“What are you going to be for Halloween?”
For some kids, this is the most important question in the weeks leading up to the candy-coated, sugar-palooza on the last night of October.
And Americans spend plenty on that one night.
More than 157 million people will spend about $6.9 billion celebrating the holiday, with about $4.25 billion going to costumes – homemade and store-bought. (About $350 million will be spent on costumes for pets.)
On Saturday, Kate Zarlingo, an eighth-grader at Mountain Middle School, and her friend and classmate Acacia Cofman were working to finish their halves of a Nerds candy box. (Nerds are two different flavors of candy that come in a box divided down the middle.)
They were working diligently at Kate’s dining room table, filling in their designs on their cardboard boxes with acrylic paints. This was the second time the girls got together to work on the costume. By the time they go to Mountain’s Halloween dance and then trick-or-treating a couple of days later, Kate and Acacia said they will have spent a few hours getting everything ready.
Kate, a veteran Halloween costume maker, said that last year she was an angel. In Halloweens past, she has been a doughnut, a Jazzercizer and a witch – all costumes she made herself.
“I’ve always made them because I didn’t feel like buying them was much fun,” she said.
“I usually don’t have an idea until about a week before,” she said. “It kind of just comes to me, but usually, I look up fun ideas, and I take one idea and make it into something else that’s more interesting. I like being food and like being something that’s funny.”
This year, Kate and Acacia’s Nerd costume came to them by accident.
“We were going to be crayons – just single crayons,” Acacia said. “Then we saw a picture of these two kids who were a box of Nerds, and we thought that was a really cool idea.”
And for Kate, making Halloween costumes isn’t just about the end product, it’s also a time for fun.
“When you’re buying a costume, you just buy it and it’s done,” she said. “But when you make a costume, you can hang out with your friends and listen to music and enjoy it.”
And for some, finding the perfect costume is as easy as hitting a store.
Angie Halverstadt, mother of Charlie, Harry and Lucy, said her family usually does a mix of homemade and store-bought. This year, they are going the store-bought route.
“We do both, but this year, there’s lots going on,” Halverstadt said. “Our oldest is going to be a crash-test dummy, our middle is going to be a Minion and our youngest, Charlie, is going to be a blow-up sumo wrestler.”
She said it’s not a costume’s origin that’s important but whether it’s something kids will be happy with on the big day.
“It doesn’t matter, as long as it’s what they want,” Halverstadt said.
The Dregers have adopted a “half and half” policy when coming up with costumes.
“We kind of buy the costume and then add stuff to them,” said Jeff Dreger, who’s making costume preparations with his three children, Jadah, Aava and Zak. “We decorate the costumes and add accessories.”
This, year, Jadah is planning to be a mime with her friend, Aava is going to be Luna Lovegood from “Harry Potter” and first-grader Zak is planning to be a zombie “to scare all the girls,” he said.
katie@durangoherald.com
If you go
The Durango Business Improvement District, Southwest Sound and Durango Chamber of Commerce will be hosting Children’s Halloween between 4 and 6 p.m. Oct. 31 in downtown Durango.
Almost 100 merchants throughout downtown will be offering goodies to costumed trick-or-treaters ages 10 and younger who are accompanied by an adult. Children should be on the lookout for bright orange pumpkins in store windows to signal the merchant’s involvement.
Durango Fire Protection District personnel will be in front of the Main Mall handing out glow sticks.
For more information and a list of participating merchants, visit the BID website, www.DowntownDurango.org/halloween.
