One Halloween, it was a tan cat complete with black details like a tail and whiskers. Another year it was good ole Minnie Mouse ... the elaborate costumes Kristen Kane’s great-grandmother handmade for her as a child sparked a lifelong endearment for trick-or-treating.

“I woke up one day and wanted to share that,” said Kane, a board member of the Butler County Young Professionals, said of her decision to initiate a costume drive among the group’s 400-plus membership.

More than 250 gently used children’s costumes — ranging from this year’s trends to vintage classics — were donated at the Butler County Chamber of Commerce office in the city, as well as six area businesses since the Labor Day weekend kickoff. The project also collected $500 in monetary donations.

The impressive and colorful ensemble collection on Monday was sorted, and later officials began distributing the costumes to boys and girls involved with Butler County Children and Youth Services.

“This is important to children because it creates more of a normal life for them,” said Charles Johns, director of Butler County Children and Youth Services. “It’s something they may not be able to do or have when they are in out-of-home placement.”

The community outpouring was more than the group had anticipated. The goal had been 100 costumes, which would have been just about the same number of children involved with CYS who would be eligible.

So Cathryn Heakins, CYS program specialist, said the organization is reaching out to see if other programs need some costumes.

Some of the outfits will be held back by the agency in case they are needed later in the year, and yet others will be distributed by The Sage Collector, a Butler-based nonprofit that assists foster children and at-risk youth.

“Costumes are one of those things that people don’t often think about donating, but they are an appreciated and well-loved item year-round for kids,” said Stephanie Kish, director of the The Sage Collector.

Kane said the hope is to make the costume drive an annual project of the Butler County Young Professionals, which is a networking group for professionals employed at Butler County businesses.