Trick or treat: should you dress up your dog for Halloween?
Halloween has become big business over the past two decades. In 2001, the British public spent £12m a year on it; that annual figure has since ballooned to £330m. There has also been a huge increase in spending on costumes for our pets, with more and more high-street stores, including Marks & Spencer and H&M, stocking them. There are fuzzy pumpkin, Darth Vader and Beetlejuice costumes available at Pets at Home this year, a ghost costume from Lidl and the inevitable unicorn from B&M. Rubie’s, which claims to be “the world’s largest designer, manufacturer and distributor of fancy dress costumes”, has a range of more than 50 costumes for dogs, including the chance to dress up your pet as Scooby Doo’s Mystery Machine van.
If you’re a dog owner, Halloween is probably one of your favorite holidays. I mean, is there anything cuter than dressing up your furry friend? No, I think not. And while it’s always fun to dress up with other people, nothing tops matching dog and owner costumes for Halloween. Besides, there’s a good chance that you already do everything together; celebrating the spooky holiday should be no different.

The first step, however, is taking into consideration how your dog feels about clothes. Some pups don’t mind wearing outfits. In fact, dogs with thin coats might actually like the extra layer during the cooler months. Meanwhile, other dogs might not love it, so don’t forget to pay attention to their reaction and body language.

For pups who don’t mind (or notice) when you dress them up, there are so many ways to wear matching outfits. The key is to choose a Halloween dog costume that is nice and simple. Sure, you want to get the point across, but you also want to make sure they feel good. You can always add most of the details to your own costume. Better yet, consider getting the whole family involved with an easy group Halloween costume.