‘Toy Story’ and Care Bears: Here are some 2026 costume trends in Minnesota
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At Costumes Plus in Maplewood, Amber Tilly welcomes customers in a pink wig, bandana and punk-inspired costume. While her name tag says “Joan” — a la “Jett” — she said customers call her “Silly Miss Tilly.” As a staff member of 14 years, she knows the trends.
“You know the one hunters that come out from the night, the K-pop demon hunters?” she said with a sigh. “We survived last year. We'll survive again this year. We've got a good selection, but it’s starting to slim down. Those kids love those K-pops.”
When it comes to Halloween costume trends among Minnesotans, Costumes Plus knows better than most — it’s a treasure trove of costumes that’s been serving the Twin Cities for over 30 years. From anime to Ghostface from “Scream” to toilet costumes, they have it all. Tilly prefers what she called “obscure” trends. She points to a head of lettuce costume.
“The whole pandemic we had with the lettuce recall,” she said with a laugh.
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Costumes Plus co-owner and buyer Dian Lowe can already spot some of this year’s trends.
“Spider-Man is really big, you know. And now, with Dolly's passing — Dolly Parton — we're getting a lot of requests for wigs in for that,” Lowe said.
Lowe starts looking at costume orders in January with national roadshows that predict trends for costume shops all over the country. But she also caters to what the people who come into the shop want.
“There's also the trends on TikTok,” Lowe said. “Last year, the Lorax was huge, and it came late to us, so we scrambled and bought a whole bunch of orange morph suits. So we'll see what it is this year.”
Lowe said since Costumes Plus is an independent shop, it’s easier to push last-minute costume orders. Meanwhile, larger retailers like HalloweenCostumes.com plan years in advance.
“Our licensors like to tell us developments that they're working on, so then we can kind of get the jump on, OK, this is going to be something that's going to happen in 2027,” said Caitlin Ballin, photo and video manager of HalloweenCostumes.com.
Ballin said in October, the major online retailer sells between 28,000 and 60,000 costumes a day. Headquartered in Mankato, HalloweenCostumes.com ships nationally and internationally.
The company identified this year’s overall trend as the return of blockbuster movies. After years of post-pandemic low ticket sales, movie ticket revenue this summer was the highest it’s been since 2013.
They also keep data on what people in each state search for on their site.
For Minnesota customers, Toy Story, Pokémon and Ghostbusters are some of the top searches. But the most consistent Minnesota search over the last three years is actually Care Bears.
“I think they're just really, really nice, cozy costumes,” Ballin said. “They're like onesies. They're easy to put on. They're warm.”
Ballin said the staff are “just a bunch of Halloween nerds” who love making costumes.
“We make sure that each person that is working on the costume is the right person to work on the costume. You wouldn't get a ‘Lord of the Rings’ fan to make a ‘Star Wars’ costume.”
At Costumes Plus, co-owner Luis Berocay has tips for picking a costume. Think about the weather, have fun and be yourself.
“Do your own thing,” Berocay said. “Bunch of accessories. Come up with your own thing.”
That’s what customer Philip Johnson is doing.
“Every year, I do this screening series at my house for my friends of horror movies, and I buy five different costumes for each of the movies I show,” Johnson said. “So today, I got two wigs and a clown costume, a creepy clown costume.”
As for trends, he has his own predictions: “Pirate from ‘Backrooms.’ I could see a lot of Nikki from ‘Obsession’ because that's an easy one. You just have to have a brick, you know. Sorry, spoiler alert,” Johnson said, laughing.
The costume retailers say kids usually go for superheroes, video game characters or popular movies. Inside the store, 6-year-old Vera is looking for a classic.
“A black cat,” she said while holding a fuzzy black spider.
The days until Halloween are ticking down. What are you going to be?
