For the third year running, 11-year-old Seth Babcock will trick-or-treat as Darth Vader – and although his mother used to make his costumes, this year’s flashing sword and glow-in-the-dark mask came off the store shelves.

Seth and his 13-year-old sister, Heather, both of Ames, scoured Wal-Mart, 3015 Grand Ave., for the perfect trimmings to their outfits in preparation for the big night Tuesday.

“I’m gonna be Darth Vader again this year, because I like Star Wars,” he said. “I have a glow-in-the-dark Darth mask and my new sword lights up too.”

Gone are the simple days of the homemade witch, pumpkin and ghost costumes – today’s most popular Halloween costumes are store-bought pimps, genies, ghouls and cheerleaders.

Trish Vennink, who works at the Halloween Bootique at North Grand Mall, said the most popular costumes for men are ghoulish figures, hippies and pimps. Women prefer to transform themselves into genies, gypsies and pink ladies from the 50s, she said.

Woody and Buzz Lightyear from the movie “Toy Story,” all the “Shrek” characters, and Dorothy from the “Wizard of Oz” were best-sellers for the kids, Vennink said.

But the full costumes were overshadowed by the costume accessories – wacky wigs, funky nylons, crazy hats, plastic weapons, makeup and more.

Even the employees get a kick out of it.

“It’s so much fun – we tried on everything,” said Vennink, senior in exercise and sport science. “Everyone seemed to want accessories this year. My favorite was the sorority-girl wig, because it felt so real.”

Matthew Secrist, sophomore at Ames High School, said he was at Halloween Bootique to get a wig to complete the costume he plans to wear to school Wednesday.

“I’m trying to find a natural-feeling wig today, because I want to dress like a girl on Halloween to scare the people at my school,” Secrist said. “I have the skirt and everything, but I still need to find a shirt – either in pink or one with the Backstreet Boys on it.”

Julia Juergens, senior in biology, bought a bubble-gum pink 50s soda fountain shop dress for when she works as a waitress at People’s Bar and Grill, 2428 Lincoln Way.

“I just need a costume for work Wednesday night,” Juergens said. “This was the first place I looked, and I just decided to buy it because it was really cute.”