Scary Kids Costumes: Choosing The Perfect Costume Can Be A Child’s Game

Halloween arrives every year, and the average parent finds themselves hunting for the perfect costume for their children. The costume world is broad and has countless options, but as a site focused on horror, we are mainly interested in one type of costume that fits us like a glove. Scary costumes for kids are a complex subject, a choice that includes many advantages and disadvantages that are very important to consider before deciding to equip your boy or girl with them.

Do you feel sick of the costumes of Disney princesses, Anna and Elsa, Mickey Mouse, Superman, Spiderman, and other standard costumes? Looking for a costume that will make any parent who is a horror fan proud and will also expose your children (in a gentle way) to the genre we love so much? Here is everything you need to know about scary kids’ costumes.

Why Should You Choose Scary Kids Costumes?

Scary children’s costumes come in various styles, as shown below. The common denominator is that these costumes can offer significant benefits at the most basic level.

Art And Creativity

Scary kids costumes can introduce your children to the world of horror, with characters they can relate to, such as witches, vampires, or zombies. Characters of this type stimulate their imagination and may, believe it or not, develop their creative side.

While cute or “normal” costumes may be predictable or even boring in some cases (but of course not in all!), scary costumes have remarkable potential and may activate children’s imaginations in different ways. For example, think about appropriate makeup for the costume that the children can take part in or complementary accessories that the children choose.

Boosting Self-Confidence

Scary costumes may contribute to boosting children’s self-confidence. Their opportunity to be “someone else” – which could be a frightening but also intense and mysterious character – may attract positive attention to children, and most children like to receive attention. The children are stepping out of their comfort zone and realizing they can still receive appreciation, especially compliments, from the environment.

Halloween kids costumes have an empowering potential, giving children feelings of control and power. Shy children, for example, can find a particular pleasure in horror costumes because they make them feel protected by the character they have chosen. You may understand why if you have seen the Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers Survive a Thousand and One Sequels.

Overcoming Fears

On our website, we also focus on the “theory of fears,” if you can call it that: various fears that may characterize children and adults alike, with or without regard to the contribution of horror films to their development or overcoming. Although costumes are not psychological therapy, they allow children to confront their fears in a friendly, entertaining, and, above all, safe way. If you make fear something children can control, it may be less scary.

Children may learn how to control fear and realize what seems scary on the outside is sometimes not so threatening when they understand what is underneath or actually when they know it is just a costume. If children learn that a vampire or zombie, for example, “is not real” through the costume, there is potential for some overcoming of their fear of these kinds of creatures.

Self-Expression

We can’t ignore the issue of self-expression – even if in the case of a costume for especially young children, the self-expression can be that of the parents. With all due respect, I find it hard to believe that a one-year-old child would start a tantrum if he did not receive a Beetlejuice costume for children, for example.

In other words, these costumes can express the love for the genre, whether of the children (and there are horror characters that children or teenagers also learn to love) or the parents themselves. Children who love scary costumes can find common ground with others their age.

Scary costumes can boost a child’s self-confidence. When a child dresses up as a frightening character and receives positive reactions from the environment, they learn to step out of their comfort zone and still be accepted and appreciated. This way, they can understand that they can be different and unique.

Making The Perfect Family Costumes

Want to dress up together with your children? Scary costumes may be the solution. Some costumes are pre-designed for a family or a bunch of friends, but you can also create group costumes by purchasing separate costumes under the same idea or brand.

Scary family costumes can include, for example, different characters from “The Addams Family,” “Ghostbusters,” “Inside Out,” and more. Another option is to choose an identical costume (apart from the dimensions) or different characters from the same world: for example, a zombie costume, a witch, skeletons, and so on. You can also choose a specific brand and go “All In,” like Chucky or Freddy Krueger, which offer different versions for all sizes in various styles (for example, the mother or big sister can choose a sexy Freddy Krueger costume).

If you want to take it to the extreme, you can even include your dog in the scary costume. The following review we did on the topic of scary costumes for dogs is a great place to start your research.

