These Childhood Halloween Costumes From the ’50s to the ’90s Will Bring Back the Sweetest Memories

There’s nothing quite like the childhood magic of Halloween—pulling on a costume fresh from the package or lovingly homemade, racing out the door with a pillowcase, a.k.a. the trusty candy tote, and feeling the spooky excitement in the crisp night air. Back then, it wasn’t about perfectly put-together outfits or elaborate decor—it was about the thrill of treat hauls, neighborhood adventures and becoming your favorite hero. Here, we take a trip down memory lane with the costume trends from our childhood that lit up Halloween.

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1950s: Cowboys and homemade costumes

“In the ’50s, it was all about cowboy heroes like Roy Rogers,” says retro Halloween and Christmas expert Bob Richter, author of A Very Vintage Holiday. While there were some store-bought costumes—courtesy of the company Ben Cooper, which was ubiquitous from its 1937 founding through the late ’80s—most were still homemade. “The ’50s had a lot of ‘throw on a sheet and cut two holes in it and you’re a ghost,’” he says, adding that clowns, cats and even chimney sweeps were popular options.

1960s: Cartoons and pop stars

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“As you move into the ’60s, you see more costumes inspired by pop culture. There were definitely a lot of Beatles costumes,” Richter notes, adding that more families would pick up Ben Cooper costumes of astronauts, Mickey Mouse and other beloved characters for their kids from the local five-and-dime. “These costumes are so nostalgic that many fans of vintage style collect them today and even use them to decorate their homes for Halloween,” he says. “I believe there’s also a huge sentimental component to these costumes—especially if they take you back to Beatlemania or early Disney fandom.”

1970s: Sweaty masks and sci-fi

The ’70s ushered in another pop culture phenomenon in the form of Star Wars, and the franchise’s influence on Halloween costumes continues to this day. “I was a child of the ’70s, and that decade was the most dense with manufactured costumes,” Richter says. Ben Cooper sold countless Darth Vader and C-3PO costumes throughout the decade, while comic books and Saturday morning cartoons like Scooby-Doo also dominated the costume world. But their popularity didn’t mean they were fun to wear. “The masks were made of plastic and rubber,” he recalls with a laugh. (Remember the smell?) “You’d sweat in them, and they were impossible to see out of.”

1980s: Two super-stores hit the scene

The ’80s marked a Halloween turning point. Ben Cooper filed for bankruptcy in 1988 and closed for good in 1992, while Spirit Halloween, now a retail giant with more than 1,000 seasonal shops, opened in 1983, and Party City opened in 1986. The advent of these specialty stores led to elaborate, lifelike masks and costumes. Richter observes, “With each decade, more parents purchased costumes for their kids as opposed to making them. That was probably the biggest evolution.”

1990s: Princesses are in, masks are out

Disney’s Renaissance period in the ’90s had a huge impact on costuming, leading to more princesses at Halloween than ever before and making costumes more about wearing an actual outfit than a mask. “The quality of so many things has deteriorated over the years, but I think with Halloween costumes, the quality has improved,” Richter says. “The older costumes were surprisingly high-quality in terms of durability, but certainly not in terms of comfort.”