Your Child's AI Toy Has Halloween Ideas Too
By Curio Team
With Halloween right around the corner, houses are already getting hectic, with everyone talking about what costumes to wear or which trick-or-treating routes to take. According to the National Retail Federation, 74% of Americans plan to celebrate Halloween this year, and families are expected to spend $1.5 billion on kids' costumes alone.
For ideas, a lot of people are turning to AI for help. Nearly half (47%) of people surveyed said they're using AI to help with Halloween shopping this year, and the most popular use is brainstorming.
So with all this AI use, why not let your kids join in? From costume ideas to trick-or-treat practice, here are just some of the ways you can use your AI toy this Halloween.
Brainstorm Costumes Together
Picking a costume isn't an easy task, so a great way to get ideas is to have a conversation with an AI toy. Instead of scrolling through pages online to see what your kid likes, they can talk through their ideas out loud. What's their favorite animal? Do they want their costume to be funny, spooky, or superhero-themed? They can even ask their toy what it would dress up as this year.
Looking for a good starting point? Superheroes are a safe bet. This year, around 4.6 million kids plan to dress up as Spider-Man, and another 2.3 million as a superhero. Princesses, witches, and ghosts fill out the rest of the top five.
Try saying:
- "What should I be for Halloween?"
- "What would you dress up as for Halloween?"
- "Help me think of a funny costume!"
- "What's a costume for someone who loves dinosaurs?"
Why Costumes Are More Than Just Fun
Here's an interesting thing about dressing up: researchers think it could help kids focus, and they call it the "Batman Effect.”
In a 2017 study, researchers had 180 four- and six-year-olds do a boring task for 10 minutes, with a fun video game available as a distraction. Some kids did the task as themselves, some thought about themselves in the third person, and some pretended to be a character like Batman. The kids pretending to be a character worked the longest, followed by the third-person group, with the kids working as themselves last.
Researchers aren't totally sure why it works, but they have a few hypotheses. It could be because pretending makes a boring task more fun, or kids might be trying to take on their character's qualities. At the end of the day, pretending to be a character had a noticeable impact on how long kids stuck with the task.
If you want to try a little of the Batman Effect at home, your AI toy can help. Your kid can ask their toy to play along as their sidekick or to talk to them like a superhero.
Try saying:
- "Pretend I'm a superhero!"
- "Can you be my sidekick?"
- "What would a superhero do right now?"
Tell Spooky (Not Too Scary) Stories
Halloween is the perfect time for stories, and AI toys are literally built for storytelling. What makes AI toys good at it is that they can come up with something new every time and build on what your kid says, so your kid gets to help create the story too. A friendly ghost who's afraid of the dark? A pumpkin that wants to be a superhero? Anything that interests them.
This kind of back-and-forth storytelling is similar to dialogic reading, where kids are asked questions and build on the story themselves, which we covered in a previous blog (here).
If you're worried about the stories getting too spooky, you're in control. In Curio's parent app, you can add prompts to guide the conversation, so you can control the themes. You can also see every conversation in the transcripts.
Try saying:
- "Tell me a silly Halloween story."
- "Let's make up a story about a friendly ghost!"
- "What happens next?" (for taking turns)
Play Halloween Games
AI toys can turn Halloween into fun games. Have your kid choose a costume (if they haven't already, they can get ideas for that too) and let the toy try to guess it by asking questions. You can also ask for Halloween-themed riddles, jokes, or fun facts.
These games are a good way to pass the time before trick-or-treating, or just to get into the Halloween spirit.
Try saying:
- "Guess what I'm going to be for Halloween!"
- "Tell me a Halloween joke!"
- "Give me a Halloween riddle."
- "Tell me a fun fact about bats."
Practice Trick-or-Treating
Some kids struggle with the social side of trick-or-treating, and knocking on a stranger's door isn't the easiest thing in the world. The good news is, your AI toy can create a low-stakes environment for practicing.
Your kid can say "trick or treat!" and see what the toy says, then practice saying "thank you!" afterwards. It's a good way to build confidence and talk about manners. Children already show a lot of natural kindness toward their toys, as we covered in our blog (here), and Halloween is a great time to practice sharing that kindness with other people.
Try saying:
- "Can we practice trick-or-treating?"
- "Pretend you're opening the door!"
- "What do I say when I get candy?"
Conclusion/TL;DR
Halloween can be a busy time for parents, between costumes, candy, and decorations. An AI toy can keep your kid entertained with screen-free play, whether it's brainstorming ideas or practicing "trick or treat!", and you can make sure the fun stays kid-friendly through the parent app. This year, let your kid's AI toy do some of the heavy lifting, and have some fun along the way.
Sources:
Title: "NRF Halloween Survey Shows Consumer Spending Expected to Reach $13.5 Billion"
Source: National Retail Federation, September 2026
Title: "The 'Batman Effect': Improving Perseverance in Young Children"
Authors: White, R. E., Prager, E. O., Schaefer, C., Kross, E., Duckworth, A. L., and Carlson, S. M.
Source: Child Development, 88(5), 1563–1571, 2017
Link: https://experts.umn.edu/en/publications/the-batman-effect-improving-perseverance-in-young-children/
Title: "Pretending to be Batman helps kids stay on task"
Source: The British Psychological Society, Research Digest, October 2017
Link: https://bps.org.uk/research-digest/pretending-be-batman-helps-kids-stay-task
