Halloween 2026 in Chicago: An M&M Is the City's Top Trending Costume, and Trick-or-Treat Weather Stays Mild
Google's Frightgeist rankings put an M&M at the top of Chicago's trending costume searches for Halloween 2026, while the station forecast keeps Saturday evening mild and mostly dry for trick-or-treaters.
Chicago's most-searched costume idea this Halloween is a candy. Google's Frightgeist map, which ranks the costumes people are searching for more than they did a year ago, puts an M&M at the top of the list for the Chicago market, according to Men's Journal's city-by-city rundown of the Google Trends data. The rankings compare search interest in September 2026 with September 2025, so they show what is rising fastest rather than what will be most common on the street.
Nationally, the runaway search is Buddy the Unicorn, the mascot from the horror movie Buddy, followed by Needoh, the squishy stress-ball toy, and Nikki from "Obsession," according to Google's 2026 Halloween trends as reported by WFTV. Dolly Parton leads the kids' list nationally, and Google's team noted that searches for Michael Jackson costumes are at a 10-year high.
The weather cooperates for most of the evening. The station's Open-Meteo feed put Chicago at 55.6 degrees and overcast in the early afternoon, with a Saturday high of 57, a low of 51 and a 23 percent chance of precipitation — cool enough for a jacket under the costume, with no washout in the forecast for trick-or-treat hours.
Families heading out after dark get the mildest night of the week ahead. The same feed shows Sunday reaching 60.7 degrees before rain chances climb into Tuesday, when showers and a high near 67 are expected.
