Halloween is only 12 days away so it’s time to get cracking on planning your activities.  Halloween is not an official type of holiday and contrary to some beliefs is largely not religious.  Based on an old Celtic festival celebrating the beginning of the darker seasons of fall and winter it has been adapted as an annual tradition to dress up and eat lots of candy.

Whether you like Halloween or not if you have children it is hard to avoid celebrating it in some way.  This year Halloween falls on a Saturday which really expands everyone’s options for making it a bigger event.  Adults won’t have to worry about getting up the next morning if they decide to throw a big party.

Our 2009 Worcester Halloween Planning guide will cover everything you need to consider from costumes to parties and activities in between.  That’s why we have decided to make this a series of posts that we will finish this week.

The first topic we are covering is costumes.  Costumes are a big part of Halloween especially for kids.  Since Halloween costumes can be pretty expensive it is important to plan ahead.  Costumes can cost from as little as $10 to over $100 so decide what you are looking for in advance and have a budget in mind.  It is easy to get carried away and spend a lot of money for something many people use only once.

Picking your children’s costumes really need to involve them.  It depends on their interests and what is popular this year.  Many costumes are based on characters from movies and shows that are popular that year.  A good example of this can be seen in this year’s popular kids costumes.  Girls still love Hannah Montana.  Popular shows and movies like Wizards of Waverly Place and High School Musical also have costumes for characters from those shows.  Boys usually gravitate toward superheroes.  This year with the GI Joe movie, Transformers, Wolverine and Star Wars there are many offerings for those characters.  On the adult side Michael Jackson costumes are this year’s rage.  Harry Potter continues to be popular across the board.

Many more people than you think are ordering costumes online.  BuyCostumes offers costumes at different price ranges which is great for exploring cheaper options.

Costume Craze also has many costumes across a range of prices and is currently offering a flat shipping fee of $2.99.

Here are 2 Halloween Costume stores in the Worcester area that you can actually visit:

• Halloween Outlet located at 540 West Boylston St in Worcester
• Halloween Costume World located at 480 Water St in Fitchburg

Making your own costume is also a good choice, especially if you have more time than money.  I found a segment on NECN offering costume ideas.  Not only do you save money but it makes for a great family activity.

Our next post will cover Planning for Your Halloween Party.