2018: Celebrating The Hocus Pocus 25th Anniversary

This year for Halloween, The Harris Sisters are paying homage to another set of sisters. We're dressing up as The Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus. Straight from Salem, Massachusetts, we're giving our best impressions of Winifred, Sarah, and Mary Sanderson just in time for Halloween 2018.

Although, we might have a little more fondness for each other than the Sanderson Sisters . . .

We left you guys a few breadcrumbs on our Facebook page leading up to October 1 to see if you could guess what our costumes might be this year. The biggest clue, of course, was a photo of all three of us with a broom, a mop, and a vacuum.

That is a nod to a scene from the movie when the Sanderson Sisters have to improvise when their brooms are stolen.

We found these awesome t-shirts, which would really be perfect for a group of sisters or girlfriends at Halloween time, so we knew they would be a fantastic teaser for our costumes this year. And when you read them all together, they say "I put a spell on you."

That refers to Bette Midler's show-stopping performance as Winifred Sanderson in the movie. Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker (Mary and Sarah Sanderson) were her back up singers and dancers. And they actually put a spell on the townspeople who were listening to the song!

Here we are doing our best impression of the pose in their big finish. "Hello, Salem! My name's Winifred; what's yours?"

While we have dressed up as witches before (way back in 2014), we've had this particular set of witch sisters on our costume wish list for a while now. And we just knew that 2018 was the perfect year for these costumes because this year marks the 25th anniversary of the release of the movie.

I know you're probably thinking to yourself, "25 years??? That can't be right!"

Hocus Pocus, now a cult classic, was released July 16, 1993. And by standard definitions that means it qualifies as a vintage movie. It actually qualified for that status when it turned 20. And you can read some interesting facts about the movie that we wrote about for that big anniversary in 2013.

Do you remember what you were doing in the early 1990s? Casting spells and cooking up potions like these gals?

The Devil's in the Details

• We purchased our Sanderson Sisters costumes at Spirit Halloween. But if you are crafty, you might be able to sew or modify a Renaissance or colonial costume to recreate the look. Just remember the characters' signature colors: Winnie wore green, Mary wore red, and Sarah wore purple.
• They did not have the Winifred wig in stock at the time we purchased our costumes, so Donna substituted a Red Queen wig from Alice in Wonderland.
• Misty used purple clip in hair extensions to get Mary Sanderson's signature color streak.
• Donna used a large green necklace from her costume closet to mimic the jewelry that Winifred wears in the movie. If you don't already have a green necklace that will fit the bill, make sure to shop your local thrift store for this piece.
• We completed our look with striped socks and boots. We actually had both the socks and the boots in our closets, so make sure to shop your own closet to see what you might have to accessorize these costumes!
• We used a plastic blow mold cauldron as a prop for a few of our photos and a broom, a mop, and a vacuum for our teaser photo.

We have a feeling you're going to see A LOT of Sanderson Sisters this Halloween because of the 25th anniversary, but even if you don't dress up like one of the sisters yourself, you can always celebrate by watching the movie again! It's on the list of our Top 25 Kid-Friendly Halloween Movies, so make sure to check out all of them!

Happy Halloween from The Harris Sisters!

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