Halloweenfilter: Clever Costumes For Couples?

September 14, 2006 9:48 AM

Is it too early to start fishing about for Halloween costume ideas?

So I am starting to stress because I haven't come up with a really clever costume for me and my GF for this Halloween and we've got a Halloween party to go to mid-October... Last year we donned jumpsuits covered in the opposite sides of Velcro and went as... well, Velcro. A friend of mine dressed as Freud and his wife wore a slip with pictures of the actual Freud pinned to it... (she was a Freudian Slip.) So that is the caliber of costume I am looking to meet or surpass.

So does anyone out there have any other good ideas for couples costumes they'd like to relay?

Thanks!

posted by cusack to clothing, beauty, & fashion (24 comments total)

Some friends of friends dressed up last year in t-shirts with the letter "P" on them and black makeup around one eye each (Black-Eyed Peas). The year before I saw another couples costume where the guy had an over-sized electrical plug sticking out of his chest and his fiancee had a matching socket. They had even rigged it so that when he "plugged in," a light bulb on his head would light up. Some other friends have gone as DNA.
posted by sbrollins at 10:06 AM on September 14, 2006

Previously.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 10:07 AM on September 14, 2006

Zombie Steve Irwin.
posted by wfrgms at 10:25 AM on September 14, 2006

Steve Erwin and stingray?

Perhaps too soon.

I'm also a fan of the "Zombie ______" where the blank is filled by any dead celebrity. I'm planning on going as a Zombie Abe Lincoln this year. That could lend itself well to celebrity couples.
posted by rossination at 10:34 AM on September 14, 2006

Wow, I can't believe I didn't read wfrgms' post. Mine looks like some bizarre extrapolation on it, but honestly - I just wasn't paying attention.
posted by rossination at 10:41 AM on September 14, 2006

What, is the person dressed as a pilot and someone dressed as a snake already over? Stupid internet fads.
posted by Gucky at 10:46 AM on September 14, 2006

One of the best couples costumes I ever saw was a couple who went as... each other.

They both had distinctive looks that they were known for. Among other things, he was always wearing fleece and always seemed to be carrying around a box of crap for a committee he was on. She was a doctor so he was able to wear a white coat and a stethoscope.

They also had glasses with similar prescriptions so they were able to swap then. She wore pants, he wore a dress and some makeup... presto! He became her, she became him.

This obviously won't work unless you're going to a party where people know you both fairly well.

Then there was the couple who dressed up as the shower scene from Psycho. She had a portable "shower" made out of a hoop and a curtain. Upon entering the party they started a tape with the appropriate music and acted out the scene. It was beautiful.

My wife and I once dressed up as an accident, since we indirectly met through separate moose collisions. She was a moose (brown clothing, a hat with antlers, a tire track across her chest) and I was a truck... a rear-view mirror on my hat, "naked chick" mudflaps hanging from my back pockets, headlights on my chest, etc.

In other words, take something you're both known for and turn it into a costume.

Perhaps your girlfriend could dress up as her favorite dead celebrity and you could go as a dot. If anyone asks what the deal with the dot is just call them a n00b and tell them to read the FAQ.
posted by bondcliff at 10:56 AM on September 14, 2006

I have always had really great success with Spy vs. Spy. Althought relatively "tried" with the comic book section, it is a really great fit. Or, alternatively, if you're really going for the shock-factor (Steve Irwin and Sting Ray) you could always do something with Haliburton Exec and a middle eastern shiek? Less offensive (dare I say) Monica and Bill?
posted by banannafish at 11:02 AM on September 14, 2006

Feedback and Fat Momma?

(No links because I'm at work and they block cool things like Scifi.com. Anyone else wanna help?)
posted by Imperfect at 11:11 AM on September 14, 2006

I've always tried to convince my boyfriend to be Bob Ross and me to be a "Happy Tree." But he hasn't agreed yet.

