Over the past 25 years costumes have come and gone with the trends. Whether you’re looking for a throwback costume or are simply curious as to what Halloween was like in the early 90s, we’ve got you covered with a list of the most popular costumes by year since 1990.
1990 — Ninja Turtles The original Ninja Turtles live action movie came out in 1990, which meant the costumes were everywhere. It was a huge hit and those costumes flew off the shelves.
Which turtle were you?
1991 — Terminator The sequel, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, came out in 1991 leaving people everywhere looking for any excuse to use the phrase “I’ll be back”.
Don’t lie, you totally read that in his voice.
1992 — Catwoman In 1992 Batman Returns was released and included one fantastic feline character. A black cat costume based off of a badass female character for Halloween? Sign us up.
1993 — Ninja Turtles & Barney Ninja Turtles III came out in 1993 and the boys were back as the hit of Halloween parties everywhere.
However, this year there was another costume just as popular as those turtles and it was a big purple dinosaur. If you were a kid in the early 90s, Barney was everywhere and Halloween costumes were no exception.
1994 — Power Rangers & Sailor Moon In 1993 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers aired on TV and by 1994 everyone had a favorite (and an argument as to why theirs was the best). All you had to do was tell your Mom which color to buy you and hope they still had them in stock.
Sailor Moon was also a huge hit in 1994. Superhero school girls? Heck yes!
1995 — Woody/ Buzz Lightyear & Star Trek characters Toy Story and Star Trek: Voyager were both released in 1995, which meant that both children and adults had something new and popular to dress up as for Halloween.
Sensing a theme yet? It’s movies. Movies are the theme.
1996 — Ghostface Scream is where we learned that the rules to surviving a horror movie suck and it’s no surprise that everyone dies. The franchise was released in 1996 and people couldn’t resist. Who could pass up such a simple costume?
1997 — Batman & Robin Batman and Robin are an iconic duo and with the release of the movie in 1997, everyone grabbed their best friend and
argued over who got to be Batman.
1998 — Cartman & Kenny South Park first aired in 1997 and by 1998 it was a hit. Iconic characters with simple outfits and a plethora of different ways to “kill Kenny” meant a perfect costume.
(And yes, South Park is a real Colorado mountain town, but it’s basically a truck stop in the middle of nowhere.)
1999 — Neo The Matrix was released in 1999 and was automatically a huge hit. With a simple all black outfit, which everyone had in their closets in the 90s and a toy gun, you were set for Halloween.
2000 — Austin Powers Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me was released in 1999 and by 2000 everyone realized they weren’t going to get another chance to wear a velvet suit with a ruffled shirt without being mocked. Groovy, Baby!
2001— Harry & Hermione 2001 is the year Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was released and no other movie stood a chance. It should come as no surprise that Harry and Hermione costumes were the most popular this year. Watch out for those Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, they aren’t always too tasty.
2002 — Spiderman Tobey Maguire made his debut as Spiderman in 2002 and the superhero costumes were back in business. Extra points to the people who had a friend dress up as Uncle Ben.
2003 — Captain Jack Sparrow Pirates of the Caribbean: Then Curse of the Black Pearl was released in 2003 and gave adults everywhere a reason to carry around their own personal bottle of rum all night. It’s part of the costume, right? Plus, Yo Ho (A Pirates Life for Me) is an easy song to remember when drunk.
2004 —Spongebob and Spiderman In 2004 The Spongebob Squarepants Movie and Spiderman 2 came out and you had to make the tough decision between a square sea sponge or a superhero for Halloween.
It was the people who chose to be a square sea sponge superhero that really stood out.
2005 — Darth Vader & Princess Leia Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith was released in 2005 and everyone broke out their light sabers. Who is your favorite Star Wars character?
2006 — Charlie’s Angles & V (V for Vendetta) At the Emmy’s in 2006 the original Angles got together to say goodbye to producer Arron Spelling and reminded everyone just why the loved Charlie’s Angels and how much they wanted to be them. Also in 2006 V for Vendetta was
released in the U.S. making a lot of people wish they were the vigilante who saves Natalie Portman.
2007 — Hannah Montana Hannah Montana aired in 2006 and quickly became a household name. Girls everywhere wanted to be a pop star who got to live a normal life with her quirky best friends.
2008 — Joker Heath Ledger played the Joker in The Dark Night. The movie was released in 2008 and shot to popularity after Heath Ledgers untimely death. I’m not crying, you’re crying!
2009 — Edward Cullen The second installment of the Twilight Saga, New Moon, came out in 2009 and many decided to utilize what is possibly the easiest costume ever; the creepy boyfriend who watches you sleep. Don’t forge the sparkles!
2010 — Rapunzel & Snooki Tangled came out in 2010 and gave women an excuse to carry around a frying pan as a weapon on Halloween. Can’t get much better than an armed Disney character. Also popular in 2010 was the Snooki costume. Jersey Shore aired in 2009 and by 2010 she was a household name. Unfortunately.
2011 — Snooki & Sue Sylvester (Glee) Snooki hung on for another year making us all cringe in 2011. Sue Sylvester was also a popular choice in 2011 as Glee was becoming more and more popular by the day. Plus her costume allowed you to carry a mega phone and yell at people all night.
2012 — Merida & Psy Disney released Brave in 2012 which was about a fiery red headed Scottish girl named Merida who carried a bow an arrow. What little girl wouldn’t want to be her? 2012 also gave us Psy’s Gangnam Style. You couldn’t get away from that song to save your life and that was just as true on Halloween.
2013 — Robin Thicke & Miley Cyrus The MTV VMA awards in 2013 were something else with Robin Thicke and Miley Cyrus catching everyone’s attention. There really was no other reaction than to turn them into Halloween costumes that year.
2014 — Elsa/ Olaf & Maleficent Disney took over lives of all ages when the hit movie Frozen was released. Little children ran around screaming “Let it Go” at all times, making the characters perfect ideas for Halloween. For those of us who were a little older and preferred something a little darker, Maleficent was the perfect choice.
2015 — Donald Trump, Jon Snow & Harley Quinn Last year gave us a few popular costumes. The anticipation of Suicide Squad led to a lot of Harley Quinn’s running around. Jon Snow was as popular a costume choice as the show itself, and while Donald Trump was funny last year,
this year it’s just downright scary.
What do you think 2016’s most popular costumes will be?
