^{Posted by: AuntieL2742}

I walked into my local supermarket last week and was surprised to find that, barely into the first weeks of September, we are now firmly entrenched in Halloween Hysteria. The aisles were draped with the requisite fake cobwebs and lined with racks of packaged costumes -- the good ones in every size, from tot to big man, rather than the picked-over, disheveled costumes I'm used to seeing whenever I start costume shopping in October.

As I thumbed through the costumes based on movie characters created just a few miles away at the Los Angeles movie studios, I began to wonder whether everyone else in the good ol' U.S. of A. celebrated Halloween like this. And that's when I decided to go on a mini investigation of costume shops around the country. Hey, Wisconsin, what's hot in Halloween? Hey, Florida, what are your favorite costumes?

The first stop on my quest for wisdom was Party @ Display & Costume, a huge, family-run costume store based in Seattle, Wash., with two other locations in Western Washington. Employee Son Yong was nice enough to talk with me over the phone for a few minutes.

Son Yong told me something that I'm guessing will be true across the country: "For kids and families, anything that's in the theaters is always popular." Surprisingly, some of the costumes she mentioned as being the most popular are from movies that hit theaters several months ago:

• Shrek (and Donkey)
• Spider-Man
• Pirate

Pirates are also the most popular family theme. "We've had families who've all had some sort of pirate costume. Everybody gets dolled out. It's so easily customizable and everyone can get their own look."

Aside from movie-related costumes, Son Yong told me which classic costumes are consistent big sellers, especially now that the outfits look better and more realistic than they had in the past.

For boys:

• Fireman
• Policeman
• Astronaut (with full-length jumpsuit)

For girls:

• Fairy
• Princess
• Punk or Goth girl

The last one isn't the most typical of costumes, but I remember asking for this costume when I was a child! It's great to know that I'm not completely out of touch.

Stay tuned for my next post, when I tackle the Midwest!