Halloween costume ideas?

September 19, 2005 6:47 AM

HalloweenFilter: I've wracked my brain for super-creative Halloween costumes, and I'm spent.

I'm dressing up for Halloween for the first time in many years, and I need a rocking costume. We are 2 girls who would like some kind of joint costume. It seems like the boys always get the fun costumes, while we get stuck dressing as french maids!

The only requirements are that the costume be relatively witty/intelligent, able to be worn in cold weather, and not too expensive to complete. I have plenty of time to plan, so complicated costume ideas are acceptable.

posted by elquien to sports, hobbies, & recreation (43 comments total)

Electra Woman and DynaGirl
posted by jazon at 7:03 AM on September 19, 2005 [1 favorite]

The best costume is always to take your shirt off, put on a fake mustache and be really aggressive.
posted by mert at 7:04 AM on September 19, 2005

Along the lines of mert's idea, 70s porn star?
posted by electroboy at 7:18 AM on September 19, 2005

One of you should dress up as a priest, the other as a young boy. You take it from there.
posted by BorgLove at 7:26 AM on September 19, 2005

I'm dressing up for Halloween for the first time in many years, and I need a rocking costume. We are 2 girls who would like some kind of joint costume. It seems like the boys always get the fun costumes, while we get stuck dressing as french maids!

You could dress up as two of the Village People--how about the leatherdaddy and the construction worker?
posted by scratch at 7:28 AM on September 19, 2005

bert and ernie would be fun drag adventure.
posted by jmgorman at 7:33 AM on September 19, 2005

joint costume

I'm inclined to take this literally. One of you could dress up as a joint using a blanket and an orange stocking cap, and the other as a lighter using a cardboard box and some paint.
posted by cog_nate at 7:51 AM on September 19, 2005

Last year my girlfriend and I were the villan and the damsel in distress. Or, as she insisted, Nell Fenwick and Snidely but it's a rare sort that knows their names. Her costume was fun, particularly the railroad tracks which were easily put on and off in a backpack style. Mine was more typical (I can't even find a picture) but wearing a cape is always fun. You could just as easily have a mountie costume instead of the villan and there would be a certain 21st century fun in having both roles played by women. Xena meets silent film, as you were.
posted by phearlez at 7:57 AM on September 19, 2005

French butlers.
posted by pracowity at 8:02 AM on September 19, 2005

Well, one Halloween about 8 years ago, i went to a Bob Dylan concert and several people showed up in costume, including two women in identical raincoats. On one was written, in big black magic marker, the number 12. On the other, 25.

[There was also a woman there wearing a leopard skin pill box hat.]
posted by Clay201 at 8:03 AM on September 19, 2005 [1 favorite]

A friend and I had great success one year going as Spy vs. Spy. I was white spy, she was black spy. It was easily identifiable and fun.

A boyfriend and I once went as Sam Adams and the St. Pauli Girl.

For this year, I had thought a great costume would be Chairman Kaga from Iron Chef. However, I don't want a drag costume this year. Feel free to steal the idea; one of you could be Kaga, and the other could be another Iron Chef, or perhaps one of the airheaded female soap stars they always have on as a judge.
posted by Miko at 8:10 AM on September 19, 2005

Emptybowl is working on Zoidberg, how about Bender and Leila?
posted by slimslowslider at 8:36 AM on September 19, 2005

This isn't really a pair costume, but one of my friends dressed up last year as a serial killer -

He taped those little boxes of cereal all over a black shirt and black pants and stuck plastic knives in them.

It was honest to God one of the funniest things I have ever seen.
posted by MeetMegan at 8:41 AM on September 19, 2005

two years ago my best friend and I dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 from The Cat in the Hat. We wore red tights and red shirts and sprayed our hair blue. We went down to the village in NYC, just walking around the closed-off streets (no parade crowd for us). We were a big hit! Everyone wanted our picture, which was great, because we weren't the standard "naughty schoolgirl/nurse/angel/ho" but we were plenty cute anyway.
posted by chelseagirl at 8:51 AM on September 19, 2005

Didn't somebody once dress as a dead flight attendant on a Roseanne episode? I always wanted to try that. It would look even better with two of you.
posted by londonmark at 9:26 AM on September 19, 2005

I know some girls who dressed last year as a pinata and a pinnata ..., a ...., well whatever you call the person that hits the pinata.

