume ideas creep up every year, but you don't have to wait until All Hallows Eve to get the inside scoop on the hottest costumes of 2009. Writer and Internet trend analyst Bill Tancer goes online to discover the most searched costume ideas and shares his findings.


Wondering what neighborhood trendsetters will be sporting at your door this Halloween, or want to make sure you've got a unique idea for an upcoming costume party? You could pay attention to the buzz around the office water cooler, but let's face it, that's a very limited sample.

Gather around my water cooler and get a sample of what 10 million Internet users are searching on. With over 5 million search terms to analyze every week, there is a massive amount of data around the most popular toys, electronics, television shows and, yes, even Halloween costumes.

Searches for "Halloween costumes" began to occur as early as the first week of June this year and were in full swing by mid-August. Analyzing the top 8,000 searches containing the word "costume" for last week reveals that Hollywood remains one of the driving forces in the disguises that we choose for Halloween. If you're still stumped for what to wear, here's last week's top 10 list:

  • Michael Jackson
  • Queen of Hearts
  • Catwoman
  • Gypsy
  • Tinkerbell
  • Where the Wild Things Are
  • Pirate
  • Mad Hatter
  • Poison Ivy
  • Flapper
Keep reading for more costume ideas