But, boy, do they look cute.
This year for Halloween, I will be dressing up my cattle dog mix called Annie Oakley Tater Tot as Captain America. Last year, I put her in a bandana and cowboy hat and said she was her namesake. My first dog, who passed away last year, had been a queen, a mermaid, a dinosaur, and Superman. She didn’t much like being dressed in costumes, but the pictures were cute, and got all those likes on Facebook and Instagram.
This all feels a bit silly, but I’m far from the only person to put stuff on her dog for as long as she tolerates it. Of the $9 billion Americans are expected to spend on Halloween this year, $480 million of that is on our pets, according to the National Retail Foundation. That’s up from $5.8 billion total and $220 million on pets in 2010.
Unlike Christmas or Valentine’s Day or even Mother’s and Father’s Day, Halloween doesn’t have the stress of gift giving, so shopping for the holiday is a lot less about pressure and a lot more about joy.
“With Halloween, it’s less about the want and more about the fun,” confirms Ana Serafin Smith, director of media relations for the National Retail Federation (her miniature pinscher Apollo will be a skeleton this Halloween). “When it comes to pet costumes, people find it fun and funny to dress up their cat as a dog or dog as a hot dog or cat like a lion,” she says.
Yoshi, Penelope & Cleopatra as Cop and Robbers
Bailey, Paddy & Autumn as Ghosts
Zoe as Marylin Monroe
Truman as Spock
Frank as a UPS Man
Pip & Seymour as Wonder Woman and Batman
Pippin as a Monster
Grodie, Blanche & Harvey as Mario, Yoshi, and Luigi
Yorkie as a Ladybug Witch
Brooklyn as Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Harley as the Creature from the Black Lagoon
Honey as a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills
Charlie & Chachi as Dumb and Dumber
Daisy & Bella as Lumberjacks
Oliver as Superman
Stella as Chucky
Terri as a Cow
Mia & Mason as The Joker and Harley Quinn
Bentley as a Ghostbuster
Monkey as The Queen Of England
Charlie as Superman
Maddie as Wonder Woman
FerNanDo as a Monster
Twiggy DeVille as a Spider
Toby as a Gnome
Mr. Pigglet James as a Lion
Axel as an Ewok
Brodie as Willie Nelson
Ducky as Katt Williams
Murphy & Josie as Bride and Groom
Meatball as a Clown
Macy as Waldo
Maya Zoe as Bob Marley
Grizzly & Winnie as Beauty and The Beast
Mia as a Minion
Hazel as Batman
Lincoln & Newman as Superheroes
Olive & Dobby as Yodas
Google as Sherlock Holmes
Mousse as a Chicken
Penny as a Spider
Pita & Luna as a Witch and an Alligator
Astro as an Astronaut
Opie, Jackson & Teddy as Football Player and Referees
Bogey as Freddy Krueger
Remi as Darth Vader
Julian as a Hip Hop Artist
Finn as a Pirate
The National Retail Federation predicts that the most popular costumes this year for cats and dogs will be pumpkin, hot dog, bumble bee, devil, cat, dog, lion, Star Wars characters, superhero, and ghost. So Annie Oakley Tater Tot as Captain America will be a bit on trend without being the most obvious dog costume of 2018. I imagine she doesn’t give a shit, though she’ll sit still for all the cookies I’ll give her to get a good photo to, of course, post online.
