10 Readers Share Their Epic Halloween Costumes

“I married the bucatini” is the win of a lifetime.

I love Halloween costumes and now making them for my kids. Last year my son went as a claw machine and the year before my daughter was a fridge. They both came out awesome and now our Halloween costume motto is “Everyone loves a kid in a box!”

All of these costumes are incredible! When my sister was a teen getting braces, she had to get some teeth pulled…and she asked to keep them. As a joke she made them into a pair of earrings. So on Halloween I pull them out and dress as the tooth fairy! People are always a mix of weirded out and awed at the real teeth dangling from my ears 😂

The nerds gummy clusters are probably my favorite candy right now! You can currently get a free “premium” snack on select Delta flights if you have a Delta-branded credit card (choice of Nerds gummy clusters, pringles, or Dots pretzels), and the Nerds gummy clusters are always the first to get sold out! It’s gotten to the point where I immediately flag down a flight attendant as soon as we reach cruising altitude so I can claim my free bag of gummy clusters!

One year in my 20s I dressed up as the bee girl from the Blind Melon music video. Someone on the subway yelled out “YO! Blind Melon!” and my whole night was made.

I worked for a health department when West Nile Virus was a growing concern. About ten of us went in on the costumes: eight of us were mosquitoes (black shirt and pants, mesh wings, mirrored neon sunglasses, and black bowler hats with a proboscis made from a dowel rod), another in a fancy cocktail dress with a banner reading ‘Miss West Nile Virus’, and the hero in a cardboard can of DEET complete with spray top on his head. So much fun and a hit!

My witty son went as “claustrophobia” one year, saying “I want to be something that people are ACTUALLY afraid of” (he had a box over his head with a small slit for his eyes). He told me yesterday, “Are you going as a tired mom for Halloween? No costume necessary.” Brutal, dude.

My group of neighborhood mom gal pals are all going as different versions of Dolly Parton throughout the years, all with different wigs! I secretly hope our costumes get more attention then the kids do ;D

In high school I used a cardboard box to make a carton of Chinese food, then went trick or treating and asked every house “Did you order Chinese food?” EVERY SINGLE HOUSE cracked up and poured their bowl of candy into my pillowcase!

These are so hilarious! Such a fun tradition… love from Paris

My most amazing Halloween costume was the year we dressed as a nudist colony in full body nude colored spandex suits. So many folks assumed we were naked but it was the most dressed I had been as an undergrad in years!

These are brilliant! I will say I’m pretty proud of the year our 1yo daughter went as David S Pumpkins in this adorable pumpkin skirt with suspenders and my husband and I were the dancing skeletons, complete with white wigs. Or as we would say, we were “part of it!”

Nobody’s ever loved American girl dolls the way I did/do, so my baby daughter is going to be kit kitteredge this year. So much fun to get a couple years of playing dress up with her before she starts to have opinions and wants to be a dinosaur like big brother :)

Last year I was a little free library. I used a cardboard box and added cardboard shelves, then cut out the profile of books on a shelf and made them titles of books I’ve read and loved. It was a great conversation starter at the Halloween party we attended. I got to talk about reading and give out book recs based on what people liked to read. My dream party conversation!

In college once I was “space.” I wore a cozy black sweatsuit, safety pinned on stars of different sizes I’d cut out of shiny silver cardstock, and wrapped that holiday glittery star tinsel-y wrap around my head. I never thought of myself as being a cute girl growing up, but for what it’s worth, that night, when I was the night sky, I did. And I was darn comfy too. :)

It would be so fun to be basic for Halloween! https://youtu.be/d1mbbYKPpHY?si=lrRguUR4dLDfAwe0

In college – I dressed in all black to accompany my housemate who dressed up as an iPod! Remember those commercials with the bright backgrounds?! Then, another year, a big group of us dressed up as Barbies (I was drama queen Barbie) who each held our own pink painted boxes that we were inside of all night!

