Halloween is at your doorstep, and itâs more and more a party celebrated in all of Europe.
The pumpkins and spider webs are coming up more and more in the houses, the shops⊠and each one of us start discussing how our Halloween costume will look like this year.
To know a little better how to live the most terrifying night of the year in our country and in some of the European countries, we have prepared this article that summarizes the trend in Halloween decorations, costumes and Halloween makeup. We also hope you get inspired to have a spooky time at the next âHalloween nightâ.
What kind of Halloween is celebrated?
Halloween has its origin in the Celtic Samhain, that means âthe end of Summer and of reaping.â It was believed that during the Samhain the line that separates the âworld of the livingâ with the âworld of the deadâ narrowed down, letting spirits cross from one side to another.
In fact, it is believed that this tradition of disguising was meant to scare the evil spirits away.
Due to that, we tend to associate Halloween with disguising and being scary. But the truth is that not all countries do it this way. In many places, both children and adults take the opportunity to disguise as anything they can imagine, even though it may not be related to terror: princesses, superheroes, cartoons⊠any topic is good to enjoy âtrick or treating.â
This image illustrates the European countries that are fonder of fake blood and scars in the âHalloween nightâ and which countries enjoy a âmore relaxedâ Halloween.
In general terms, among the countries that âhave adoptedâ the Celtic tradition (like Spain, France, Italy or Germany, among others) there ir more of a tendency to wear costumes that inspire fear and terror. But the countries in which âHalloween was born,â like Ireland or United Kingdom, prefer to dress up in less of a scary theme and celebrate a more âgeneralâ kind of Halloween.
TOP Halloween costumes in Europe and United Kingdom
Funidelia is one of the Halloween costumes and decorations shops leader in all of Europe.
Based on last Halloweenâs data, we have compiled some themes to dress up like that inspired (and still do) the most rage in Europe.
It is a well-known fact that the zombie theme is a must when it comes to Halloween costumes, but it is interesting to highlight how some costumes from other random themes, like Harley Quinn or Money Heist have raced up to be in the TOP chart for Halloween costumes and are here to stay for a while.
Jokerâs girlfriend, Harley Quinn, with her Suicide Squad look , or the Mexican Catrina from The Day of the Dead and her spectacular makeup are some of our clients’ preferred Halloween costumes for women.
And it is clear that a Dali mask with the iconic red overall from Money Heist (one of Netflixâs most seen series in all of Europe) is one of the most original options for a group costume in any party.
On the other hand, though, kids are an essential part of Halloween night. So much so that the Miraculous Ladybug costume, from one of the all-time favorite kids cartoon series, has been one of the bestsellers last year.
Want to know how these disguises look?
In our country, there isnât so much hype to dress up in scary costumes and, just like you can see in the image, contrary to the rest of Europe, we prefer more varied themes to dress up. The political costumes, like the one from Donald Trump or even the Playboy founder, Hugh Hefner, were in our TOP 3 Halloween costumes but, without a doubt, the Descendants costume was one of the British girlsâ favorite. Do you like it?
Top 3 favorite costumes in the last 5 years
But if youâre looking for costume ideas for this Halloween, maybe youâd like to know which ones have marked a trend over the last few years.
Movie and TV premiers and terrifying characters have been the most popular ever since some couple of years ago, but⊠it was not always this way. For example, in 2016, the inflatable T-Rex costume was one of the most sold out during Halloween. Do you remember it?
This year, we have our own guess for the disguises that will mark a Halloween trend. And it starts with a J from Joker. The movie just premiered and it already looks like it will be a blockbuster. Will Joaquin Phoenix take Heath Ledgerâs best Joker position?
But the Joker is not the only clown coming up in our guess list. Pennywise comes again to be one of the favorites (despite the pranks, there is no Halloween party without at least a murderous clown).
And if your specialty is makeup, look no more! La Catrina, the main character of the Mexican Day of the Death, is the costume you should pick for Halloween. Either her feminine version or her masculine one. You will be surely noticed either way!
Top themes: adults vs children
Even though there are some themes for all ages that have success on Halloween, like zombies, witches and vampires, kids and adults have different tastes. Which is why we wrote this summary of the themes that most attract kids and adults.
In the United Kingdom, kids have a somewhat different taste. On one hand, they like to disguise themselves as characters from a scary movie, like The Descendants or Ghostbusters, but on the other hand, they like classic terror figures, like demons and vampires. Adults, however, prefer original and fun disguises, like the Opposuits or the Ride On over scary and terror ones.
Top Halloween themes for pets
But Halloween costumes are not exclusively for people: pets can do it too. Every year, itâs more and more common to see pets (dogs and cats mostly) dressed up in original costumes to celebrate this special holiday with their owners, and rightly so, because pets are also part of the family. How can you miss the chance to dress up with all your family members, cats and dogs included?
These are the cat and dog costumes that were successful last Halloween: superheroes, vampires and Star Wars are, typically, the favorite ones for our four-legged pals.
If our guess for best âpeopleâ costumes included the Joker⊠our guess for pets couldnât be any different.
Average spending Halloween
And even though dressing up and decorating the house for Halloween is something very fun and entertaining, thereâs no doubt that it does involve some economic expense.
We have made a short summary that shows the average spending last Halloween in our country.
If you are absolutely sure you want to celebrate Halloween, but you want to do it in an economic and homemade way, youâll find in Funidelia many suggestions for cheap costumes, which are perfect for a terrifying night without getting out of budget.