The pinata covered herself in colored tissue paper and wore a belt with bags of candy attached. The other girl had one of those huge inflatable bats and a pair of panty hose tied over here eyes as a blindfold she could see through. She also had on a big Mexican hat.

They would go and start singing the Mexican hat dance song, throw the hat down on the ground and dance around it, and then the one would beat the pinata girl with the bat until the pinata girl threw out some candy. It was great fun.
posted by gus at 9:35 AM on September 19, 2005

Do you two look a bit alike? Doublemint Twins.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 9:46 AM on September 19, 2005

Go as pregnant Girlscouts
posted by Makebusy7 at 9:56 AM on September 19, 2005

How about in bed together? Big, soft piece of foam covered with sheets and lightweight "pillows" on your back, holes in the bottom for your feet to stick out, so you can walk around. PJs and nightcaps, alarm clock...
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:14 AM on September 19, 2005

One of my most favorite costume ideas, ever. When I showed this to my best friend that year, she made two - one for herself and one for her boyfriend. They're easy, pretty cheap, matching, warm, and fairly offbeat.

yeeeeeap, yep yep yep yep yep yep, uh-huh, uh-huh
posted by Melinika at 10:26 AM on September 19, 2005 [7 favorites]

Flowerpot (with flower) and bumblebee.
posted by IndigoJones at 10:33 AM on September 19, 2005

This may be better suited for males, but my brothers have dressed up as Ace and Gary, the Ambiguously Gay Duo. It was hilarious. They dyed long underwear yellow, put over blue briefs, and wore blue rubber gloves. You can also take note of some of their poses.
posted by clgregor at 10:44 AM on September 19, 2005

How about a dog and a fire hydrant? You can flip to see who gets to be the dog.... :o)
posted by Daddio at 11:05 AM on September 19, 2005

Dr. Bunsen Honeydew & Beaker? Powerpuff girls?

One year I spent an inordinate amount of time putting togather a half/half drag (1/2 suit, 1/2 dress, split vertically) outfit. I suppose you could use the other half of the clothes and make a 2nd outfit. (I got the suit/gown at a local Salvation Army thrift store)

The hardest part was making the below-the-hip dress side blend in with the pants side (I ended up using some stiff wire I had around and sewed it under the inside edge but that wasn't enough so I ended up having to "pantsuit" it).
posted by PurplePorpoise at 12:01 PM on September 19, 2005

I just want to say, I love this thread.

In college, the best costume I ever saw was six girls who went as a box of Crayola crayons. As I recall, they wore colored leotards, with construction paper "wrappers" and construction paper pointy hats as their tips. Amazing!
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 12:32 PM on September 19, 2005

Two Oompa Loompas.
Two Boohpahs -- though, only toddlers and their mothers will know what you are.

My friends and I always talked about going as a group of Madonnas -- from different years, different looks she had. I don't know how effective that would be with only two, though.

Xena and Gabrielle.

Strawberry Shortcake and Blueberry Muffin.

The twin girls from The Shining.

If I think of any more I'll post again later.
posted by INTPLibrarian at 12:36 PM on September 19, 2005

[tasteless]Siskel & Ebert. You're Ebert and you carry Siskel around with you in an urn. Not my invention, saw it at a party.[/tasteless]

Priest and Pregnant Nun?
posted by trillion at 1:12 PM on September 19, 2005

Zombie Hooters waitresses.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 4:13 PM on September 19, 2005

Me and my best friend were going to go as Betty and Wilma. We thought the costumes would be pretty easy to make since they were just raggedy cloth. You can also buy the hair bones at a local costume shop although I think it would be much more authentic if you went to a butcher and asked for a real one. (You could bleach it for a few days to get the meat off).