I wear the same costume every year- I’m a suffragette. It’s perfect because Halloween falls right before the election, and my sash says “VOTE, WOMEN” And I never have to pull together a costumes, I just take it out of our Halloween bin along with our decorations, hang it up for a week or two to let the wrinkles loosen up, and I’m ready to go.

My neighbors growing up used to have epic Halloween parties for the adults and my parents would sometimes go all out. Once my mom went in a normal costume and my dad went as an old lady. Nobody recognized my dad because his costume was that good. One of their closest friends drunkenly whispered to my mom “I think that elderly woman got lost and stumbled into our party”…and never lived it down.

I love making costumes for my kids, more the cardboard box or paper mache type than the sewing machine type. Last year I made a three dime signal wearable cut sapphire costume for my 4 yr old who was obsessed with gems, I make a palm tree costume for my older son when he was in kindergarten, and this year I’m making washer dryer costumes for son and husband (my pda + autistic son is obsessed with the washer and dryer, he’s going to be the dryer, complete with duct and vent). I love hearing everyone’s amazing costumes!

I would be *highly* motivated by the prize of free tots for life. I just realized that my daughter’s birthday falling on Nov. 1 is one of the reasons I haven’t had any extra energy to pour into costumes. I think next year will be the first year she understands Halloween (at 3 years old), so I’ll try to plan early for a family costume.

I’m terrible at costumes. One year, my husband dressed as a chef (I.e. wore a chef’s hat from our sad little costume bin) and I dressed as a farmer (wore overalls and stuck some flowers in my pocket.) As the night wore on, a spark of drunken inspiration led me to start telling people we were “farm to table,” which was a huge hit (amongst fellow drunken partygoers.)

Last year my family went as “Family Fortune” my daughter was a fortune cookie, my husband was a wheel of fortune, the dog was a pile of gold (actual fortune) and I was Zoltar the fortune teller machine. It was very fun.

I Just LOVE the nerds gummy cluster! And the story about it!

The specificity of that Kevin costume!

Oh my god, laughed out loud at Pink Pony Club! Love it! My favorite costumes were group ones with friends. In college my friend Kelly and I went as an LL Bean ad – she was the model and I was her golden retriever. In my early 30s, a whole group when as characters from the show Once Upon a Time. There were like 10 of us and I’ve never had that type of a group costume before or since! It was pretty epic haha.

Every few years I’ll go all out. Did a pretty legit Bella Baxter costume a few years ago.

I dressed as Frankenstein’s Admin (generic workwear, greenish skin with stitches, mile-high spray-painted hair) for my first year at a women’s magazine and was the ONLY person in costume. When I went to a bodega at lunch, the dude at the deli counter was all, “no one dressed up, did they.” I did not ask for mockery on my sandwich, sir!

I thought you had to dress up as a monster or a witch for halloween – as a non-American I am just trying to understand is it just open theme dress up?

My favourite costume was the year I went as the runner up in a beauty pageant. I wore a totally 80s bridesmaid’s dress of my mom’s, did really overdone hair and make up, made a sash that said runner up and smeared mascara down my face like I’d been crying. It was a fantastic conversation starter all night.

My daughter wanted to be sushi in kindergarten. I made her a salmon avocado roll (her favorite) and when anyone would compliment her she would exclaim, “my Mom MADE THIS!” ❤️

Loes’s dedication to detail and character make her a winner in my book!

I LOVE a good theme costume. My twins and youngest son have been very compliant. We did Snoopy/Woodstock which a week before Halloween became a mash up into Snoopy-Robin and Woodstock-Batman, Guy Fieri and Giada DeLaurentis, ScoobyDoo (whole fam costume), ET, Gertie and Hazmat guy but the absolute best was the Insurance Agents: Allstate Mayhem Guy, Flo from Progressive and Jake from State Farm.

My two year old is going as a lightning bug this year. His adorable wings light up! He was very disappointed, though, when he found out he couldn’t fly!

