Ghosts, goblins and haunting Halloween search trends

Every October, it seems like every third question you hear is �What are you going to dress up as for Halloween?� We see this question reflected annually in Google searches, as millions of people turn to the Internet to help them prepare for this creepy-crawliest of holidays. Searches for �costume� have steadily risen since early August, while people look for [ideas] and then [stores] to help them carry out their vision. We�re taking our annual peek at what Halloween fun has people going to Google for inspiration.

Lady Gaga may have topped the charts of costume searches last year, but there�s a new girl in town in 2010: Snooki, one of MTV�s �Jersey Shore� stars. [snooki] topped the list of fastest rising costume searches:

Jersey Shore fans seem interested in how to get Snooki�s hair just right�[snooki wig] and [snooki costume wig] are popular related searches. People from Pennsylvania were most likely to search for [snooki costume] in October, followed�fittingly�by folks from New Jersey. Not to be left out, however, Snooki�s costars Pauly D and The Situation are also showing up as popular Halloween ideas in the past few months.

[neytiri] tops the list of related searches for [avatar costume], as people try to figure out the complexities of becoming a blue resident of another planet. Gaga folks are trying to mimic an equally tough outfit: the singer�s famous meat dress. Searches for �meat costume� have grown more than 5,000% since July. We�ve also seen rising searches for [glee cheerios costume], [justin bieber costume], [katy perry costume], [kenny powers costume] and more.

Just in the last week, we�ve seen many other Halloween-related searches on Google. On today�s Hot Trends list, for example, we�ve seen rising interest in things like [monster mash song] and [halloween sounds]. Here�s more from the Google Beat�s All Hallows Eve special:



Turning from the U.S. to other countries, we see similar costume searches, minus our favorite reality TV stars: in Canada, Australia, Ireland and the U.K., Avatar and Lady Gaga come out on top. �Alice in Wonderland� characters are popular everywhere, but only in Australia are people looking to turn themselves into the [queen of hearts]. And the U.K. distinguishes itself with searches for good old-fashioned Halloween standbys [skeleton] and [zombie]. Brits are also looking to transform themselves into [mario] and [buzz lightyear].

One of my favorite things about Halloween at Google is all the Googlers� children who visit campus with their parents for a special kiddie celebration. Their costumes are always creative and more importantly, adorable. That seems to be universal across the U.S.�look at the fastest rising searches related to [baby costume] in 2010:

We also saw searches for [baby lobster costume], [baby yoda costume], [baby ladybug]. [baby bat] and [baby lion]. (And [baby spice], but that�s neither here nor there.) Costumes for kids aren�t too far off from adult costumes, with Avatar and Gaga atop the heap, however, you might see a lot of [werewolf kids] trick-or-treating this weekend, and the occasional [strawberry shortcake].

Last but not least, we can�t leave our canine friends out of the fun. This year, it seems people are taking inspiration from the movies to turn their pups into [slinky dog]s�the term has gone up 350%. People also seem to like to make their dogs another beast for the day, whether a [pig dog] or a [shark dog], or into a food item in a [taco dog costume] or the classic [hot dog costume]. Finally, you might see some dogs matching babies in your neighborhood, as we�ve seen growing interest in [lobster dog costume] and [yoda dog costume], although the latter is not rising as fast as [ewok dog costume].

We're celebrating "Googleween" today, and as always, Googlers and their kids are dressing to the nines in costumes of all kinds:

One thing�s for sure�with all these ideas, there�s no excuse not to dress up! So whether you�re going as Gaga or Yoda this weekend�or something we couldn�t even dream of�we hope you have a happy Halloween.

Update 4:06PM: Added slideshow.

Posted by Emily Wood, Google Blog Editor