SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Miley Cyrus and Heisenberg are so last year. What are the most popular Halloween costumes of 2014? This summer wasn't particularly strong at the box office, but it ushered in plenty of new characters to inspire your costume.
Yesterday, the National Retail Federation released their 2014 Halloween Consumer Top Costumes Survey. The survey found an estimated 2.6 million children plan to dress up as one of Disney's "Frozen" characters and about 1.8 million children will dress as a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" character.
Sales at Spirit Halloween in DeWitt (3179 Erie Blvd. E.) back up the survey.
Michael Fitzgerald, manager of Spirit Halloween in DeWitt, said the most popular 2014 costume for young girls is Elsa, the crown princess of Arendelle from "Frozen."
Fitzgerald said the most requested boys' costumes at Spirit continue to be the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," which Paramount Pictures rebooted in August. Bonus points if you can convince your friends to dress as Splinter, April O'Neil or Casey Jones.
Costumes from popular television shows like "The Walking Dead" and "Game of Thrones" (both entering their fifth seasons) continue to sell like winter is coming.
"The Walking Dead is always huge," Fitzgerald said. "A lot of the young boys just buy Rick's sheriff hat and go as Carl [Grimes], Rick's son."
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Spirit offers a new "Game of Thrones" line featuring Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, Melisandre and Cersei Lannister. Of course, you could always get a crown, blonde wig, fake blood and purple makeup for King Joffrey. Spoiler alert? Come on, you should've seen the Purple Wedding by now.
Spirit also carries children's costumes of Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon from this summer's blockbuster hit "Guardians of the Galaxy." Create your own Gamora costume with a slick leather jacket, black pants, green face paint or a green bodysuit and a wig. (You're on your own for Groot.)
Keeping Marvel in mind, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" was the second biggest movie of 2014, behind "Guardians." Captain America and Batman have been among the top-requested costumes at Dougherty's Masquerade in ShoppingTown Mall.
They also sell two "Maleficent" costumes with horns and wings to mix and match.
Dougherty's had to restock their children's Elsa and Olaf "Frozen" costumes because they sold out within a week, said Perrin De Jonge, Dougherty's operations manager.
Don't forget about the FIFA World Cup hype earlier this year. If you bought a soccer jersey and haven't worn it since the U.S. lost, bust it out on October 31. If you're bald and bearded, just put on sneakers and say you're Tim Howard.
For an easy, trendy costume at the last minute, put a bucket on your head and go as this summer's hyper-viral ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. To commit to the costume, drench yourself with water and spend the night thanking people for their nominations.
Americans are expected to spend $2.8 billion on Halloween costumes this year, according to NRF's Halloween Consumer Spending Survey. Specifically, consumers will spend $1 billion on children's costumes, $1.4 billion on adult costumes, and $350 million on pet costumes.
This year, total Halloween spending (costumes, candy, decorations) will reach $7.4 billion in the U.S., up from $6.9 billion in 2013. The average American will spend $77.52 on Halloween, up from $75 in 2013.
You can feel good about supporting local Halloween businesses, though.
Since 2006, Spirit Halloween's Spirit of Children program has collected donations for the Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital's play area. This year, Spirit's goal minimum is to collect $5,000 for the hospital. 100 percent of those proceeds go to Upstate. Spirit also throws a costume party for the patients who have to spend Halloween in the hospital.
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