Halloween Costume Trends

Do you remember the Halloween party scene from the movie Mean Girls? You know, the one where Lindsay Lohan's character dresses up for her very first Halloween party and ends up wearing a gruesomely scary ensemble -- only to arrive and discover all the other girls came dressed up in cute and flattering costumes? Talk about disaster.

Google Insights for Search can help you avoid pitfalls like that by uncovering the latest Halloween costume trends. Inputting a few traditional Halloween costumes into the tool unveils a few revelations. Naturally, a huge seasonal spike in costume queries surfaces around the month of October. However, if you dig a bit deeper, you notice the impact of popular movie releases on Halloween costume searches.



For instance, in 2006 the Pirates of the Carribbean sequel hit theaters, sending ‘pirate costume’ searches through the roof; actually, those searches took the top spot across all six years among the five costumes we looked at for this exercise.

Another example of a blockbuster hit boosting the popularity for specific Halloween costume searches involves the Twilight phenomenon. The movie gained popularity leading up to its release in 2008. Subsequently, ‘vampire costume’ queries rose 64% from the previous year.

Searches for Lady Gaga rank the lowest compared to the rest of the costumes we looked at, alluding to the fact that general pop culture may retain a lower impact on user queries than what is playing on the big screen. (However, something tells me a meat dress or two, reminiscent of her recent MTV Video Music Awards ensemble, may pop up this season.)

Based on the movies released this year, what are your predictions for 2010?

Posted by Megan Runser, Google Tech Team