Just the other afternoon I put on Ghostbusters, already surrounded by Halloween deco in the living room, and got dropped straight back into the late ’80s, when every kid in school had that tan jumpsuit and a proton pack somebody’s dad built out of a backpack and a dryer hose. Halloween in the ’80s was a glorious racket. Ben Cooper vinyl smocks, plastic masks that smelled like a new shower curtain, and actual door-to-door Trick-or-Treating. A simpler time, and the costume selection felt endless.
I can still remember a handful of popular Halloween costumes from that decade. But for fun, I wanted to see which were the most popular… according to research done by Grok. So here are the finalists, plus some runners up. Those most memorable costumes from childhood.
He-Man and She-ra
Masters of the Universe. A franchise extremely popular amongst children of all ages. And although it might seem like this franchise was geared more towards boys, there was also She-ra. A beautiful heroine who just slayed. And I can remember the girls being just as obsessed with her as the boys for He-Man.
E.T.
E.T. crushed it at the box office, and later crushed our parents’ bank accounts. A widely popular costume of the 80s. Either you went as E.T. or as Elliott. Which was honestly the simplest costume consisting of a mere red hoodie.
California Raisins
Did you hear it through the grapevine? The California Raisins became superstars in 1986 and if you watched any bit of television back then, you knew who they were. Even us kids. They were an absolute hit and a very simple costume to assemble.
Ghostbusters
I believe this Halloween costume line came from the animated series, The Real Ghostbusters, which aired between 1986 and 1991. This series was actually was quite good, and spawned a whole line of merchandise, including the jumpsuit with badges, and a plastic proton pack! Or you had dad assemble one with cardboard and yards of tape.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became wildly popular shortly after the cartoon debuted in late 1987. And did the costumes come with plastic weapons? You betcha!! This is when schools had to put restrictions on what was allowed to come to school on dress-up day, and what had to stay home.
I mean, these turtles wielded Twin Katanas, a Twin Sai, a Bō Staff, and Nunchaku, aka Nunchucks. The school Halloween parties would have been intense!
It’s fun to see which were the most popular Halloween costumes of the 80s. A few more I can remember include Rainbow Brite, Superman and Supergirl, Cabbage Patch Kids, Raggedy Ann and Andy, and Sesame Street. Again, it seemed like the selection was endless and certainly a great decade to celebrate Halloween.
