These days, even inexpensive, store bought Halloween costumes look fairly authentic and almost don't make the time and expensive of making your own Halloween costume worth the effort. Choosing the 'right' costume for your child is still important though.

Does your child want to be Harry Potter or a Jedi?

If he wants to be a Power Ranger, do you know which color costume to get?

In general, the most popular TV and movie characters of the day seem to make the most popular Halloween costumes. That means we will probably see a lot of Halloween costumes from Star Wars, Harry Potter, Shrek 2, and The Incredibles, etc.

According to the search engine Lycos, here are the top 15 Halloween costumes that parents searched for last year:

1. Power Rangers
2. Elmo
3. Madeline
4. Bumblebee
5. Baby Bob
6. Big Bird
7. Barney
8. Sponge Bob
9. Harry Potter
10. Pokemon
11. Spiderman
12. Batman
13. Pikachu
14. Rainbow Brite
15. Raggedy Ann

1. Spiderman
2. Princess
3. Witch
4. Vampire
5. Monster
6. Sponge Bob
7. Ninja
8. Athlete (Football, Baseball, etc.)
9. Ghost
10. Power Rangers
11. Angel
12. Pumpkin
13. Batman
14. Yu Gi Oh
15. Pop Star
16. Barbie
17. Harry Potter Character
18. Pirate
19. Clown
20. Firefighter

And don't forget to make sure that your child's Halloween costume is safe too. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, you should make sure to buy a costume that is:

• flame resistant and doesn't have 'big, baggy sleeves or billowing skirts' that could catch fire if it was near a candle or other source of fire
• short, so that your child doesn't trip while trick or treating
• easily visible at night or that you add reflective tape to the costume

	Web keepkidshealthy.com

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