Top themes makeup Halloween
Makeup is a key element in every costume, even more so in Halloween costumes that require blood, scars or blisters, to make them more realistic and terrifying.
White and black paint, fake blood and liquid latex to make your own wounds are just some of the basic elements that every Halloween makeup needs, but depending on what your costume is, you might need some other accessory.
In here, we show you a summary of the Halloween makeup trends in all of Europe:
As we said already, one of our suggested trendy Halloween costumes this year was La Catrina from The Day of the Dead, so here we have a simple makeup tutorial for the Mexican “sugar skull” that will surely be of help for you.
On the other hand, if you like zombies and the living dead, you will need fake blood, liquid latex for the wounds and some prosthesis to get a realistic, decaying look. In this tutorial about zombie makeup we show you a step-by-step on how to do it.
And if you prefer to disguise as a skeleton, the black-and-white makeup is the answer. A pair of big, black eye sockets and some work around the mouth will do, and donât forget about the teeth and mandibles too. We hope you find this tutorial useful.
TOP Halloween masks
But if your makeup skills arenât the best and you donât quite get the Halloween look you wish to achieve no matter how hard you try, donât worry, a Halloween mask is what you need.
Latex, vinyl, Venetian-style masks and eye shades⊠but realistic ones above all else. The assassin, lead characters in terror movies, like Michael Myers, Pennywise, Billy de Saw or Jason are some of the preferred masks in Europe, but also zombies (including the wights from Game of Thrones) and, of course, the now-iconic Dali mask.
Have you seen them already?
Top Halloween decorations
But if thereâs something that truly makes us feel like we are in the time of witches is the Halloween decoration all around. The stores, houses and even the streets have pumpkins, cobwebs, bats and plastic spiders all around them⊠Everything is set up in the most original way to celebrate Halloween night!
The skeletons, zombies and pumpkins are some of the preferred themes by Europeans to decorate their houses in Halloween, but they also like spiders, witches or ghosts.
In this image, you can get to know which are the European countries that decorate most for this time of year. You will be shocked!
There are so many different ways to decorate your party for Halloween, different themes to decorate as that you can use depending on the type of party you want to host.
If you like a more traditional style, we recommend decorating with pumpkins and cobwebs as the main elements in the decoration and furniture, though you can also include some few skeletons and skulls. It would all need to be black and orange, and you may even add some glow-in-the-dark banner to give it a more terrifying look.
Though if you want a really classy party, you can use black and gold as the main colors, same as they did in this one:
If you are one to enjoy a quick visit to a graveyard during Halloween, then skeletons and skulls are a must in your houseâs Halloween decoration.
If you appreciate skulls, but relate them more to the Day of the Death, we have some colorful decoration, with Catrinas and flower chains, similar to the visual style of Disneyâs Coco.
If what you really like during Halloween is the âzombie apocalyptic worldâ and the living dead, then fake blood and amputated limbs will be your allies to achieve a terrifying Halloween decoration.
And for those of you that love terror films, serial killers and classic, scary- movie characters like Jason or Freddy Krueger, we also have a spot for you in this Halloween decoration section.
Trick or treat or cavities? Advice to take care of your teeth in Halloween
If you are one to enjoy âtrick or treatingâ during Halloween night to get hold of some candies and sweets, be careful! Because cavities are the true enemies of Halloween night. Both kids and adults lower their defenses during this holiday when, in fact, Halloween is one of the nights where people eat candy the most year-round!
Here you have some advice to take care of your teeth that you must consider over all during Halloween. Take notes!
đŹ Eat sweets after meals, the saliva you produce while eating helps clear your mouth of bacteria.
đ Avoid hard or sticky candies because they remain on your mouth for longer periods of time and this raises the risk for cavities.
đŹ Select your favorite sweets for Halloween and keep the rest for other special occasions.
đ By drinking 1,5 to 2 liters of water a day youâll greatly reduce the risk of getting cavities (not only in Halloween, but every day).
đŹ Donât drink sweet drinks since they are not recommended for neither your teeth or dietary health.
đ Chewing sugar free gum after eating helps prevent risk of cavities.
đŹ Always brush your teeth after every meal and remember to floss the spots where the brush canât reach.
đ Halloween snacks and sweets are fun, but fruit is much healthier and equally sweet.
đŹ Calcium strengthens and protects your teeth, and it also helps reduce the risk of getting cavities.
đ Donât forget to visit your dentist at least once a year.
If you are still decided to eat all your candies next Halloween, these are some tips to do so in the safest way for your teeth:
đ§ Choose chocolate over other type of candy, because it is easy to clean after it and has less sugar the purest it is.
đ§ Sticky and hard sweets and caramels are the worst of them all. They remain on your mouth for far longer, elevating the risk of getting cavities due to them. The hard sweets also can break a tooth if you are not careful.
đ§ Even though the taste of bittersweet candies may be fun, these acid candies can weaken your teeth, raising the risk of cavities.
đ§ Popcorn is difficult to clean after, so be sure to brush or floss right after you are done eating it.
With these practical tips, we hope you can enjoy Halloween night without having to worry about the toothache the day after.
Horror is fun!
But dressing up however you want to, hosting a party at your place or going to the usual bar⊠we want next Halloween to be a night to remember. So, remember, fear has its fun side too!
Methodology
For the elaboration of the information exposed in this article, we have used data from Funideliaâs sales in October 2018-2019 in several European countries.