Emily Markoulatos has completed her children's Halloween costumes: Payte, 4, is dressed as an acorn, and Eva, 5, will be a squirrel. Markoulatos is trying to keep the costumes simple this year by focusing mainly on hats.

Emily Markoulatos has completed her children's Halloween costumes: Eva, 5, will be a squirrel. Markoulatos is trying to keep the costumes simple this year by focusing mainly on hats.

Superhero films are influencing costume trends this year. Batman and the Joker are particularly popular.

Emily Markoulatos was thrilled when she found out her daughters wanted to dress up as a squirrel and an acorn for Halloween.

It solved what can be the hardest part in making children’s costumes – figuring out what they want to be. And then there was an added bonus.

“I was so glad they were going to be anything other than princesses,” says Markoulatos.

In fact, princess costumes may not be the hottest items on the shelves this Halloween. Kyle Billings, owner of Fun and Games, 1601 W. 23rd St., says, “Girls are getting away from just being pretty this year (and) veering toward vampires or things like that.”

Clinton Haynes, an employee at Spirit Halloween Superstores, 3140 S. Iowa, has found the tough-spirited Elizabeth Swann from “Pirates of the Caribbean” to be particularly popular with girls this year.

And the boys? “The Joker,” says Haynes without hesitation, referencing the Batman villain. “Everybody wants to be the joker.”

Movie characters such as Iron Man and Indiana Jones also have also been selling well.

Billings observes an interesting dynamic with superhero costumes this season.

“A lot of the superhero movies this year are geared toward older kids, like preteens,” he says. “That’s the age where kids think they’re too cool to dress up. The younger kids might not have seen them.”

He finds that decades costumes are popular, particularly the 1960s and ’70s.

“You can get really creative with the accessories,” says Billings, whose 9-year-old daughter will dress as a ’60s go-go girl.

Kathy Barland, who operates a costume rental shop in Sarah’s Fabrics, 925 Mass., agrees that time periods are always popular inspiration for a costume. When helping her customers decide on an outfit, she starts by figuring out if they want to be a specific person or simply from a particular era.

“I’ll start by asking, do you want to be a southern belle or Scarlett O’Hara?” she says.

Premade Halloween costumes didn’t hit American stores until the 1930s, so those feeling particularly creative might take inspiration from an earlier era and make the costume themselves. Barland says that involving children in the creation of their costume can make for a memorable experience.

“Any child appreciates the creative process,” she says. “It can be fun for them to work through different materials to achieve a result.”

Emily Markoulatos is glad to have a few extra hands this year – her daughters Eva, 5, and Payte, 4.

“They helped with the design, and Eva will probably help pick the fabric,” she says.

Markoulatos is “keeping it simple” and focusing most of the creativity on the hats. The girls will wear simple brown complemented by a few items of flair.

Markoulatos advises looking around your house for inspiration.

“One year I made a Little Red Riding Hood costume that started with a big red piece of fabric lying around that I was trying to figure out what to do with,” she says.

But it’s not always that easy.

“I’m always stuck sewing, searching and stressing at the last minute, even though we start plotting in July,” says Julie Dunlap, a Lawrence mother of four who, like Markoulatos, realizes that Halloween doesn’t begin and end on October 31st.

“I save all the costumes I make,” says Markoulatos. “My girls like to play dress-up everyday.”