This year I'm going to be the Corpse Flower. (New Yorkers and botanists should get the reference.)
posted by np312 at 11:31 AM on September 14, 2006 [1 favorite]

One of the best couples costumes I ever saw was a couple who went as... each other.

My wife did that to me a couple of years ago. I didn't want to get dressed up, but she went as me. It was rather disconcerting, but pretty damn funny nevertheless. It taught me to always go as something so that you don't look like yourself... Wow that's deep man...
posted by ob at 12:12 PM on September 14, 2006

After years and years of unfulfilled yearning to one day be a part of a group that would dress as the Fruit of the Loom fruits, I decided to beat my own path and create my own grapes costume. So I purchased a purple t-shirt from the Hobby Lobby, affixed purple balloons all around myself with safety pins and donned a green bandana. Simple but effective. It is cumbersome, and driving is not recommended. Nor are helium-filled balloons. But everyone will know what you mean to be. And variations are easy, i.e. carry a sword and you are the Grapes of Wrath, act like a prick all night and you are Sour Grapes, etc.

One year, I was downtown in my grapes costume, throwing up in a public restroom, and I ran into a guy who was like "Oh hey, you're like the Fruit of the Loom guys!" And then he paused, eyes widening, and proclaimed "Hey! I get it now! It's the FRUIT...of the LOOM!" And I, too, got it.

And later I had my picture taken with a banana.
posted by Darth Fedor at 12:13 PM on September 14, 2006

Someone wants me to be Thing 1 or Thing 2 with her.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 12:22 PM on September 14, 2006

Couple ideas:

Pink robot and a girl with a black belt (meaningless unless there are Flaming Lips fans around)
Pirate and iPod (Music pirate)
posted by justkevin at 1:55 PM on September 14, 2006

Ghostbuster + Scary Librarian worked well for me and my wife.

It was great - the dirtier I got, the more I looked like a Ghostbuster. I went for the Dan Akroyd route with dangling cig and all. It was sweet.
posted by unixrat at 2:12 PM on September 14, 2006

Okay, I have wanted to do this for years, but looks like it won't happen anytime soon. So I release my idea to the internets:

You should get three or more people together (the more the better) and dress as chimneysweeps, a la Mary Poppins. Practice a few lively dances together that you can break into at the party. Shake everyone's hands for luck. If you have a lady (or gent) who wants to dress up as Poppins, all the better, but seeing just a pack of boisterous Cockney chimneysweeps would certainly brighten up my evening, and I can't think of a better way to make a simple costume extremely entertaining in a group setting.
posted by hermitosis at 2:20 PM on September 14, 2006

You borrow a UPS uniform; your GF dons headgear of the Bayou City skyline.

Prize to the first correct guesser.
posted by rob511 at 2:42 PM on September 14, 2006

Sid and Nancy. Maybe a zombie Sid and Nancy.
posted by Famous at 3:25 PM on September 14, 2006

So far so good...

rob511 has got me stumped...

and I realize this Q has been asked previous, but I think it's still a pretty relevant topic year after year, so it's always good to get some new ideas out there.

EndsofInvention's link provided me with this link. which has a ton of ideas, some of them good!
posted by cusack at 3:25 PM on September 14, 2006

Siegfried and Roy or Roy and Tiger?
posted by Gucky at 3:50 PM on September 14, 2006

cusack, click on my link.
posted by rob511 at 4:44 PM on September 14, 2006

Indiana Jones and Princess Leia
posted by 23skidoo at 6:03 PM on September 14, 2006

krazy kat and ignatz the mouse. super easy, someone just needs to be a black cat with a ukele, and the other a mouse with a brick. i don't have anyone to be krazy with me, but i'm gonna be ignatz this year.
posted by ifjuly at 4:13 AM on September 15, 2006

rob... ah, I had clicked on the link, but I couldn't see the forest through the trees... I get it now... nice work.

She could also pour water on her knees.
posted by cusack at 7:32 AM on September 15, 2006