The Disney Store is making a huge change in how it sells its Halloween costumes for kids. The store has  revamped the way it displays sections for boy and girl costumes and simply groups them all together as “Kids.”  

Following on the heels of Target’s big move, the Disney Store is distancing itself from gender-based labels for young children. In previous years, costumes had pretty specific (and completely unnecessary) labels. Most superhero costumes were labeled for boys while girls got a bunch of pink and pastel-colored princess dresses.

In the side graphic, you can see what the costume sections for boys and girls looked like last year.

But wow, have things changed a lot this year. 

Gone are divided sections for “boys” and “girls” on the site’s Halloween page. Also, if you try and select “Halloween costumes” under the drop-down menus for boys or girls, you get redirected to “Costumes for Kids.” While it looks like they are still using the old photos of kids in costumes, the costume labels have all dropped the boy or girl specification. And yes, the girls’ section now features a Darth Vader costume under “popular for princess.” Nice.

​This is another important move that sends a positive message to kids and parents. You don’t need to be a boy to dress up as Spider-Man and that’s not a message young children should be getting when they’re trying to find a costume that makes them happy. That’s what this is ultimately about. Children who just want to have fun on a special night shouldn’t be restricted by arbitrary labels about costumes that serve no purpose except to reinforce bad stereotypes.

Now as the kids go out shopping for their costumes, boys or girls wont be pressured to pick something out that is meant for their specific gender. It’s important that the young children know they have options in what they want to chose, and not feel like “oh  boys have to be super heroes, or girls have to be princesses.” It also teaches kids good lessons because if they learn that it is alright to do this, they will pass it on and motivate other young minds to do the same.

Here’s to hoping Disney’s move will motivate other retail stores to make their offerings more inclusive.