A decent last minute halloween costume can be important.  When I was a kid, my mother cut out a couple of circles out of poster board for my brother and I, hung them on our shoulders, and wrote big black M's on the front, making us red and green M&Ms.  I can't remember what catastrophe destroyed the original Halloween costumes, but I can remember feeling like a kite about to fly away when we went trick or treating that night.  So yeah, some better last minute costume ideas might save some poor kid from being an M&M.