How Halloween costumes for Dayton kids have changed through the decades

Greg Lynch, Dayton Daily News, Ohio
·1 min read

Oct. 27—When it comes to Halloween costumes for kids, they seems to boil down to two categories: The old classics or the new and trendy.

We looked back through the Dayton Daily News archives to see if we could figure out what was popular over time, based on the advertisements of the day.

Here is a look at what we found, based on decades.

» PHOTOS: Popular Halloween costumes for Dayton kids through the decades

1960s

Popular costumes of the 1960s included cowboys, astronauts, Cleopatra and Super Mouse.

1970s

Strawberry Shortcake, Road Runner and the Six Million Dollar Man were worn by many in the 1970s. This is the decade when Star Wars, Spider-Man and Superman also hit the Halloween scene. All of those are still popular to this day.

1980s

I pity the fool who wasn't wearing a Mr. T costume in the 1980s. Barbie joined the party as well. Other favorites included Wonder Woman, the Smurfs, Alf, Sesame Street characters and the Hulk.

1990s

There seemed to be many more choices for kids in the 1990s. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Catwoman, Genie (Aladdin), Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Woody and Buzz (Toy Story), Ghost (Scream), Pikachu from Pokémon and even Pee Wee Herman costumes were on the market.

2000s

Harry Potter makes the scene during the 2000s and Halloween characters from that movie are not going away anytime soon. Other new addition this decade included Wolverine, Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean), SpongeBob SquarePants and Hanna Montana.

2010s

New princesses Anna and Elsa along with other characters from Frozen were hot during the 2010s. Joining the fray were Rapunzel (Tangled), Merida (Brave) and the Angry Birds. And don't forget the Minions. So many Minions