I’m planning on wearing a rabbit ears headband, a black and white striped shirt and black pants and a ball and chain around my ankle! Or mouse ears and a print floor-length dress with long sleeves! Any one? Anyone?!? And I’m trying to talk my very sporty-spice wife into just wearing her regular clothes + 💄!

The photo of the Fruit of the Loom reminded me about my first year of teaching… I was teaching 6th grade and our staff all decided to dress up as different types of food for Halloween. I went as a tomato and made my own costume. At one point, I had to talk to a kid in the hallway because she was being disruptive. My friend who taught in the class across the hall peeked out and sneaked a photo of me speaking very sternly to a pissed-off looking kid…while wearing all red, stuffed with giant pillows, and a tiny stem hat.

I’m spending way more than I planned on for my Margo Has Money Touble’s costume. I’m going as Hungry Ghost. I’ve never done body paint before and I’m nervous about that particular, but I love an elaborate costume and I can’t wait!

Our good friends’ daughter was married last year on Halloween, and the bride and groom encouraged us all to dress up. My husband and I went all out as Morticia and Gomez from The Addams Family – the Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston version. We were a big hit, and it was so fun to walk from our hotel to the reception through downtown Coronado, CA, which turns into Halloween town.

The Nerds Gummy Cluster has me in AWE, that’s amazing. Right now I’m planning on being a composition notebook–I just found a shirt that has a black and white print that I think is supposed to be kind of an abstract small floral but it reads as very composition notebook cover to me. I’m going to print out a label and tape it on me and hope people get it. (I also have a scarf that has a fantastic print of pens, markers, and highlighters that I might wear with it.)

Emily O., I love your Pink Pony Club and I see you – not necessarily puns, but my two adult halloween costumes I enjoyed the most were the girl with the red shoes (from the fairy tale), and “a tree” (brown pants, green shirt, big ratted hair with a little stuffed bird in it – I also added face glitter and fake lashes which I never do). No one had a clue what I was! Since having a kid and living in a non-Halloween-celebrating country, I haven’t dressed up as much. Last year I did put together a couple of witchy halloweeny outfits for the day(s) of Halloween, which felt fun.

I love seeing all of these! The first Halloween after Robin Williams passed away my husband and I went to a costume contest with another couple as a Robin Williams Tribute Group and we won! He wore my grandmother’s clothes as Mrs. Doubtfire!

I love these! I’m not big into dressing up either but I would love to do a family costume when I have my baby someday (soon, I hope)! About 15 years ago, however, I had a black graduation gown that I’d had to purchase so I wanted to reuse it. I added a white collar, glasses, and a Yankees cap because I was…Babe Ruth Bader Ginsburg :-P

When my daughter was 3.5, she insisted on dressing up as a lobster for Halloween. We decided to make it a family costume and I put on an apron and chef’s hat and my husband wore orange overalls and a flannel shirt. People were extremely confused when husband and I were standing together on the sidewalk together just us while she was ringing doorbells and I got so much joy from the repeated looks of laughter/realization each time she came back down to join us.

I loved when I was “kitty litter!” I was a black cat with a garbage necklace made from receipts and candy wrappers.

Love dressing up, but have yet to top the Coppertone Kid. I wore a nude unitard and cut a slit across my lower back, painted my butt white, and had a stuffed puppy that pulled my shorts down *just enough* for strangers to yell IS THAT REALLY YOUR BUTT all night! BTW this was in a going out to bars setting, not a family trick or treat one.

Please do a kid costume roundup! Also, I totally understand the benefits of an Instagram call, but would you ever consider an email call?

Nerd Gummy Cluster is too good. I’m cackling. EPIC! And lol Pink Pony Club!!

