Google’s Frightgeist Reveals US Halloween Trends

The global search engine Google’s Frightgeist tool is an experiment from GoogleTrends and reveals the top US Halloween trends in real time, reflecting the most popular searches across America as they happen.

As Halloween approaches and people begin to think about their costumes, trick-or-treaters and adults alike turn to Google for inspiration. As such, the company has a treasure trove of data at its virtual fingertips, which it has pooled and released as the clever Frightgeist tool.

In revealing the year’s most-searched-for Halloween costumes in the US, Google Trends has identified 2017’s most popular Halloween costume in the US (Wonder Woman), but also breaks the information down state by state.

Tracking the best costumes with up-to-the-minute search results, the Google Frightgeist tool can display this data in several ways – by top trending costumes, state-by-state or via a Costume Map which lets you see which outfits are trending where (and it’s no surprise that clowns are big in Stephen King’s home state of Maine…).

The top trending costumes, nationally, are currently:

  • Wonder Woman
  • Harley Quinn
  • Clown
  • Unicorn
  • Rabbit
  • Witch
  • Mouse
  • Pirate
  • Zombie
  • Dinosaur

 

Google has also introduced a Costume Wizard, which can help consumers pick an outfit based on a variety of factors, like spookiness level, or level of uniqueness.

America’s Halloween Breakdown

According to America’s National Retail Federation, 179million Americans will spend $9.1billon celebrating Halloween in 2017, with $3.4billion of that total going on costumes.

The trend for decorating houses and front gardens means that the US spend a not-insignificant $2.7billion on decorations and props. On average, each consumer is predicted to spend around $86.12 on Halloween product.

MORE NEWS
Copy of Progressive Preschool featured image (66)
 
The 2025 Products of Change Conference will be held on 5th November and remains the only sustainability event dedicated to the licensing industry. ...
Copy of Progressive Preschool featured image (71)
 
Brand Licensing Europe exhibitors are invited to show support by donating product samples from their stands in October. ...
Copy of Progressive Preschool featured image (70)
 
Poppers the Party Shop is up for sale after 20 successful years, as its owner prepares for retirement. ...
sm-pr-25036D-DrSeussPressRelease-square-
 
Smiffys has signed a new licensing agreement with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to create an officially licensed costume collection inspired by Dr. Seuss stories....
Copy of Progressive Preschool featured image (69)
 
Broughty Ferry-based indie, Party Time, will close it's doors this weekend (Saturday 29 March, 2025) after 32 years in business....
Copy of Progressive Preschool featured image (40)
 
Boots, Dunelm, Lululemon, Matalan, MINISO and Poundland are among the new retailers participating in this year’s Retail Mentoring Program organised by Brand Licensing Europe (BLE). ...
Get the latest news sent to your inbox
Subscribe to our daily newsletter