Although Halloween is quickly approaching, it’s not too late to dress up! Lighten up and have some fun this year while giving those around you a good laugh. Here are eight last-minute suggestions that may spark your interest.
1. Ant Colony
This is by far my favorite group costume idea this year. Grab your friends and an extremely large cardboard cutout of a green leaf. Try to make a leaf large enough for you and your friends to stand underneath. You can all dress in black and wear two antennas on your head. Next, you’ll want to walk in a single file line while you all support the green cardboard leaf above you. This group costume is sure to turn some heads and will likely raise awareness to the team work involved in ant colonies.
2. Dragon Ball Z Cast
It’s always fun to coordinate group costumes based off of your favorite TV show. Pick your favorite show, and dress up as the characters within the show. Dragon Ball Z is definitely in my list of top ten. You have a variety of characters to choose from, so you can be sure that none of your friends will be left out. Among these characters, you can choose between Goku, Vegeta, Bulma, Gohan, Piccolo, Trunks, Goten, and let’s not forget our favorite villains, Freeza and Cell. Also, the shortest person in the group gets to be Krillin! It’s the perfect occasion to wear a bald cap and get away with it.
3. Punctuation
For this group costume, each person can dress up as a different punctuation mark. Choose between a comma, period, question mark, exclamation point, colon, semi-colon, and quotation marks. You can make this costume as simple, or as complicated as you’d like. Perhaps you could dress in a neutral color and create punctuation head-pieces. Here’s where the cute headbands come in. Show everyone the importance of remaining grammatically correct! Instead of saying “trick-or-treat,” each person can explain the usage of their specific punctuation mark when asking for candy. Pass on your knowledge of the English language.
4. Santa Claus and his elves.
I can’t think of a better way to confuse children on Halloween. Dress up as Santa Claus and his elves and leave little kids wondering if Christmas came early. This could also serve as a reminder that children need to be on their best behavior if they want to receive presents. If you want to go the extra mile, you can hand out pieces of coal to the whiny ones, and hand out Kit-Kats to the children who are well-behaved. I’m sure their parents will be more than grateful.
5. Boy Band (‘Nsync)
Growing up, I had the biggest crush on all of the members of ‘Nsync. Unfortunately –as is the case with many ‘Nsync fans – when recounting their profound love to the younger generation, ‘Nsync fans are faced with blank expressions and exclamations of “Who’s that?” It is an unacceptable question if ever there was one. So come on everyone! Let’s remind these kids what the 90s looked like. Pick four of your friends and dress up as J.C., Lance, Joey, Chris, and Justin. This costume is a great way to give younger kids a glimpse of our past. And really, who wouldn’t want to be Justin Timberlake for a night?
6. Fashion Police
Someone has to let kids know that Halloween is not an excuse to dress distastefully. That someone can be you and your group of friends! Dress in police officer attire and don’t forget your whistle! Blow your whistle and hand out fashion violations in the form of tickets whenever you see something atrocious. Be prepared to have several tickets handy, as I’m sure you’ll need plenty. Or perhaps instead of tickets you could hand out vegetables as punishment. Although the children may not see it, you’re really doing them a favor. In the end everyone wins!
7. College Students’ Worst Nightmare
College students experience many of the same fears and anxieties. Why not turn these fears into a group costume! The alarm clock is a terrifying device that most college students dread and would also make for a great interpretation of a college student’s worst nightmare. It could signal the end of a glorious nap, or the beginning of a long day full of responsibilities. Another shared fear is that of a caffeine shortage. Portray this fear by dressing up as an empty coffee mug. Or, why not be an angry professor? We’ve all had the pleasure of being enrolled in a course with an intimidating professor, so we all know that it isn’t always fun. And, of course, there is the zombie student. At some point in the semester, we become so sleep deprived that we begin roaming around campus looking like the walking dead. This costume is pretty simple; all you have to do is act like you’ve just rolled out of bed and are headed toward your 8 A.M.
8. Puns
Everyone enjoys a good pun. Be a prick and dress up as a cactus. Get your friends to dress up as puns too and see if others can guess what you are. There is the classic cereal killer costume where you can dress up as your favorite box of cereal while holding a plastic knife with fake blood. You could also be a dust bunny by dressing up as a bunny and walking around with a duster in your hand. Are you into Hip-hop? Be a candy rapper! Are any of your friends math geeks? Suggest a Pumpkin Pi costume! Get creative with this one. If you’re a Harry Potter fan, for example, you could dress up in a hairy body suit while wearing potting gloves and holding potted plants. Can you think of any others? Turn your favorite pun into a costume!