Don’t know where to start? On the Halloween Costumes website, one of the largest international costume websites, we found a system that will make it easy for you to assemble a group costume. All you have to do is define the sizes and measurements of the family members, choose a theme, and then the specific costumes under that category.

The Disadvantages Of Scary Costumes For Children

With all the advantages of scary children’s costumes, there are also disadvantages that you should be aware of. As you can deduce from their name and appearance, costumes can – like the – be scary for some children, especially the younger ones. Halloween costumes can scare children who cannot adequately distinguish between reality and imagination or can even intensify children’s fears.

This is especially true in a sensitive time like the one we live in. Many countries have been through a certain amount of collective trauma in recent years. When children are exposed to horrific stories and sights through the media and society and sometimes experience stressful situations such as alarms and missiles, they may become sensitive in this regard. In some countries or cities across the globe, the authorities issued a somewhat unusual order not to come to school with costumes that could cause panic, fear, or harm to others. Teachers, kindergarten teachers, and educators asked children who come with scary costumes to change them.

It is undoubtedly possible to align with this statement or to walk around with costumes that may be frightening, mainly in safer and more intimate spaces, such as family parties. On the other hand, some of the costumes defined as “scary” are friendly even in the version intended for children, so you can wear them wholeheartedly: for example, a funny witch costume or a cute zombie. Of course, if you have doubts, you can consult the educational staff in the framework where your child studies.

Another concern in some cases is that scary costumes may encourage aggressive or hostile behavior in children because some will not understand the difference between reality and imagination or will “get into the role too much.” Some parents worry that a scary costume will cause the child to be interested in being exposed in an excessive and especially age-inappropriate way to content that is inappropriate for him, following the famous “The Disappearance of Childhood” theory of Neil Postman, one of the central figures in media research. If a child who dresses up as Pennywise might want to watch the “It” movies, for example, or look for scary games for the smartphone he may have, parents may be in trouble.

What Do The Studies Say About Scary Kids Costumes?

It is difficult to find a definitive answer to the usefulness of scary costumes for children, like countless other issues related to children’s development and education. In this context, it is possible to mention several critical studies conducted in recent years that have touched on the subject, albeit more indirectly. A 1973 study examined how children who dressed up on Halloween behaved. The study found that about 83% of the children who dressed up did not resist the temptation and took more candy, or even money, when they had the opportunity, compared to about 66% of the children who did not dress up (i.e., not anonymous). We can add this research to others that have shown that adults in costume have a more significant potential to break accepted norms, such as alcohol and drug use or behavior that is considered embarrassing.

Another interesting issue is what the scary costume your child chooses may indicate. Some studies have found that some children choose a frightening costume as an expression of their curiosity about complex issues such as death, which some parents would prefer they not focus on at the stage they are in their lives. Another point you can take positively or negatively is that a scary costume is part of children’s coping with internal fears.

Although we are not aware of too many academic studies that directly examine the possible impact of scary costumes on children, there are professional references that indicate that these costumes can affect children’s behavior, one way or another, reflect their coping with fears and influence their conduct in the social environment.

As parents, you should be aware of the potential effects and choose a costume appropriate for the child’s age, character, and social situation. You can talk to the child and explain that this is a “game,” the clothing is not actual, and if necessary, these characters do not exist. If you are afraid that the costume will be too scary, you can choose “cute” models in advance or incorporate subtle aspects into it, for example, humorous touches in the final look, makeup, accessories, and so on.

Which Scary Costumes For Children Can You Find?

The good news is that if you choose a scary costume for your child, you will quickly discover that the range of options here is extensive, with dozens of potential ideas, each of which comes in several versions.

