THERE ONCE WAS a time when if you needed a painstakingly detailed rubber pig’s head mask to wear to a fancy-dress party or to a wedding or whatever, you could get one in Dublin all year round. 

There was a time when there were permanent fancy dress shops all across Dublin, including Fun Place next to the Gaiety Theatre, which showcased a range of horrifying masks in its storefront all 12 months of the year. 

As a teen, I would pass that store and I would think to myself, ‘Surely demand for these grotesque masks cannot be sufficient to pay the rent on this place?’ Then, in early 2024, the Fun Place closed its physical store, moved entirely online in a clear demonstration that pig masks (they did sell more than just pig masks, to be clear) aren’t quite enough to pay the bills in the modern economic climate. Whether that’s because rents are too high or because demand for pig masks is too low — who’s to say? It might have also had something to do with the advent of online shopping. 

Leah Farrell Leah Farrell

In lieu of a permanent costume shop, those of us who wish to do our costume shopping in person must rely on the phenomenon of pop-ups. Naturally, this becomes especially relevant in the lead-up to Halloween.

This year there are at least three Halloween HQ shops operating in Dublin city centre — two on Henry St, about 100 metres apart, and another on the ground floor of St Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre.

Upon entering one of the Henry St locations this week, I was immediately greeted by the sounds of Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf. Because I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, my initial reaction was ‘What an odd song to be playing in a normal shop’. Around two minutes later I figured it out though, and I thought to myself, ‘What a thematically appropriate song to be playing in a Halloween shop’. You win this round, Halloween HQ. 

The three Halloween HQ shops offer much the same thing. Hundreds if not thousands of ready-made costumes wrapped in plastic and ready to be worn. In the most judgment-free way possible, it is a perfect situation for anyone who wants to dress up for Halloween while putting absolutely zero thought or effort into what they wear. You can be a pirate. You can be a mustard dispenser. I didn’t see any pig masks, but they were surely there somewhere. 

Halloween HQ stores sell costumes for all ages and it’s easy to see the appeal for any parent under pressure to come up with costumes for the slate of school parties, trick-or-treating and other events that abound at this time of year. However, there is perhaps something a little bit sterilising about outsourcing our costume-based creativity. Roughly 100% of the costumes seem to come from international costume wholesalers like Guirca Creations (a company based in Barcelona) or Smiffys (a UK-based company that has apparently been operating since the late 19th century). 

A hallmark of modern costumes is that they are all designed in such a way as to be unmistakably analogous to universally known pop culture figures without crossing the line into copyright infringement. A costume in the style of Ronald McDonald, for example, is marketed in Halloween HQ as ‘Burguer Clown’ (that’s not my typo, it’s theirs, or maybe the fake Ronald McDonald is also French?). Wednesday Addams is ‘Strange School Girl’. Various Super Mario costumes are packaged as ‘Red Plumber Guy’ (Mario), ‘Green Plumber Guy’ (Luigi), ‘Yellow Plumber Guy’ (Wario) and ‘Purple Plumber Guy’ (Waluigi).

One of the ready-made costumes was titled Mrs Scissors, prompting this reporter to wonder, not unsalaciously, if there happens to be a Mr Scissors. A quick scan of the costumes revealed that there is indeed a Mr Scissors, apparently based on Freddy Krueger. I’m sorry to have bothered you, Ma’am. In the next Halloween HQ shop I also noticed a ‘Scissors Kid’ costume which was undoubtedly the progeny of Mr and Mrs Scissors. How close I came to breaking up their happy home. 

Honestly, the main lesson to be learned from all of this is that you can pretty much make any of these costumes yourself, or piece them together from things you probably have in your wardrobe. There’s not much more to a Mario costume than a red top, a red cap and some blue dungarees. You may need to pull out some stops to get your hands on a moustache but with enough forward planning, many of us can grow one ourselves. 

With the average Halloween HQ costume costing somewhere in the region of €25-40, it does seem like the prudent and prepared fancy-dresser would probably think better of spending the cash and simply replicating these outfits with things found around the house. The Jesus costume, for example (the Jesus costume is simply marketed as Jesus, they don’t call him like… Bearded Crucifixion Carpenter) is little more than a white robe and a red sash, something that you could probably reconstruct by repurposing your bedsheets. 

There are other products on sale besides costumes. Spooky cloth, for example! If you’re wondering what spooky cloth looks like, I’d encourage you to imagine a worn, grey rag, but in packaging that describes it as ‘spooky’, ‘ghoulish’ and ‘fangtastic’. 

What is ultimately for sale at Halloween HQ is convenience above all else. A way of getting through Halloween without having to worry about it too much. Hard to blame anyone for indulging, particularly with Christmas coming around the corner. 

At least by then the Christmas pop-up shops will be ready to go, and we’ll have no trouble getting into the festive spirit after we’ve all spent €40 each on our Jolly Finnish Red Man costumes.