We also thought of girlscouts who had been in a bear attack but ended up choosing her as an umpire and me a baseball player only adorned with these. I would suggest going to buycostumes.com to get some inspiration. Also, this link although I haven't looked through them all. Good luck.
posted by Ugh at 4:16 PM on September 19, 2005

Or a puppet and the puppet master?
posted by Ugh at 4:44 PM on September 19, 2005

One year three of my friends went out dressed as Teletubbies...but since the fourth guy they had recruited decided to bail on them, they salvaged the idea by carrying around a disembodied Teletubby head. Knock together a simple head shape out of fabric, cram it full of batting, stick a particularly gory Halloween mask in the face-hole. It was brilliant, and probably better than actually having the fourth guy there.

Failing that...Alice and the Queen of Hearts? The Mad Hatter and the March Hare? Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo? Ren and Stimpy? If you run out of time, an excellent slacker costume is the "lost Ramone": leather jacket, striped shirt, ripped black jeans, white sneakers, sunglasses. Who doesn't have most of that in their closet already?
posted by Vervain at 4:47 PM on September 19, 2005

Just don't get this one. Shittiest costume EVAR!! (get it? Get it?!)
posted by abbyladybug at 6:04 PM on September 19, 2005

ouchouchouch - ouchouchouchouchouch abbyladybug
posted by PurplePorpoise at 8:37 PM on September 19, 2005

if you're a fan of aqua teen hunger force, i saw a couple at a party last year dressed as the mooninites... it was fantastic.
posted by mayfly wake at 9:24 PM on September 19, 2005

I proudly present to you my costume from 2003, The Most Tasteless Costume Ever:

A suicide bomber.

Cheap, attention getting, and scary as hell!
posted by ChasFile at 11:35 PM on September 19, 2005

[Interesting thing I completely forgot about until I just looked at that picture again: The stamp to get into the party I was at was an American Flag. You can see it on the back of my right hand. Oh, the incongrous semiotic hilarity that is Halloween! Other things of note if you decide to do this costume: 1) Don't use a polyester t-shirt as your ninja mask. It gets hot. Fast. 2) When you take out your cell phone to make a call, especially around cops, do it slowly. 3) Expect people to cross the street when they see you coming towards them. I've never experienced this before, and, though the costume itself was undeniably horrible and insensitive, it did give me an interesting insight into what it must be like to actually BE a muslim or black male in America. 4) Taking off the mask to do shots, etc. totally ruins the effect. I suggest a heavy dose of pre-party.]
posted by ChasFile at 12:46 AM on September 20, 2005

Melinika , that is the best thing ever and I am totally using that as my costume this year.

How about a movie themed costume? Like Shaun (my original choice) leading around a zombified Ed on a chain? (kinda a spoiler, but eh.) Pretty easy to put together, it really just depends on how much effort you want to put into the zombie make up and finding an unmarked cricket bat for cheap.
posted by kosher_jenny at 2:06 AM on September 20, 2005

Thanks everyone! I knew that Metafilter would not let me down for creative costume ideas!
posted by elquien at 7:18 AM on September 20, 2005

A friend and I once got the idea to be the Bride and Bridesmaid from Hell.

Get some awful dresses and pumps with bows on the toes from your local Goodwill. Carry dead flowers, or put them in your hair, which should be big. Wear lots of pastel eyeshadow. For extra frisson, the bride might carry an axe and have blood on her dress. The bridesmaid might wear a sign or write slogans on her dress (i.e., I hate the groom and I hate this dress; I give the marriage six weeks; or The bride and I are no longer speaking.).
posted by orange swan at 9:03 AM on September 20, 2005

Some more:

Lucy and Ethel
Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck
Ginger and MaryAnn
Grease: One of you go as "cool" Sandy and one go as "nice" Sandy

Check http://www.costumeideazone.com/ for more ideas.
posted by INTPLibrarian at 9:22 AM on September 20, 2005

I attended a birthday party where everyone had to dress up as something that started with the first letter of their name. Andrew and Richard went as "Andre" and "Ronald", two eighties-esque breakdancers constructed from matching old-lady workout outfits gleaned from Salvation Army. Maybe by limiting your choices to something with starts with just one letter (or some other factor), you can narrow the field of possible costumes to something more manageable.
posted by mdonley at 5:46 PM on September 20, 2005

Rob from Cockeyed makes the best costumes.
posted by Vidiot at 11:12 PM on September 20, 2005

Dress up as each other? This would work if you have very distinctive styles that contrast each other.
posted by divabat at 4:08 PM on September 14, 2006