To make it easier for you to navigate, we have created a simple division into common types of scary costumes for children:

Classic Scary Costumes For Kids

Classic costumes offer a threatening character, which is relatively general and not necessarily associated with a specific film or TV series. Under this category, you will find, for example:

• A vampire costume for kids – its main features are a black cloak, a white shirt, and sharp vampire teeth. You can also upgrade it with vampire makeup, fake blood, etc.
• Zombie costume for children – a costume that combines torn and made-up clothes with a ragged look, sometimes with fake blood stains, which introduces children to the world of the “living dead“
• Mummy costume for children – as you read in our review of mummy costumes, this is a costume that is mainly based on wrapping the boy or girl’s body in white bandages (or in a costume that simulates white bandages), sometimes with decorations and accessories
• Witch costume for children – another character that children have grown up with in different variations, for example, fairy tales or stories they know (“Hansel and Gretel,” “The Wizard of Oz,” etc.). You will find many friendly and not scary costumes, including those inspired by the current hits of recent years: a villain costume (whether Glinda or Elphebe), costumes from the world of Harry Potter (like the Hermione costume), and more
• Ghost costumes for children – there are very friendly, even cute ghost costumes, alongside some more scary and “adult” ones
• Skeleton costume for children – from a simple costume of a garment that simulates a skeleton to more creative versions of skeletons: for example, a skeleton combined with a mermaid, zombie, dinosaur, and so on
• Scary clown kids costume – we have already written about the reasonably common fear of clowns. There are scary clown costumes for children, alongside the familiar clowns from the cinema, which we will get to immediately

Costumes Of Famous Horror Icons

We continue our review with children’s costumes of famous horror characters. In some cases, these are identical costumes to those for adults (except for the difference in size), but in others, they are childish or even less scary versions of the same costume.

Under this category, you can find, for example:

• A Chucky costume for children, based on the horror doll that is probably the most famous of them al
• A Freddy Krueger costume for children
• A Pennywise costume for children
• A Frankenstein costume for children (well, well. Frankenstein’s monster), as well as the Bride of Frankenstein
• A Scream costume for kids – here, too, you are welcome to read our comprehensive review on the subject
• A Wednesday Addams costume for children, which became very popular following the super-successful Netflix series
• A Megan costume for children, the android robot who starred in one of the most successful horror films of recent years

Costumes From Horror Films Intended For Kids (And Adults)

If you want to play it a little safer, you can choose characters from films with a specific horror element that are very suitable for children. Under this category, we have included some familiar and innocent-looking characters with a scary twist (usually, not too much).

Among the costumes that meet these conditions, you will find:

• “The Nightmare Before Christmas” kids costumes, with much-loved characters like Jack Skellington, Sully, Zero the Dog and others
• Coraline costume from the masterpiece movie “Coraline,” Includes the familiar characteristics of the character, such as the yellow raincoat, boots, or buttons for the eyes
• Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride” costumes, mainly the bride Emily or the groom Victor
• Pixar’s “Monsters, Inc.“ with characters such as James P. Sullivan, Mike (yes, the green monster with the one eye), the baby Boo and others
• The Huggy Wuggy costume, whose familiar aspects we addressed in a separate article on the subject

Where To Buy Scary Kids Costumes?

Following the high demand for children’s costumes, including scary ones, you can find an impressive list of costumes of this type in the months before Halloween (and sometimes throughout the year). Physical stores can be a successful choice, especially in the months and weeks before Halloween. You can try it through general toy stores, dedicated costume stores, stock stores, and sometimes retail chains. Before the holidays and on specific dates throughout the year, costume stands are set up in malls, sometimes at discounted prices. The disadvantage is that the costumes offered in these stores may be generic, certainly from the perspective of scary costumes, and require you to wait until the last minute.

Another option, you guessed it, is to buy costumes online. You can do this through stores, but also international sites. On these sites, you will find a much wider variety of models unavailable in every location. Prices may be cheaper, especially if international shipping costs are reasonable. Order the costumes well behind the day you need them to avoid getting stuck at the last minute.

Among other things, you can buy costumes on the following websites:

Halloween Costumes

Fun.com

AliExpress

Amazon

Costumes.com

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us

Save