A unicorn villain, Dolly Parton and skeletal headgear lead Google's 2026 costume searches

SALT LAKE CITY — As Halloween creeps closer, Google Trends has released Frightgeist, the search engine's annual report on the most-searched costumes, candy, and decorations.

Movie characters and Santa hats are in (just not for humans) and political costumes are out. Utah's top costume searches this year have a hint of nostalgia and western flair.

Costumes

Nationally, Buddy the Unicorn is the number one costume search according to Google. He's the unicorn villain in the film "Buddy," a horror comedy released this year.

NeeDoh, a viral squishy toy, is the second most popular costume in national Google searches. Other top-10 worthy costume searches included characters from recent hit films "Obsession," "Backrooms," "The Odyssey," and "Verity."

Number six on the national list is the late singer and comedian Oliver Tree, who unexpectedly died in a Brazilian helicopter crash in June.

As for what costumes are being searched in Utah, Megan Stoner with Google Search Trends said it's a little more nostalgic than scary:

"Grinch is number one in Salt Lake," she said, "followed by the Grim Reaper, an angel, Cookie Monster, and Maleficent."

Those walking the neighborhood streets this year will likely see fewer K-pop demon hunters, one of the biggest costumes from last year.

But the tradition of dressing pets continues in 2026 with two sweet choices among the top five. A can of diet Coke is number 4, and a pooch version of Dolly Parton, who died this year is number 2.

A centipede, Bullseye from "Toy Story," and Princess Donut from literary role-playing game Dungeon Crawler Carl round out the top pet costume searches.

Dolly Parton costumes are also leading the searches for kids' costumes, Stoner said, "followed by Ella Langley. It seems like it's going to be like a Western pop star Halloween."

2026 candy trends

The most searched candy in 2026 is the same it's been for the last five years — people just can't get enough of Candy Corn.

Stoner said what's more interesting than the most-searched candy are the candy searches with increasing volume. In 2026, more people searched for Kit Kat, Oreo Ghost, and Reese's Halloween candy than ever before.

Decorations

The lowly crockpot is a superstar this year, Stoner said.

"Crockpot cauldrons have reached an all-time high search interest, meaning this is the most they've ever been searched before."

Combine that with the spiking searches for dry ice, and there may be a pattern. Think cauldrons with spooky witches' brews in people's front yards.

What do people want from their pumpkin decorations this year? "The puking pumpkin," Stoner said.

You may think that the year 2020 was frightening because of the global pandemic of an unknown virus. But that's also the year those 12-foot skeletons first showed up at Home Depot.

Now, they're everywhere. And Stoner said there's been a search surge not in where the skeletons can be purchased, but where consumers can find a Santa hat made specifically for their giant skeleton heads.

Which could mean those skeletons will stick around until the December holidays, Stoner said.

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