I have never received as many high fives for a Halloween costume than the year a friend and I dressed as giant bananas with huge cartoon hands. But despite the ubiquity of these fruity outfits — as a simple Internet search will show you — the maker of one banana costume is accusing Kmart of dropping it as a vendor in order to sell its own alleged knockoff version. [More]
halloween costumes
Disney Pulls ‘Moana’ Polynesian Costume Amid Claims It’s Offensive
By 9.22.16
Disney apologized on Wednesday and said it would be pulling a boy’s costume for a Polynesian character in the movie Moana, after backlash from Pacific Islanders who compared it to blackface. [More]
Hardly Anyone Really Dresses As Ebola Nurses Or Pizza Rats For Halloween
By 10.22.15
This may come as a surprise, and I’m sorry if you’re not ready to hear this, but some of-the-moment Halloween costumes that make headlines exist mostly to attract media attention for their marketers. It’s true: last year, apparently no Sexy Ebola Containment Suit costumes were sold, and the same might apply to this year’s Sexy Pizza Rat costume. [More]
After You Take Off Your Sexy Ebola Containment Costume, Donate A Real One
By 10.30.14
Sure, Ebola containment suits are apparently a popular Halloween costume this year. We get it: the costume is easy to put together, timely, and some people find it amusing. Yet when they take off their fake hazmat suits (or their incredibly fake sexy hazmat suits) will any of the people wearing this costume think about the health care workers in western Africa whose lives depend on the real versions of these suits? [More]
Dressing Your Baby In A Marijuana Leaf Costume: Totally Chill Or Completely Inappropriate?
By 10.29.14
On the one hand, marijuana is legal for medical and recreational use in some states in our fair country, and the plant’s leaf is just another green thing that grows in the ground. But on the other hand, babies and marijuana. [More]
The Inevitable Comes To Pass: Of Course A “Sexy Ebola Containment Suit” Exists
By 10.27.14
As the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, as the Earth doth go round the moon and as strangers will inevitably call me Mary despite evidence that that is not, in fact, my name, we as a society cannot resist the temptation to create topical Halloween costumes. But we’re also not content with just one iteration, say, of an Ebola Containment Suit costume for Halloween this year. Nope. There inevitably had to be a a Sexy Ebola Containment Suit costume. [More]
Company Touts “Ebola Containment Suit” As Literally The Most “Viral” Costume This Halloween
By 10.14.14
Sometimes I like to think that just once there will be a tragic situation that won’t lead to someone trying to make a buck off a serious situation. But hey, it’s Halloween, when sensitivity to world events apparently goes out the window. So why not charge people $79.99 to dress up in an “Ebola Containment Suit”? [More]
Hey Kids, Let’s Not Trick-Or-Treat In This Completely Black Bodysuit
By 9.30.14
If there’s one problem with kids, it’s that cars can easily see them and avoid hitting them, especially at night. Wait. That’s wrong. Kids are small and easily overlooked when crossing streets, and never more so than when cloaked completely in black on a dark Halloween night. [More]
Some In Wisconsin Upset Over Local Stores Selling “Slender Man” Costume After Attack On 12-Year-Old
By 9.18.14
Residents of a Wisconsin town where two young girls are accused of repeatedly stabbing a third girl, as part of an attempt to please a fictional online character known as “Slender Man,” aren’t too happy with some local stores for selling Slender Man Halloween costumes. [More]
I Don’t Want To Dress My 11-Year Old As Sexy Oscar The Grouch For Halloween
By 9.15.14
Last year, we brought the world’s attention to a “Naughty Leopard” costume for toddler girls at Walmart, and the product was eventually pulled from shelves. (To be honest, we were more concerned that it didn’t look like a leopard at all than the costume sexualizing young girls.) Reader Corrie has an 11-year-old daughter who wants to dress up as Oscar the Grouch, though, and she disapproves of the ready-made options. [More]
Halloween Creep Strikes Costco With July Costume Displays
By 7.28.14
If you already finished all of your back-to-school shopping back in June when Staples started up its sale campaigns, maybe it’s time to get started on other ridiculously early holiday tasks. For example, it’s almost August: do you have your kids’ Halloween costumes ready? [More]
Party City Saves Money On Models, Just Makes Photos For Plus-Size Items Wider
By 10.22.13
If you’re a costume store and have both misses’ and plus-sized tights and leggings to sell, there are two things you could do. You could hire models who fit into each respective product line, and take photos of their legs in each item. Or you could take pictures of a misses’ size model wearing the tights, then stretch out the images to create the illusion of a plus-size model. Party City did one of these. [More]
Retailers Realize Osama Bin Laden Costume Might Be Offensive, Stop Selling It
By 10.4.13
We have to wonder whether anyone pays attention at all to the Halloween costumes offered at major retailers. The “naughty leopard” incident was weird, but how is it even remotely okay to sell Osama bin Laden costumes to the public? After the Sikh Coalition pointed this out, so far Walmart, Amazon, Sears, and Rite Aid have pulled the outfit from their shelves. [More]
UK Retailers Realize “Mental Patient” & “Psycho Ward” Also Aren’t Great Halloween Costumes
By 9.26.13
While we’re dealing with Naughty Leopard costumes for kids that don’t even remotely resemble actual leopards, British retailers have their own hands full with controversial Halloween outfits. Across the pond they’re called “Fancy Dress Costumes” and with names like “Psycho Ward” and “Mental Patient,” retailers selling them are coming under fire from the mental health community. [More]
Walmart Now Offers “Naughty” Costumes For Toddler Girls
By 9.20.13
Every Halloween, we’re at the forefront of showing you who the Costume Industry Gods have decided needs to be “sexy” this year. Little girls as sexy pirate wenches? Dogs as sexy Catholic schoolgirls? This year, Walmart helps you to start your toddler daughter off early with the “Naughty Leopard” costume. [More]
Sesame Street Issues Cease & Desist To Sellers Of Sexy Big Bird Outfits Because That’s Just Wrong
By 10.19.12
Let’s not get into the whole “why do women (and some men!) always feel the need to sexify Halloween costumes and turn otherwise innocent outfits into slutty ones?” thing. But Sexy Big Bird? That won’t fly with Sesame Street Workshop, and it’s cracking down on all those illicit costume peddlers by issuing a cease and desist to a site selling costumes like “”Exclusive Yellow Dress and Stockings” with a Big Bird headpiece that was licensed to another company. [More]
Seized Pirate Costumes Rendered Decidedly Scarier Due To High Levels Of Lead
By 10.16.12 — Updated: 10.24.12
Attention, Halloween lovers: While you might want to be perceived as dangerous this Halloween, there are some costumes that are so dangerous they’re actually harmful to your health. Shipments of pirate costumes coming from China were recently seized by authorities because they contained high levels of lead. The better to sink you with when you walk the plank, perhaps, but not so great for your health. [More]
Target Recalls Frog Masks That Could Suffocate Kids
By 10.24.11
Some early bird parents who indulged their kids’ wishes to dress up as frogs for Halloween will have to re-do their costume shopping. Target recalled 3,400 products called Children’s Frog Masks due to a potential suffocation hazard. [More]
