Halloween is just around the corner.

For those still young enough to go trick-or-treating without it being weird, that means it's time to start narrowing down costume choices.My days of acting cute and innocent enough to bag as many goodies as I could are long behind me.Meanwhile, the nightmares induced by some of my parents' horrifying costume decisions are fresh.I haven't looked back at photos recently, but I'm confident at some point I was a Wheaties box. Back in the day, that was fine. I don't have a huge problem with that.There is one that will forever haunt me.Do you have any idea what it's like to parade around in town dressed as a hot dog? It looked something like my face popping out of an Oscar Mayer Weiner complete with a bun to keep me nice and toasty. As if the costume wasn't embarrassing enough, I could hardly walk.It didn't include any mustard or relish, at least that I know about.Hit up Google and search "hot dog Halloween costume." Do you know what you'll find? It's the second most popular costume for pets, not humans.A survey by the National Retail Federation confirms that even Fido would rather be a pumpkin than a hot dog.I suppose I have to take some responsibility as I can't imagine I offered up any better ideas that year.I've touched on the bad, so I'll try to counter with something more upbeat.Although I didn't go trick-or-treating as him, my personal favorite is when I bought a Bill Clinton mask and portrayed the president for a speech in high school.It was not too long after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, so I won't go into too many details of the presentation, but it was entertaining.Statistics show that was a good choice as 774,000 adults chose a political character as their preferred costume last year.So far, I have tried to avoid putting my daughter in an unfortunate situation. She's been a spider and a cabbage patch doll the past few years.I'm not sure where she came up with this, but she's been telling everyone she sees, even many strangers in the store who couldn't care less, that she is going to be a cupcake this year.In a world still full of Annas and Elsas, that sounds good to me.Just what are the top Halloween costumes for 2015?According to the NRF, princess costumes will once again top the children's costume list with an estimated 3.2 million tiny tots looking to dress the part. Another 2 million will be their favorite Disney "Frozen" character. Additionally, more than 1.8 million children will don a "Star Wars" costume and 1 million will select a little yellow Minion costume as they take to the streets this Halloween.