Practiced On

Halloween and nearly every associated or similar holiday

Halloween Connection / Halloween Connection

- The focus is purely on the mask instead of the entire costume

- Truly iconic masks do not require a costume, as the character or persona is strongly tied to the mask, allowing the wearer to become the persona without a full costume

Rink Fact: There is much debate over which is the “best selling mask” of all time: Scream, Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees’s hockey mask.

Brief Bio

The wearing of ceremonial masks, including holiday masks, goes back far beyond recorded history. The wearing of a mask is usually associated with a character whose persona is so powerful or iconic that a full costume is not needed, or if there is an associated costume it is not required for one to explemplify the essence of the character one is portraying.

In modern times, specifically Halloween, several masks have become the most popular due to several factors: Being associated with a popular media franchise, strong ties to a persona or attitude, the essence of the character being important in popular character, affordability of the mask, variations and customizing options and finally ability to wear the mask without the need to have a character specific costume. The factors have allowed children the chance to dress as a holiday icon at a much more affordable cost and/or allow kids to design a costume without the help of a parent allowing the wearer to have greater control in crafting the persona. 

Popular Mask Categories Include:

Horror Movie Icons: The characters in this category are often the highest sellers of all masks due to several factors such as: Associations with long running and popular franchises, Franchises that span several generations, Mainstream popularity of the protagonists, Variations of said masks giving fans a variety of personilzed options, Expensive third party masks offering wearers an authentic movie like appearance and Numerous cheaper knockoffs allowing for a more budget friendly costume. Ghostface, Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees are the strongest sellers in this category.

Superheroes: Marvel and DC characters are popular sellers with Spider-man, Ironman, Batman, Superman, Black Panther and Wonder Woman being amongst the highest sellers as are Mighty Morphin Power Ranger masks.

Traditional Halloween Characters: Tradition Halloween characters such as the Witch, Vampire, Werewolf, Frankenstein, Devil, and, more recently, Clown masks are always popular sellers for the Holiday.

Revelant Pop Culture and Political Figures: Masks in this category are strong as long as the mask subject is revelant in popular culture. Once the subject is no long in the public eye, it was soon go into the discount bin graveyard and its spot on the mask rack will be taken by the current media personality of the moment. Masks in this category often focus on political figures such as presidents or popular media personalities and masks that have taken on a socially revelant meaning such the Guy Fawkes mask.

The Debate:

There is much debate as to what exactly is the “best selling Halloween mask of all time” claim due to a number of factors that no one can agree upon.

Ghostface: If one is to include variations and knockoffs, then the Ghostface mask is by far the biggest seller.

Michael Myers: Counting strictly original mask sales, Michael Myers wins. Moreso, if you include Captain Kirk masks that were bought then customized into the Michael Myers mask to have a more authentic feel

Jason Voorhees’s Hockey Mask: If we are counting just hockey masks, then Jason Voorhees conquers all as there are an endless amount of cheap hockey masks produced each year for Halloween and a plethora of hockey mask variations and colors.

*The Guy Fawkes mask is not included in this list because while it is worn as a Halloween mask a large number of its sales are due to being worn at political and social movement events. Since there is no way to count strictly Halloween sales the mask is not included on most best selling Halloween lists.