Babies in NICU Celebrate First Halloween With Adorable Costume Contest

There are few things cuter than babies in Halloween costumes, and, with Halloween just a few days away, you’re social media feed may be full of them (not that anyone’s complaining!). But for parents with babies in the NICU, celebrating Halloween may not be as easy. Luckily, one children’s hospital is taking steps to change that—and preemies in the Chicagoland area are already celebrating.

Every year, Advocate Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn and Park Ridge, located in the suburbs of Chicago, holds a Halloween costume contest for babies in the NICU. The parents are invited to dress their little ones in costume to get in the Halloween spirit.

The hospital started the initiative as a way to provide parents with some normalcy and help them celebrate baby’s first Halloween. “We began this event several years ago” neonatologist Mike Cappello, D.O. tells The Bump. “It gives families an opportunity to forget about the stress of their hospital admission and just be a family.”

Some of our favorite costumes from this year? Grandma Serenity (who looks simply purr-fect), a little mouse with his cheese, the cutest two peas in a pod, a lion cub from the circus, a baby bunny with her carrot, and the marvelous Wonder Woman.

Image: Advocate Children’s Hospital

The babies in the contest range from one day to six months old. You can vote for the costumes on the hospital’s Facebook page until noon on Halloween, and you can vote more than once. After all, these babies are all winners in our book.

Image: Advocate Children’s Hospital

Image: Advocate Children’s Hospital

Image: Advocate Children’s Hospital

Image: Advocate Children’s Hospital