Julie Nolke has a you tube channel and she did a pun on costumes… here’s the link https://youtu.be/aMdGyy8im54?is=eVh_Uo62_3tYJdmP

These are so fun to look through! My one year old daughter and husband went as Judge Judy and her bailiff last year for Halloween. My daughter wore a baby black graduation gown with a lace collar, and carried a mini gavel and reading glasses. My husband made a a judge’s bench to fit over her stroller, and he wore a bailiff shirt. It was so fun and I don’t know how to top it! This year we’re all going as different versions to Spider-Man, so there will six different Spider-men versions all together. :)

I am excited this year to be a Garbage Pail Kid- at school I am a middle school counselor-Messy Michele-and Dorothy Hamill (wig and all) with my husband being another cheesy figure skater (1970s era) at an adult party!

Before I scrolled far enough to read the caption all I could think of was “Horse Sandwich”!

These are fantastic. My favorite costume was the year my husband and I dressed as Duck Hunt: He was the dog, with duck stuffies (from the pet store) sewn to the cuffs of a brown hoodie, and I was the hunter, complete with mustache and an old school Nintendo gun.

In college, I went as static cling. Black long sleeve tshirt and black leggings. I pinned dryer sheets and lint all over my outfit.

My daughters are I are dressing up as American Girl dolls! I am Samantha and my daughters are Felicity and Kiersten! :) I was obsessed as a kid and now my girls are playing with my same dolls. I love it so much!

One year, we were Jackson Pollock paintings – we did our own Pollock style paintings on all white clothes. And another year, we were Picasso paintings – we did crazy face paint to do gigantic lopsided eyes and nose, etc. and hung empty frames around our necks.

I too, went as a bunch of purple grapes. I bought purple scrubs and found a long-sleeved matching t-shirt. I also scored a purple swimming cap. I glued a brown toilet paper roll as the stem to the cap. I painted an old pair of canvas Converse tennis shoes purple one night while watching tv. At the time, I worked in a bank as a teller. So I really stood all day. Pinned the base balloons to the tshirt prior. When I blew up the balloons that weren’t safety pinned, I used fishing line to tie around when closing the balloon. Once I got to work, I put on the shirt. My mom brought the other balloons into work, and using the fishing line, just tied around the base balloons. I looked amazing! Bonus, no worrying about my hairdo that day. I did poke a bunch of slits in the cap though for some air flow. I won a gift certificate to a restaurant for first place! Yes, I said certificate and not card. This was around 2002. My other favorite costume was going as a circa 1995ish Bud Light bottle. Brown turtle neck and brown tights with those brown leather Timberland boots that were popular back in the day. Then we bought brown felt and silver lame at the fabric store. Among with 1″ wide brown ribbon. Colored the label on the silver lame with blue and red paint and paint pen for the small writing. Glued this on the brown felt. Used iron on velcro on the back to close the felt, and pinned the ribbon on to hold it up over my shoulders. I used aluminum foil to cover a paper plate for the cap on the bottle and just used ribbon I think to tie it under my chin to keep on my head. I won the $100 cash prize at the time!! I wish I had online pictures, but unfortunately before the proliferation of the internet. My other f

These are all incredible! I aspire to have an amazing halloween costume for myself or my kids, but have accepted that I am not nearly crafty or dedicated enough to pull it off. But I love seeing others do it. And pun costumes rock!

Last year my children were a snail and lettuce. I loved their costumes so much! A little five year old lettuce running around with her big snail sister taking nibbles. Oh my heart! This year they are Totoro and a nudibranch. We love making costumes. My fav costume I wore as an adult was a lily pond. I wore a blue tie dye dress with lots of lily pads and a jaunty lily pad hat. It was very fun!

