Help a band come up with Halloween Costumes!!

September 22, 2011 10:50 AM

This comes up every year at this time: people needing help with ideas for Halloween costumes. Here are the particulars which make this case a bit different: looking for an affordable (cheap, actually) idea for a six-piece rock band (two women, four men.) Something we can actually wear onstage and perform in without dying of heat prostration, or spending more on the costumes than we'll make playing the gig. Any good ideas out there?
posted by dorgla to media & arts (36 answers total)

You should dress up as Spinal Tap. The ladies can dress like dudes. The extra guys can be the deceased drummers.
posted by phunniemee at 10:52 AM on September 22, 2011

Short Straw gets Scrappy Doo
posted by true at 10:53 AM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

Just dress as ABBA with an extra Benny and and extra Bjorn.
posted by The World Famous at 10:59 AM on September 22, 2011

White shirts and pants (or waffle weave long underwear). Black socks and shoes. Black bowlers. Tan died whities worn on the outside of the pants, possibly with suspenders. Now you're Alex et al from Clockwork Orange.
posted by carmicha at 11:00 AM on September 22, 2011

Hermione, Ginny, Harry, Ron, Fred, and George.

John, Paul, George, Ringo, and two Go-Go dancers.
posted by TooFewShoes at 11:01 AM on September 22, 2011

That was supposed to be tan-died tighty whiteys. [grumble auto correct grumble]
posted by carmicha at 11:02 AM on September 22, 2011

Chess pieces. Pawn, castle, knight, king, queen, pawn. You just need to make felt "crowns" shaped like the tops of the pieces, and all dress in either all white or all black.
posted by iconomy at 11:05 AM on September 22, 2011

The Partridge Family?
posted by Sphinx at 11:07 AM on September 22, 2011

Crazy 88s from Kill Bill.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 11:07 AM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

TooFewShoes: "John, Paul, George, Ringo, and two Go-Go dancers."

I was going to suggest the Beatles + Yoko and Linda
posted by I am the Walrus at 11:08 AM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem!
posted by platinum at 11:09 AM on September 22, 2011 [6 favorites]

I was going to suggest the Beatles + Yoko and Linda
posted by I am the Walrus

Of _course_ you were. ;-)

~~~

Not to be too trendy, but how about zombies? It would be potentially the most affordable, with clothes you've already got, and then mostly just make up.
posted by librarianamy at 11:11 AM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

platinum: "Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem!"

GENIUS.

Please make this happen.

Please post pictures.
posted by I am the Walrus at 11:16 AM on September 22, 2011

Tetris pieces. I've seen it done with cardboard and tempera paint. Bonus points if you guys can arrange yourselves to fit perfectly together.
posted by tchemgrrl at 11:19 AM on September 22, 2011

One of our bigger local Halloween parties involves a bunch of bands who each perform as a different band. It got so big that they had to do two nights.

My personal favorite was the Cheap Trick band; they couldn't have the guitarist sing or vice versa, so they just had both people dress up as Robin Zander :)
posted by Madamina at 11:24 AM on September 22, 2011

I guess wearing orange jumpsuits and ankle monitors would be too cliched.
posted by Ideefixe at 11:34 AM on September 22, 2011

Have everyone in the band wear a choir robe and say that you're The Polyphonic Spree.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:34 AM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Or all-black and those weird ziggurat hats -- you're Devo.

Or study the outfits from Stop Making Sense.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:35 AM on September 22, 2011

ha! i was going to suggest the polyphonic spree.
posted by nadawi at 11:53 AM on September 22, 2011

All dead rock/musical stars - Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Bob Marley, Selena, Buddy Holly, Patsy Cline, Amy Winehouse, Hank Williams. You get the idea. Lots of different eras, costumes wouldn't be hard, and you could do a variety of their songs.
posted by maxg94 at 12:03 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Prisoners? Buy those cheap coveralls and paint black stripes on them?
posted by luckynerd at 12:04 PM on September 22, 2011

the crew of the Belafonte?
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:23 PM on September 22, 2011

Check out this video, at about 2:55 into it.

Looks relatively simple, suits and some masks, but these guys manage to make it look pretty damn freakin' creepy scary. Maybe it's the guns that help make the look, too, though, but you'll have your 'axes' :)
posted by foxhat10 at 12:35 PM on September 22, 2011

Bachmann, Palin, Paul, Perry, Gingrich & Santorum. Call yourselves The Elephants In The Room.
posted by fshgrl at 12:53 PM on September 22, 2011

Mummies are pretty easy - soak muslin in tea or other brownish stain, tear into strips, wrap round (dressed) bodies and fix in place with glue gun. That is, glue muslin strips onto white/light colored clothes, old clothes of course. The strips tend to come off gradually, giving a kind of rotting effect.
posted by anadem at 12:54 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

yea, the mummy idea above is great. do that for half the band, and then the other half dress as red flowers, and you're the mummies and the poppies!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:08 PM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

The Archies? One of the guys will have to dress up as a dog, however (apparently Jughead's dog was their mascot and conductor).
posted by castlebravo at 1:43 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Addicted to Love style! Have the girls dress up in a sharp white shirt and black tie and put the guys in some short dresses and heels with the palest faces and shiniest red lipstick they can manage.
posted by Diagonalize at 3:58 PM on September 22, 2011

The B52s? Wear solid, bright colors and get some big-ass hair for the ladies. Nobody knows how many guys are in the band anyway!
posted by jabes at 4:41 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

The crew from Gilligan's Island would be fun (and relatively cheap and easy) to do.....

The Skipper, Gilligan, the Professor (Roy Hinkley), Thurston Howell III, Ginger, Mary Ann (or Lovey Howell for one of the females).
posted by labwench at 5:47 PM on September 22, 2011

The cast of Clue. You can do the movie version if you want to get fancy, but the board game's easy with thrift store stuff.
posted by nonasuch at 5:57 PM on September 22, 2011

Reverse Addicted to Love - the guys in short dresses and makeup and the gals in suits.
posted by jjderooy at 7:28 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

You could go as 6 of the 9 Supreme Court Justices.
posted by Philemon at 10:19 PM on September 22, 2011

Seriously? No one has suggested the Village People yet?
posted by dnesan at 10:55 PM on September 22, 2011

The cast of Firefly-- Mal, Wash, Book, Jayne, Inara, Kaylee. Relatively inexpensive; the most flamboyant would be Inara, but could be accented nicely with gauzy scarves. Kaylee is easily enough coveralls!

Original/later season casts of House?
House, Wilson, Foreman, Chase; Cuddy, Cameron?

-or-

House, Wilson, Taub, Kutner; Cuddy, Thirteen?
posted by Verdandi at 6:27 AM on September 23, 2011

The Tri-Lambdas from the talent show scene from Revenge Of The Nerds.
posted by sourwookie at 6:37 AM on September 24, 2011