Halloween: More Than Just Kiddie Business

Halloween has origins in the festival Samhain, a Gaelic festival celebrated mainly in Ireland and Scotland. It celebrated the end of the “lighter half” of the year and the beginning of the “darker half”. The ancient Celts believed that the barrier between this world and the Otherworld was open on Samhain, allowing both good and evil spirits to pass through. By disguising themselves as malevolent spirits, they hoped to to avoid any harm.

While Halloween celebrations have existed in Europe for centuries, children dressing up in costume and “trick-or-treating” didn’t become popular in the U.S. until the 1930s. Nearly 80 years later, Halloween in the U.S. has become a multi-billion dollar industry. To celebrate this spookiest of holidays, The Giggle Guide^® takes a look at some of the creative dress-up options available for kids (and parents) today. Even if it’s too late for Halloween ‘09, we all know children enjoy dressing up and playing make-believe all year long!

Fairy Finery Supports Make-Believe Every Day!

With costumes from Fairy Finery, girls and boys can step into the magical world of fantasy, magic, and fairy tales. Not everyone wants to wear scary costumes on Halloween, sometimes kids just want to be a fairy tale character, if only for one night. Fairy Finery creates fairy tale costumes for kids of all ages, whether they want to be knights, princesses, fairies, kings, queens, super heroes, magicians, wizards, or pirates. For more realistic ensembles, include accessories such as hats, wands, wings, swords, and shields

Fairy Finery also makes customized flower girl dresses which are perfect for storybook weddings. These beautiful pieces not only make exquisite Halloween costumes, they can also be used for school plays and other special occasions.

Fairy Finery garments are not one-use costumes, but quality made in the U.S.A. clothing designed to be worn and played in, durable through multiple washings and countless adventures.

For more information, visit www.fairyfinery.com

Who’s That? Disguise Inc. Knows

Globally-recognized as leaders in the costume industry, Disguise Inc. has been keeping up with the latest trends in costumes for over 22 years. In 1987, it started with only a handful of designs but has grown to become one of the leading costume and dress-up manufacturers after teaming up with The César Group, an international costume and playwear company.

Boys will drool over Bakugan, GI Joe, Power Rangers, Transformers and Marvel character costumes from Disguise Inc. Girls are bound to love the costumes inspired by Disney Princesses, Barbie, Hannah Montana, High School Musical, ElectroCute and so much more! With great designs, accessories and high-quality materials, Design Inc. is a good resource for dress-up fun every season.

For more information, visit www.disguise.com

Costumes Never Optional at Dress Up America

Dress Up America is a proud recipient of the 2006 Creative Child magazine’s Preferred Choice Award and the 2006 National Parenting Center’s Seal of Approval. Something in their assortment is the answer to almost every “I-want-to-be” question — police officer, doctor, fire fighter, pilot, sailor, and nurse, among others. Classic dress-up costumes such as royal guard, Victorian boy, colonial boy, musketeer, royal queen and Dutch girl are also popular choices.

The materials and fabric used for Dress Up America costumes are similar to actual ensembles or uniforms, which make them very realistic. Dress Up America understands that Halloween is a fun and energy-filled occasion for children, so they make a point to create costumes that are comfortable to wear and move around in. With high-quality realistic costumes for all ages, parents won’t only find great delight in dressing up their kids, they may also find themselves engrossed in picking out the perfect costumes for themselves!

For more information, visit www.dressupamerica.com

Theme-Inspired Costumes from Rubie’s

Adults and children from babies to teens “dress the part” with unique costumes from Rubie’s Costumes. Who says newborns can’t join in the Halloween fun? Rubie’s created a special costume line dedicated to precious little ones. Babies are transformed into a wiggly worm, oatmeal bear, bunny, lucky li’l lamb or magic pony.

Ahh-inspiring animal plush costumes are a popular part of Rubie’s make-believe menagerie, which incudes Happy the Elephant, Lucky the Dog, Charlie the Chimp and Jelly the Bear. Rubie’s also creates costumes inspired by popular comic superheroes and villainss, hot picks among pre-teens and teen-aged boys. Tween girls will adore sleek and trendy designs inspired by “Drama Queens.” They can choose among get-ups such as Black Magic, Purrfect Kitty, Spider Web Fairy, Alley Cat, Miss Behaved and Bad Spirit. With hundreds of designs to choose from, kids can be hip, cuddly, scary, dreamy or out-of-this-world on Halloween

For more information, visit www.rubies.com

Let’s see your costume! Send your digital dress-up pics to for possible publication.