I work at a middle/high school. I recently became so tired of picking up the little plastic juice box straw wrappers from the cafeteria floor, the green lawn, or any flat surface of the world that I inhabit, so I decided to start collecting them for a costume. I must have 700 of them. At first, I was trying to figure out how to be a jellyfish using them, but I have since changed sea creatures and am going to be a sea anemone. I’m cutting out a big flat cardboard O and glue-gunning the tip of many straw wrappers to the one side. I will slip that over my head and the O will sit flat on my shoulders. I have also been picking up long skinny strands of metallic blue and silver streamer off the ground in one of our school halls (it’s homecoming week) and I’ll glue those to the underside of the O for some added shimmer/glamor. I’ll finish the look with some glitter on my face and maybe a “Hi, my name is Sadie the Sea Anemone” name tag so people have a clue. I love figuring out costumes. Next year though, I might be Jane Goodall, which seems like it will require a lot less glue-gun-action.

I remember Alison, her hubby, and their baby went as the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe!!!

Love these, so creative! In college, a group of us dressed up as SNL characters. I was Pat, another friend was Mary Katherine Gallagher, and two others were the cheerleaders. We got so many compliments that night.

When Ted Lasso first came out, Hubs and I went as Ted and Roy Kent, respectively. I can attest that mustaches don’t stay on well like eyebrows. Love the Kevin costume and the Bert & Ernie!!

Ahhhh Vivian! I love your super-cute family costume and love-love-love seeing Avondale Dairy Bar get a shout-out on your husband’s shirt! I’m a long way from Niagara these days but anytime I’m back that’s my first stop. A cone of black cherry on a hot August night, watching the sunset while a freighter floats by and the dairy cows low in the background: heaven. Thank you for the smile on a dreary autumn day!

I love these – yay for truly creative costumes! They’re always my favorite. One year, I convinced my husband to dress like the 70s Swiss theater group Mummenschanz. Readers of a certain age may remember them as the duo in white, moldable clay masks and black outfits from The Muppet Show. We spent all day making these amazing masks, and I was thrilled with the results. Unfortunately, no one at the party we went to was of a certain age, and no one knew what we were. The masks were also really heavy and thick, and it was an extremely anti-social thing to wear, since we couldn’t talk with them on. But at least they were fun to make!

We are going to be pooh, piglet, kanga, and christopher robbin!

I never managed to wear my dream sparkly Halloween custom growing up because it was very cold in Ontario. My mom would make me wear thick wool tights and a warm turtleneck sweater under my sparkles and tulle. I guess I finally embraced mediocrity and tend to bring an empty frame and just hold it up over my face. I attach a note that says ‘self portrait’. It’s fine.

These are AMAZING!!!! I love these so much!! Our whole neighborhood went together as Harry Potter and it was incredible. we were all different characters and we looked pretty good if I do say so myself. Then we did different colors and when together we were the rainbow. I had a red onesie that was a little tight and an itchy red wig, but def worth it (as the grapes would say!). We did Mario brothers last year and I was a brick block and it really hit. One year my husband was Antonin Scalia and I was RBG and it was amazing. He shaved his beard and painted on eye brows and people who we are very close friends with didnt even know who I was dressed up with when they saw him lolololol. I crocheted a collar and we had graduation gowns from goodwill. Halloween is so much fun. I love all of these new idea!!

the best adult Halloween costume I ever spotted at a gay bar in Albuquerque was a guy dressed as a fully operational, slightly tragic hot-air-balloon landing: wicker basket around his waist, canopy made of shiny emergency blankets, a mini fog machine, and a laminated “LANDING PARTY” sign, while his friend in a fake Walter White goatee kept yelling “THIS IS MY TERRITORY” every time someone tried to cut in; he also had a fanny pack dispensing green chile jerky, earplugs, and one (1) emergency popper—so specific it healed me and also made me need a cigarette, which is exactly Albuquerque Halloween energy!

The joy! These are all amazing stories, thanks guys, for being so awesomely YOU, lol and really going for it!

This post gave me such delight! I am nowhere near this creative – I wear the same skeleton t-shirt that I’ve worn every year since my first son was born 17 years ago. I love that I didn’t understand my fellow yinzer’s costume when I looked at the pic and totally “got it” when she said was a Pink Pony Club!