National Costume Swap Day:

The National Costume Swap Day is observed on the second Saturday of October every year. This day neighbors or the residents gather to swap their old Halloween costumes for new ones and celebrate it with citywide events.

Twitter Hashtags:

#NationalCostumeSwapDay

#CostumeSwapDay

Why National Costume Swap Day?

Well, who does not love to dress up, and if it is getting into the shoes of your favorite character, be it a pirate, a princess, a dragon, or a wizard, it is surely a cherry on the cake. With the Halloween festival just a few weeks away, everyone tends to get overwhelmed while deciding on what to wear. The National Costume Swap Day thus comes as a rescue.

National Costume Swap Day encourages kids and adults to trade their old Halloween costumes for a new dud. It does not matter if your costumes are home-stitched, store-bought, or patched together, as the idea behind celebrating this day is to promote an economical and ecological way to dress for Halloween.

However, costume swap doesn’t save your pocket from burning but also is a great way to explore ideas for kids of all age groups. Dress-up provides the kids a chance to use their imagination. Doing role plays allows the kids to explore their creative side, as they live the imagery world they have only read or seen in books or on TV. When their favorite character’s costume that fits their dreams suddenly appears before their eyes, the kids are left ecstatic. This day is perfect to gather with family, colleagues, or neighbors and spread some joy around.

Well, the benefits of this day don’t stop here, as it has also been designed to help theatre troupes who are preparing for the fall season drama. When it comes to staging a drama, the most arduous task remains to be costuming. In fact, for once, dressing the stage is easier, but dressing the cast requires a good amount of brainstorming. After all, the personality of the characters is reflected through the dresses they wear. National Costume Swap day comes in as a savior for the budding theatre groups to help each other out.

Nonetheless, costume swapping is a great way to recycle and upcycle costumes for Halloween and keeps them out of landfills. It is a great way to even reconnect with family, friends, neighbors, or colleagues. It is a win-win situation for humans and the environment.

How can we observe National Costume Swap Day:

• Swap, Swap, Swap:

The best way to observe this day is to swap your old Halloween costumes for a different one. Gather in your neighborhood or your house with your family or even in your office and enjoy swapping costumes. Do not forget to post a picture of your costume swapping experience on social media using the hashtag #NationalCostumeSwapDay.

• Organize a costume swap party :

You can host a costume swap party for your friends, family, neighbors, or colleagues and increase the joy of this many folds. After all, they say the more, the merrier. It would be fun to see who’s got which costume. You may even keep some prizes for the best costume swap pair. Be sure you post snippets from the party on social media using the hashtag #NationalCostumeSwapDay.

Interesting facts on National Costume Swap Day:

Here are some interesting facts about Costumes for you to enjoy your day!

• The first known evidence of costumes was that the Celts wore them for celebrating the holiday Samhain.
• The term costume is an Italian word. It means “custom” and “fashion.”
• Costumes were made by hand, at first.
• In the early 20^th century, costumes were made ready-to-wear and were sold commercially.
• The first push of mainstream costumes in America happened in the 1930s, while there was still evidence of costumes across the world.
• The U.S. Halloween spending reached about 5.7 million dollars as reported by the U.S National Retail Federation in 2008, based on a poll conducted.
• In 2008, classic costumes still ruled the hearts, for around 10 percent of children were to dress up as princesses, and around 3.7 percent of children were to dress up as Hannah Montana.

History of National Costume Swap Day:

Halloween is all about getting dressed up in your favorite character’s costume and participating in the trick or treats. However, those fancy costumes can end up burning your pocket. Also, these costumes remain in some part of your closet and may never be used again. This is why GreenHalloween.org came up with the idea of creating the Costume Swap Day. The day was first observed way back in 2010. The idea was to promote and an economical and ecological way to dress for Halloween.