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HalloweenCostumes.com 2023 Press Kit

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ABOUT THE COMPANY

HALLOWEENCOSTUMES.COM AND FUN.COM

A sewing machine and a love of costumes. That’s all Jenice Fallenstein needed to hand-craft dozens of unique costumes for her children every Halloween. The Fallenstein family transformed that love of Halloween and homemade costumes into a small costume rental shop in their garage so the whole town could experience her quality designs. In the beginning, they only had a few dozen costumes, but the shop became an instant hit and grew faster than they could imagine.

Tom Fallenstein saw an opportunity. He brought his mom’s costumes to even more Halloween fans by taking the shop online. Now, HalloweenCostumes.com has become the largest online only retailer of Halloween costumes, carrying over 12,000 styles of costumes with plenty of accessories and home decorations to match—many of which we design and create in-house.

Our incredible team has never stopped growing either. We combined with Elope in 2020 and have grown to over 240 regular team members and 2,500 seasonal team members. Our 200,000 square foot warehouse in Mankato, Minnesota acts as our home base, but we also have design teams working in Colorado and a satellite warehouse in Elsmere, Kentucky.

We ship #NerdyGoofyFun all around the world!

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Tom Fallenstein is the founder and CEO of FUN.com. He was born and raised in Mankato, Minnesota, surrounded by all things Halloween.

Tom built the company’s first website, Flapper Costumes.com, in 2001 with $5,000 he borrowed from his parents. He sold one costume style in just three colors and ran the website out of his college dorm (back then the entire inventory fit in a closet). Soon after, he built three more websites while continuing to study Computer Information Science and Graphic Design at Minnesota State University, Mankato. After graduating in December of 2004, he decided to make Costumes Galore his full time job, transforming the business into what we know today as FUN.com and HalloweenCostumes.com.

The Star Tribute has named FUN.com one of the top places to work in Minnesota in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

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TRENDS FOR 2023

Halloween favorites like witches, zombies, and ghosts are always popular, but pop culture and the media drive most of the unique costume trends for the year. 2023 has plenty of new trends to follow, and these will be some of the most shopped costumes of the year.

Top 5 Themes

WOMEN

  1. Barbie
  2. The Little Mermaid
  3. Spider-Gwen/Spider-Woman
  4. Wednesday Addams
  5. Video Games (Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda)

MEN

  1. Horror (Ghostface, Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Chucky, Jason Voorhees)
  2. Video Games (Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Five Nights at Freddy's)
  3. Ken (Barbie)
  4. Superheroes (Spider-Man, Peacemaker, The Boys)
  5. Inflatables (Dinosaur, Ride-On, Pick-Me-Up, Animal)

GIRLS

  1. The Little Mermaid
  2. Barbie
  3. Bluey
  4. PAW Patrol
  5. Spider-Gwen

BOYS

  1. Spider-Man/Miles Morales
  2. Video Games(Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Five Nights at Freddy's, Sonic the Hedgehog)
  3. Bluey
  4. PAW Patrol
  5. Transformers

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TRENDS FOR 2023

Top 5 Themes

FAMILIES/GROUPS

  1. Harry Potter
  2. Super Mario Bros.
  3. Superheroes (Spider-Man/The Avengers, X-Men, The Flash/Batman/Justice League)
  4. Star Wars (The Mandalorian, Boba Fett)
  5. Historical/Period Drama (Bridgerton, Grease, A League of Their Own, Peaky Blinders, decades/20s/70s)
  6. Disney Villains (Ursula, Hocus Pocus, Cruella, Maleficent, Evil Queen, Jafar, Captain Hook)
  7. Movies/Television/Video Games (The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Last of Us, Stranger Things, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Wizard of Oz, Power Rangers, Scooby-Doo)

INCLUSIVE

  1. Adaptive
  2. Plus Size/Tall
  3. Baby Carrier
  4. Wagon Cover

PETS

  1. Food (hot dog, taco, pizza, burrito)
  2. Animals/Dinosaurs (spider, T-Rex, Triceratops, lion, shark)
  3. Disney Sidekicks (Flounder, Abu, Olaf, Stitch)
  4. Occupational (UPS, USPS, pirate)
  5. Horror (Michael Myers, Chucky)

DÉCOR

  1. Giant décor (skeletons, inflatables)
  2. Trees/wreaths
  3. Animal skeletons
  4. Animatronics
  5. Light-up/glowing skulls
  6. Spider webs
  7. Poseable human skeletons

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Trends for 2023

Major Trends

2023 has an amazing line-up of movies and video games, which will drive the costume trends this year. Barbie, The Little Mermaid, and Spider-Man: Across the Universe all lit up the silver screen, so expect to see Barbie, Ken, and tons of Spider-Man variants like Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen. Nintendo also made some major waves with the release of Super Mario Bros. Movie, which brought the game franchise into theaters. Combine that with the success of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of a Kingdom and you have the perfect equation for video game costumes to make a comeback.

