WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- If you haven't yet decided what you're going to be for Halloween you're probably not a kid. Children around the country are wearing their costumes to school, in a dress rehearsal for the annual Oct. 31 scarefest. And costume shops are doing a brisk business selling topical and traditional getups.

When it comes to preferences, Deborah Rivera, manager of Costumes Unlimited, in Orlando, Fla., says adults are wearing Flintstones costumes and French maids outfits. Most of the requests for Monica Lewinsky and President Clinton costumes came early, "and then we actually sold out.''

Rivera said: "With kids it's all the fairy princess, the Disney characters, Mulan. The girls want to be feminine and very pretty and glamorous and elegant. For the boys, the scarier the better'' Arnold Goldman, manager of The Monster Makers theatrical makeup supplier, in Cleveland, says Halloween is a safe way for revelers to deal with the real world and the unknown: "I think people just like to be scared. People have fears, and it's kind of a way of confronting the fear.''

Three-year-old Jessica Tubis, in Hamden, Conn., got the chance to work the kinks out of her Wicked Witch of the West costume by wearing it to nursery school. As her mother finished up the green face paint, she looked at herself in the mirror, laughed hysterically, and exclaimed, "Ooh, I'm scary!''

Asked how the Wizard of Oz character will demand candy she demurred, "I'm not going to say anything -- I'm just gonna hold out my bag.'' Two Alexandria, Va., brothers, 9-year-old Jason and 5-year-old Michael Bower, are dressing as peanut and plain M&Ms, respectively. While Jason enthused, "This outfit is really tight (cool)'' his younger brother just grumbled about the costume designed by his mother.