Chad Lundquist/Nevada Appeal Susan Secoy, a real estate agent from Carson City, tries on a horse costume Monday at Revelations costume rental and portrait studio on North Curry Street. She was seeking help for a way to transform the horse into a donkey.
A pirate's duds and a head of dreads is the coveted costume for Halloween revelers in Carson City, a local purveyor said Monday afternoon.
"We're been renting a lot of pirate stuff," said Peggy Clark, co-owner of Revelations costume rental and portrait studio. "It's all because of 'Pirates of the Caribbean.' We even had the Captain Jack Sparrow dreads - those rent out fast."
Plenty of pirates and princesses will be knocking on Carson City doors tonight. Eleven percent of children, about 3.9 million, will don the crown and pretty puffed skirt, according to the National Retail Federation's Halloween consumer survey. Five percent of children, about 1.7 million, prefer the pirate's sword and swashbuckling hat.
According to the survey, 60 percent of consumers planned to buy a Halloween costume this year, up from 53 percent in 2005, with the average person spending $22. This year an estimated $4.96 billion will be spent on the holiday, making it the sixth largest spending holiday of the year.
Children aren't the only ones who yearn for the pirate's life. Ron White, a state employee, paid $60 to rent a Captain Hook costume, complete with hat, sword and mustache.
"I'm wearing it to work to match our decorating theme of Peter Pan," he said while leaving the costume shop on North Curry Street.
According to the survey, 34 percent of adults will dress up for Halloween. Top costumes for adults include witches, 6.2 million, pirates, 1.3 million and vampires, 1.3 million.
The phone at Revelations rang almost nonstop Monday afternoon, as the owners helped turn a musician into a pimp by pairing a garish dollar-sign necklace with platform shoes.
"I gotta have some rocks multiple rocks. It's gotta be overboard to the max," said Dane Rinehart, about some $1.95 fashion rings he was trying on.
Meanwhile, a local real estate agent sought advice on how to turn her horse costume into a donkey.
"We're going as a prospector couple and I'm going as his donkey," said Susan Secoy while trying on the furry costume and mane, which rents for about $55.
The 1800s Comstock-era costumes are a popular choice this year in Carson City, said Mona Coleman, costume shop co-owner.
• Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.