Halloween is just weeks away and colorful face masks will be launched for the festivities, the popular arts and crafts brand Crayola has recently added Halloween-inspired face masks to its lineup. The face masks are available in both kids and teens/adult sizes with different styles to choose from. Each pack includes five face masks (meant to be worn for every day of the school week) that all have various Halloween caricature designs on them, like a witch, ghost, and mummy. The Crayola masks include nose wires, adjustable earloops, and name tags, and also come with a mesh laundry bag.
Since launching on Amazon last week, the masks are already number one best-sellers in the kids’ costume masks category. They’re currently backordered due to their popularity, but don’t fret — you can still place your order, just expect a later shipping date.
The brand’s original batch of masks are a top choice amongst parents. They’ve racked up hundreds of five-star ratings from shoppers who say they are soft and fit comfortably, and that their kids “love” wearing them.
“These are perfect for my 5-year-old. The other masks we’ve tried just don’t fit him right but these are perfect,” one customer wrote. “Plus he loves the colors and cute faces so he doesn’t fight as much with wearing it.”
Crayola says its adult face masks will fit teens and adults 12 and over, while its kids’ masks will fit kids ages three to 11 years old. The CDC states that “cloth face coverings should not be placed on young children under age 2.”
While in Mexico, where the masked stars of “lucha libre” wrestling are already cultural icons, people are using their colorful masks to ward off the disease in style. The wrestling masks, fitted out with an added chin strap, are highly sought after since they cover both the nose and the mouth of the wearer, and hundreds have been sold since the outbreak began.
The handmade masks use the same colors and designs worn by the most famous wrestling stars and are produced by a 53-year-old former wrestler, José Isaias Huerta, known in his days in the ring as “El Gato Gris” (The Grey Cat).
In less than a month, Huerta has sold 600 masks, churning out 30 a day – and he has a backlog of orders that will take more than a month to fulfill.
“Mexicans have lucha libre in their blood – the wrestler is a living hero for the fans,” he told AFP. “I see that with this,” he added, pointing at his masks.
The emblematic masks of stars such as El Santo, Blue Demon or La Parka have been recreated using regular fabrics, and the maker does not claim they have the protective quality of actual surgical masks.
Huerta sells them for 50 pesos (around $2) apiece – almost 10 times the price of a conventional mask sold in packets of 10 in pharmacies, which are not as thick as his.
Kids ‘feel like superheroes’
Huerta made his amateur debut in the wrestling ring at age 11 and had his first professional bout when he was 14. Since then, he has never strayed far from the canvas.
After retiring, he got his hands on a couple of old sewing machines and started turning out – together with his sister – masks for both professional wrestlers and their fans.
Sources: People.com / Chilango