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We're into the first week of September now. That means that most, if not all, of your Back to School clothes shopping has been completed. It also means that you can now turn your attention to something a bit more fun. That's right, Halloween is just around the corner. In order to get a jump on the best costumes out there, it's best to start thinking about what you or your children want to be this year. Then you'll have plenty of time to either start shopping for the proper clothing to make up the costume or to make the costume yourself.

You can kind of predict what kinds of costumes will be "in" this year by examining a bit of our pop culture. For instance, Hollywood is always a good indicator of what will be hot for Halloween. In recent years, I have seen a lot of Harry Potter, Spider-Man, and Lord of the Rings costumes. This year, none of those franchises put out a new movie, so I doubt there will be too many Frodos or Spideys running around this year. Instead, you can expect to see lots of Star Wars costumes. The final installment of the Star Wars series, The Revenge of the Sith, was a huge international success over the summer. As a result, Darth Vader costumes should be very popular. I also expect to see a lot of other Star Wars characters roaming about.

In addition to Star Wars, there was a new Batman movie. Though Batman Begins didn't make nearly the same splash in international circles, it was still very successful in the U.S. Of course there are bound to be Batman costumes out there. You should also be ready to see that freaky Scarecrow mask that one of the characters in the film uses to scare his patients. That will be a great Halloween costume!

If you want to go with something a little less elaborate, you can easily put together a Halloween costume from the clothing that you have in your closet. For example, a business suit is a good base for a costume. You can just add a rubber mask featuring the likeness of George W. Bush, John Kerry, or any other famous politician and you'll be ready to go. If you have a dark suit with pinstripes, just add a dark shirt, white tie, gaudy shoes, cheesy fake moustache, and fedora in order to go as a gangster. Becoming a cheerleader is also an easy task. Just out on a skirt, sweater, put your hair into pigtails, and buy some pom-poms. You can also deliberately mismatch your clothes, hike your pants up as high as they will go, find a pocket protector, put tape on a pair of fake eyeglasses, and go as a nerd.

As you can see, there are so many Halloween costume choices out there that you really should start thinking about what you want to be. Whether you decide to buy a costume or put one together from clothes you already have, just remember to have fun this year!