The small screen has also been trending in a big way. The Wednesday series on Netflix may have come out in 2022, but it created an overnight resurgence of Addams Family fans. Costumes based on kids’ shows are always a hit with toddlers, and Bluey has made itself known as one of the best children’s shows of all time. Lastly, you just can’t keep a good pup down! PAW Patrol is still delighting toddlers, making them an outstanding choice for young children once again.

Other major trends include some of the usual suspects when it comes to Halloween. Horror movie styles, like Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Ghostface, Chucky, and Jason are determined to bring scary back, and based on current trends, they are succeeding! To round it all out, funny costumes, particularly inflatable costumes, seem to be generating a lot of interest. The age of the inflatable T-Rex costume doing wacky things is still upon us!

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Trends for 2023

Major Trends

For many, Halloween is a constant quest for the perfect group costume. Super Mario and Star Wars lead as some of the top themes for families and groups, due to their wide variety of characters and styles to choose from. Harry Potter is still riding on the hype from the Hogwarts Legacy video game, but has also been a major choice for families looking to coordinate matching wizard styles. Bridgerton may be solely responsible for the huge uptick in historical costume queries. Grease, A League of Their Own, and Peaky Blinders have also done their part in rejuvenating retro and historical themes.

The push for more inclusivity in costumes has also continued to grow. Costume brands are offering more plus sizes than ever, along with brand new inclusive costumes designed for those who previously had problems with standard costumes. These new adaptive costumes are intended to meet more needs than ever. Even pets are getting an upgrade in costume options as families try to include their animal members into the holiday.

Another mainstay that’s been holding strong is Halloween décor. As the pandemic ended, a desire to create amazing Halloween scenes in their home emerged, and it’s still going strong. Interest in oversized décor, skeletons, animatronics, and various types of light-up décor is at an all-time high.

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Made By Us

A Passion For True Quality

We believe that costumes have the power to create some of life's best moments. That's why we started Made By Us. This diverse selection of costumes and accessories are artfully designed and expertly crafted by our talented team of artists, designers, and developers.

Each project begins with a passion for true quality—embroidered patches, faux fur cut with care, and hand-selected fabrics that are as durable as they are comfortable. Those are just a few examples of how much craft and creativity we put into each and every product. Just for you.

No matter how much time it takes, our goal has always remained the same. To create products that inspire your life's best moments—the big, the small, the funny, the spooky, and the sweet. The moments we all cherish, that's Made By Us.

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MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

UGLY HALLOWEEN SWEATERS

We love the costume fun that comes with Halloween night, but here at HalloweenCostumes.com we’re always looking to turn up the fun for the entire season! We tasked our creative costume designers with upping the spooky ante and, well, they delivered. We’re so excited to introduce our latest product line… Halloween Sweaters!

Here’s a small sample of the buzz these sweaters have inspired:

“They take the ‘lazy costume’ trend to the next level while still imparting the exact right note of festive irony to any event.” –People

“The pullovers make perfect last-minute costume alternatives in a pinch. Plus, they're heavy enough to keep you warm and cozy despite Halloween's often chilly temperatures.” –Cosmopolitan

“…with these new Halloween sweaters you can cuddle up with a Fair Isle sweater in the crisp autumn weather, but have vampire coffins and skulls decorate the knit instead of the traditional zig-zag prints.” –Bustle

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MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

INFOGRAPHICS & PRINTABLES

Our content marketing experts produce a steady stream of infographics and printables that have appeared across the internet.

Evolution of Wonder Woman appeared on: Forbes

Royal Rumble Stats appeared on: USA today

Luigi “Death Stare” Pumpkin Pattern appeared on: Game Informer

TMNT Easter Egg Costumes appeared on: comicbook

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Media highlights

Around the web

HalloweenCostumes.com costumes and content have also appeared on...

  • AV Club
  • Buzzfeed
  • Bustle
  • Cosmopolitan
  • Country Living
  • E! News
  • Fandango
  • Fox Sports
  • Good Morning America
  • GQ
  • The Hollywood Reporter
  • Huffpost
  • Nerdist
  • People
  • PopSugar
  • Seventeen
  • Time
  • The Washington Post
  • Yahoo
  • and more...

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HalloweenCostumes.com Monster