Michael Jackson surprised onlookers in Los Angeles earlier this week by taking his children shopping dressed as Halloween characters.

Jackson, who was wearing a mask and hoodie, Prince Michael, 11, Paris, 10, and Prince Michael II, 6, all entered the shop via a back entrance.

The family, who are rarely seen in public, browsed the store together, with Jackson's children only removing their disguises to look at comics, according to the Sun newspaper.

When Jackson turned 50 in August he expressed his desire to spend more time with his children. “I want them to get to do the kind of things I didn't get to do,” he said.

But despite feeling “very wise and sage” for a 50-year-old, the singer said he still felt “at the same time very young.”

(by Jason Gregory)