April 6, 2018

Disguise has jumped on the trend of creating high-end, fully finished apparel-quality costumes for this audience with its new Wicked line (suggested retail, about $80) featuring a range of villains from Disney such as Jafar, Cruella, Maleficent, The Evil Queen, and Captain Hook. The company also creates a range of rental quality costumes such as its Spider-Man 2 muscle costume with a retail of $250.
The
teen/adult market is a prime target for Rubies, as well, with the company creating its first-ever Shrek costumes for this demographic, plus costumes based on Van Helsing, Alien vs. Predator, and Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and the costume will include a printed jumpsuit with an inflatable backpack and inflatable gun.Consumers don't only want to dress the part, they want to decorate the interior and exterior of their homes, as well. In fact, nearly half of consumers (46.6 percent) celebrating Halloween planned to decorate their homes or yards with a Halloween theme last year, and intended to spend $10.37 each on decorations, according to the NRF survey.
Gemmy Industries has been successful with inflatable lawn decorations and will expand its collection of Scooby-Doo and Looney Tunes this year. The company also partnered with Warner Bros. Consumer Products on a line of Scooby-Doo animatronic dolls including a Mini Dancing Scooby-Doo Scarecrow, Mini Scooby-Doo Frankenstein, and Mini Scooby-Doo Vampire.
Sweet Scene
Licensors and licensees are also sweet on the candy category with many using it as another exposure point for their properties. Nickelodeon entered the candy category in a big way last year partnering with Frankford Candy and Chocolate Co. on seasonal, novelty, and everyday items in its Nickelodeon-branded NickCandy line. The deal solidified Frankford Candy's growing commitment to licensing and contributed to its 20 percent sales growth in each of the last three years. This year, Frankford is partnering with Warner Bros. Consumer Products on a line of Scooby-Doo Halloween lollipops. Warner Bros. Consumer Products also partnered with Russell Stover Chocolates on a Tweedy Bird and Taz plush/candy item and is working with Adams & Brooks on a line of Looney Tunes Halloween lollipops due in 2004.
"Halloween is a growth area for us," says Kelly Gilmore, vice president, toys and theme park licensing, Warner Bros. Consumer Products. "As we continue to expand our properties and our product offerings, we will go deeper into categories such as decorations, accessories for costumes, and pet costumes, which is a growing area."
Subscribe and receive the latest news from the industry.
Join 62,000+ members. Yes, it’s completely free.