Halloween is upon us and usually I don’t care for it, until 2 years ago I could take or leave Halloween. Then my son was born and reframed my perspective, suddenly Halloween was interesting again. Obviously I got too excited and taking a 1-year old “Trick or Treating” last year wasn’t exactly what I was picturing and it was more like me conning people into giving me candy because I was carrying a baby dressed as Winnie-the-Pooh. But what a difference a year makes and now at just over 2, my son is excited for Halloween. Last year I decided to dress up as Tigger to accompany my son and found the costume a bit form fitting on my overweight-guy physique. This year I wanted to do a Ghostbusters theme since my son had become obsessed with the movie recently. Last year’s dilemma is repeated and I was worried that I wouldn’t fit into my Ghostbusters flight suit that I bought on eBay a few years ago during thinner days. My hunch was more than correct and I found myself worried that my costume would be just of supportive parent this year. Enter HalloweenCostumes.com, which had multiple options for a man of my build. (Full disclosure these costumes were provided by HalloweenCostumes.com in order for this review)

First up is the Premium Ghostbusters Costume by Charades:

The largest size for this costume is capped at XL, which I hoped would be my best option. Unfortunately this costume did not fit very well. I normally wear L/XL depending on the item so I figured XL would be a safe bet but I was wrong. This of course points to an issue that people with plus size bodies face on this holiday, finding decent costumes that fit. Overall this is a great product that comes with great features and high quality manufacturing, yet even though it’s XL it didn’t fit. Besides my issue with the fit my other problem is with the gloves:

Pictured above are the gloves in question next to the somewhat tight belt (which actually did sort of fit). These gloves may look good in the picture but in person they are actually quite strange, smell weird, and stifle finger movement. Now maybe I don’t have much experience with gloves, all I know is I don’t like these gloves. The description of the costume claims to be cosplay quality which brings me to my next point: I would agree.

The flight suit is quite close in quality to the one I bought on eBay (an actual surplus flight suit) and more importantly to me, the color is near perfect. Ghostbusters costumes tend to skew brown rather than the tan/grey from the movie and this costumes gets it pretty close. I really like the color and this would have really made the costume work for me … had it fit. The costume also comes with multiple name patches and elbow pads.

This costume comes with a “proton pack” to complete the ensemble. Not a bad piece but I was a bit underwhelmed considering this is a premium costume.

Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised by the little details of wires that aren’t sculpted on but actual little plastic wires that come off the pack:

Since the costume ships somewhat flat the pack requires to be filled with some sort of padding to bulk it up and has an easy access pouch for filling. The “neutrino wand” leaves a lot to be desired and is just a foam piece with the details painted on. The plastic tubing that connects the wand to the pack also seems off as well.

Despite it’s details for the better some minor points make the costume not that great of a value for $150.00. That price point is of course for the XL costume, the smaller costumes are cheaper by degrees, basically a fat tax. A tax that gets you a costume that’s just shy of it’s actual size leaving people my size or heavier wanting. Luckily HalloweenCostumes.com did have another option, albeit a cheaper one.

Ghostbuster Plus Size Deluxe Costume by HalloweenCostumes.com:

This costume is over $100 cheaper and the quality is lower. As far as Halloween costumes go it is on par with everything else I’ve seen and best of all it comes in multiple sizes ranging from 2X to 6X. It is not cosplay quality but from what I’ve found on the internet it is the cheapest and most authentic opportunity to dress as Ghostbuster for people with plus size needs. The costume seen below is 2X and fits quite well:

Naturally the color is off, as mentioned above these costumes are usually browner than they need to be. One benefit to this is that it matches the color of the toddler costume I got for my son. My only other issue is that the collar is a little too big which is not a deal breaker on a costume that I can actually wear. This does claim to be a “Deluxe” costume but it comes with just the flight suit, multiple name tags, and costume “proton pack”. If I was underwhelmed by the previous pack this one was definitely disappointing.

As with all things the details can really make a difference. One point in favor of this pack over the Charades pack is that the plastic tubing is actually more film accurate. Also you would think that the “neutrino wand” would be worse than the Charades Premium wand but they seem to be the same. Obviously the pack itself is just an actual back-pack with a printed on image of the “proton pack” so in this regard the Charades costume does have the better option. I will say I really do love the idea of my son one day using the cheaper pack as an actual, functional back-pack so that is a major plus.

In the end the HalloweenCostumes.com Ghostbusters costume is not as high quality as the Charades costume, which is expected for an over $100 difference. However the Charades costume is not really worth $150 when you compare the two costumes, at best it should be about $40-50 cheaper. Meanwhile the HalloweenCostumes.com suit is a great value for a 2X at $45. The greatest benefit being that I can feel comfortable and have fun with my son on Halloween, that is priceless. Links for both costumes are below, once again thanks to HalloweenCostumes.com for providing these samples.

Charades Premium Ghostbusters Costume:

https://www.halloweencostumes.com/adult-premium-ghostbusters-costume.html

HalloweenCostumes.com Plus Size Deluxe Ghostbusters Costume:

https://www.halloweencostumes.com/ghostbusters-mens-plus-size-deluxe-costume.html