Spooky, Army or Disney: How to Choose the Best Costumes For Kids This Coming Halloween

Last Updated on November 13, 2023 by Canny Costumes

As a parent and Halloween enthusiast, it seems that picking a costume not only for you but also for your children can be a rather difficult task since there are a lot of beautiful options to choose from. Choosing the best one may be a bigger task than you think.

This decision seems to be harder if your child is not ready to make the decision for himself or provide suggestions, so I’m going to try and help you out pick a costume with my mindset.

First of all, you should always put in mind the look you want to go for and consider the approaches I’m going to showcase. Always take your child’s desires when deciding. This is an experience that can be enjoyed best when you are wearing something you feel a connection with, instead of just a random costume.

Don’t Make This Mistake as an Otaku Parent

Now, this term might be new for a lot of people, but if you are deeply involved in the world of animation and movies, specifically speaking, Japanese movies, you’ll know right away what an Otaku is.

In Western culture, an Otaku is someone who’s fascinated by the Japanese culture, as mentioned over here. But in Japan, an Otaku is someone who’s a hardcore fan of something specific, be it Pixar movies, Disney movies, Old Western culture, martial arts films, sci-fi, among many other examples.

Now, why am I mentioning this? Well, because there’s a trend among parents that involves wanting their children to dress as their interests and hobbies. For example, hard fans of the Ghibli Studio movies tend to dress their children as some of the most iconic characters of their sagas, whereas some Star War fans might want their child to become Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker.

But it does not only involve movies, as mentioned over here. Otakus can also be hard fans of certain things in specific, like camping, motocross, surfing, and other hobbies. Other parents might want to align their child’s costume to their line of work and make them wear something related to that, like an army dad wanting their kid to wear military costumes.

You should fix this mindset and try to be open-minded about it. Suggest options to your children about things you know they like, and make sure they are excited about their ideas and yours. After all, it is an experience for them more than for you!

The Cute Side of Halloween

Now, as I mentioned earlier, you should at least have an idea in mind if your children can’t come up with their own. The safe but rather adorable option is to go for a cute alternative.

And we all know how popular they are during Halloween. Kids dressing up as dogs, cats, fairies, werewolves, little devils, and Disney or Pixar characters are good examples.

I myself dressed my daughter once as her favorite movie character from Frozen, Elsa. And I’ve always seen little kids enjoying themselves while being amazingly cute and asking for candies.

There’s no shame in wanting to pick something cute for your child, but if he or she doesn’t want to be cute… There are other alternatives.

The Cool & Spooky Side of Halloween

Ah… I myself was one of these kids who wanted to look cool instead of scary or cute when it was time for asking for candies along with my group of friends. And thankfully, my father knew how to make me look cool.

I always had a fascination for his work and admired military wear, so he bought me toy weapons, masks, clothes, and even hats, to be the coolest I could be. And I always remember this warmly, because he knew what he was doing. You can check out these costumes to know more or less what I used to dress like.

A cool costume often involves cops, soldiers, detectives, spartans, knights, dragons, characters from badass movies, or videogames. Superheroes like Batman, Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Captain America, or Black Panther. Spooky and scary villains like Thanos, Skullface, Ultron, Venom, Green Goblin.

If you have those references as examples, you’ll probably come out with a great costume choice.

Make Sure to Make It Enjoyable

Be patient with your kids and make sure to listen to their doubts and suggestions. If it is their first Halloween, they might be excited and confused at the same time. So many choices and options to go for can be overwhelming for them, so help them decide as much as you can.

Narrow down their choices by selecting options that you know they like a lot, and show them examples from online stores, and make sure to know their measures before purchasing a costume. Then, try to live the experience as both a parent and as a kid, so your children will understand that it is important to have fun and enjoy the adventure as much as possible.