Holy Zombie! The Top Halloween Costumes for 2012

Americans will spend nearly $3 billion on Halloween costumes this year, and the majority of them will dress as witches, vampires, princesses and in other traditional Halloween attire. 

The National Retail Federation’s 2012 Top Halloween Costumes survey reports that 10 percent of kids plan to dress as a princess, while six million adults plan to go as a witch.

Batman is the second most popular Halloween costume for kids, while the character — along with other characters from The Dark Knight Rises — is fourth for adults. 

Places to buy Halloween costumes in Midtown include Atlanta Costumes at 2089 Monroe Drive and seasonal pop-up Halloween stores in Atlantic Station and Ansley Mall.

Some people plan to turn to current events as inspiration for their Halloween costume, whether it’s an athlete, political figure or something else entirely.

With nearly one in ten celebrants taking their costume cues from current events, we’ll see plenty of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney look-alikes out-and-about for Halloween,” said Pam Goodfellow, a director at the survey firm BIGinsight. “However, we expect these ‘rivals’ will be able to find some common ground over the punch bowl or a bag of candy.”

Pets will also play a big part in the holiday, as owners are expected to spend $370 million on outfits for the pets. The most popular Halloween costumes in that category are pumpkins, devils and hot dogs.

To find your Halloween costume or accessories, you might want to head to one of these Northbrook area stores.

The full list from the National Retail Federation

Top Adult Costumes

Top Children’s Costumes

Top Pet Costumes

1. Witch

1. Princess

1. Pumpkin

2. Vampire

2. Batman

2. Devil

3. Pirate

3. Spiderman

3. Hot dog

4. Batman character

4. Witch

4. Cat

5. Zombie

5. Disney princess

5. Bee

6. Vixen

6. Action/super Hero

6(tie). Dog and Ghost

7. Princess

7. Pirate

7. Action/Super Hero

8(tie). Ghost and Nurse

8. Vampire

8. Witch

9. Cat

9. Zombie

9. Bowties/Fancy Collars/Bandanas

10. Superman

10. Ghost

10. Superman

What will you be for Halloween? What are you dressing your kids up as? How about your pet? Tell us in the comments.

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