From superheroes to Kpop Demon Hunters, this year’s Halloween was a cat walk of pop culture. As trick-or-treaters hit the streets, our eyes got a glimpse of exactly what filled our screens this 2025. Social media seems to have a large influence on style culture and the way we dress. That is no different when it comes to Halloween costumes. People tend to find influencers they can gain lifestyle advice from, so when they pop out with new costumes for every party they attend, people get highly influenced to wear the same ones.
This is one of the main reasons that costumes become so popular every year. Horizon senior student Myah Ediger touches on this topic when asked if she believes social media influences people’s costume choices. She says, “I don’t have any examples of it but I feel like social media in general affects how we view our lives and therefore how we dress in general and how we dress for Halloween.” Evidently, social media has become an outlet that many people utilize in order to gain and find inspiration each Halloween season.
Another senior at Horizon, Giana Romano, mentioned how popular the couples costume from “Mean Girls” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” (Regina and Rodrick) was this year. When asked about which costume is seen frequently, Romano says, “ because it’s popular and it’s on tiktok.” Again, this shows just how influenced Gen Z is by social media for costume ideas.
A trend these last few years has been to dress up more than once for parties, outings, and other events. This is what you would call “Halloweekend” activities. Senior at Horizon, Peyton Hooper would know a lot about this. When asked what she dressed up as, Hooper said she dressed up as a lifeguard that got bit by a shark, an MMA boxer, and Winnie the Pooh. She chose these costumes because she says, “they were cheap, I [already] had all the stuff.” This is a popular concept for high school students when it comes to Halloween costumes, therefore, making costumes like deers and leopards easy to create on their own.
A poll of 20 Horizon Students was taken by all grades of the student body to show the most popular costumes were this past year. Most of the students at Horizon agreed that many of the outfits they saw this year were split between costumes such as the Lorax and group costumes such as “Alvin and the Chipmunks”. The survey showed that 42% of the students who went out for Halloween saw elementary school students dressing up as Huntr/x from Kpop Demon Hunters. The survey also showed that 57% of the students who surveyed saw high school students wearing animal and blow up costumes.
Who better to ask about Halloween than a Spirit Halloween employee? Spirit employee Jeff Grames was very quick to talk about what costumes sold out and how many children asked him about Kpop Demon Hunter costumes, which in fact were not sold in stores. Grames also mentioned that “[our] ghost face masks and costumes were always the quickest to go in person.”
This year’s costumes were simplistic yet stylish. The hope is that Halloween continues to be a way for people to branch outside of their comfort zones.
