Stress balls have entered the Halloween costume conversation. So have bubbling cauldrons and a renewed appetite for nostalgic scary movies. Those are among the subjects in Google’s 2026 Frightgeist report, released October 14.
The report combines costume searches with party drinks and horror-film queries.
Costumes are only part of the search
Google identifies horror-film characters, familiar screen characters, country legends, and unexpected costume ideas among this year’s trends. It also reports strong interest in gothic horror and mascot horror movies.
For party planning, witches-brew punch leads its trending drinks, while searches for a cauldron-shaped slow cooker have reached a high. A bubbling-cauldron how-to is described as a breakout query this month.
Those signals make good starting points for a party theme. They do not tell you which costume will appear most often on your street. A novelty can attract searches because people want to see it, understand it, or attempt making it.
The shopping survey has familiar favorites
The National Retail Federation’s costume research still puts superheroes at the center of children’s plans, with Spider-Man leading the list. The organization’s broader survey also finds that traditional adult choices such as witches and vampires remain prominent.
Search activity and purchase plans measure different things. Google’s report describes attention; NRF asks consumers what they intend to do. Neither is a count of costumes already worn on Halloween night.
NRF's report puts costume buying in a larger spending context: 71 percent of respondents plan to purchase costumes, and the category's projected spending is $4.4 billion. Both figures describe planned spending, rather than completed sales.
The same report says 21 percent of Gen Z respondents prioritize something niche and unique, compared with 16 percent overall. That five-percentage-point gap helps explain how unusual search ideas can coexist with familiar leading costumes. A novelty can be a way to distinguish an outfit while a superhero remains a practical choice for a child.
