Original costumes involving a Viking helmet
October 27, 2011 2:22 PM Subscribe
Viking Halloween: I have a plastic horned viking helmet. I need fun, original ideas for a Halloween costume that includes it.
Yes, I can just go as a viking. But surely I can do better than that?
Yes, I can just go as a viking. But surely I can do better than that?
A pinstriped suit and a silk tie.
posted by tel3path at 2:25 PM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by tel3path at 2:25 PM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Pajamas, slippers, and the helmet. Sleep is where you're a Viking!
posted by Metroid Baby at 2:28 PM on October 27, 2011 [9 favorites]
posted by Metroid Baby at 2:28 PM on October 27, 2011 [9 favorites]
You didn't say if you're more of a Hagar or more of a Helga. But either way, you can always be a zombie Viking.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 2:30 PM on October 27, 2011
posted by treehorn+bunny at 2:30 PM on October 27, 2011
Get one of those blonde wigs with two big braids, wrap a sheet around yourself, and get some fake chainmail. Now you're Brunhilde!
(It's even more fun if you're a dude.)
posted by griphus at 2:30 PM on October 27, 2011
(It's even more fun if you're a dude.)
posted by griphus at 2:30 PM on October 27, 2011
Coat rack. Or, add hair braids for operatic effect.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:30 PM on October 27, 2011
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:30 PM on October 27, 2011
Response by poster: (I'm a Helga, but totally happy with unisex or male costume ideas.)
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:32 PM on October 27, 2011
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:32 PM on October 27, 2011
Didn't Ogre fromRevenge of the Nerds wear a viking helmet at some point?
posted by cmoj at 2:37 PM on October 27, 2011
posted by cmoj at 2:37 PM on October 27, 2011
Maude Lebowski.
Pro tip: to make the bowling ball boobs, use plastic light-fixture globes to be found at your local Home Depot or similar. It took me forever to figure that out. Also, get the big ones the first time around, and get one extra :P
posted by Madamina at 2:39 PM on October 27, 2011 [7 favorites]
Pro tip: to make the bowling ball boobs, use plastic light-fixture globes to be found at your local Home Depot or similar. It took me forever to figure that out. Also, get the big ones the first time around, and get one extra :P
posted by Madamina at 2:39 PM on October 27, 2011 [7 favorites]
A beauty queen (who does not, however, wish for world peace)?
Somehow, surely, one could cross a viking with a matador and come out with something awesome....maybe wear a matador costume and put a giant fake ring in your nose?
posted by DisreputableDog at 2:41 PM on October 27, 2011
Somehow, surely, one could cross a viking with a matador and come out with something awesome....maybe wear a matador costume and put a giant fake ring in your nose?
posted by DisreputableDog at 2:41 PM on October 27, 2011
Ralph Wiggum, asleep.
posted by jozxyqk at 2:43 PM on October 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by jozxyqk at 2:43 PM on October 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
Anachronaut.
So you've acquired a time machine. Where/when will you be travelling? You'll want to be well received wherever/whenever you go. Having a properly tuned universal translator helps, but dress also matters. You could go to the work of painstakingly researching each time period you travel to so that you can blend in like a cultural chameleon, but who has the time? You could jump in as you are, getting by on fast-talk and bluster, but if you're not the Doctor you might get yourself burned at the stake.
The option I prefer when I'm spinning through the centuries is to wear as many cultural signifiers of respectability as possible. You won't fit in in any time period, but people in a very wide range of cultureswill see at least something they'll recognize.
Your anachronautical garb should at least include:
Your horned helmet
A sword (recognized in many cultures as a mark of nobility)
A torc (gold is best, tinfoil will suffice)
A toga, over top of...
A shirt and tie (note that ties will become standard business wear for women starting in the mid 2030s)
Shiny silver pants (22nd century)
A towel
You could try some variations (substitute a panling lanshan for the toga, perhaps) but this combo should work over much of earth's history. You will get laughed at wherever you go but you will probably be tolerated as an eccentric. Even if they locals react poorly, you should get a few seconds of stunned incredulity to give you a head start running.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 2:46 PM on October 27, 2011 [3 favorites]
So you've acquired a time machine. Where/when will you be travelling? You'll want to be well received wherever/whenever you go. Having a properly tuned universal translator helps, but dress also matters. You could go to the work of painstakingly researching each time period you travel to so that you can blend in like a cultural chameleon, but who has the time? You could jump in as you are, getting by on fast-talk and bluster, but if you're not the Doctor you might get yourself burned at the stake.
The option I prefer when I'm spinning through the centuries is to wear as many cultural signifiers of respectability as possible. You won't fit in in any time period, but people in a very wide range of cultureswill see at least something they'll recognize.
Your anachronautical garb should at least include:
Your horned helmet
A sword (recognized in many cultures as a mark of nobility)
A torc (gold is best, tinfoil will suffice)
A toga, over top of...
A shirt and tie (note that ties will become standard business wear for women starting in the mid 2030s)
Shiny silver pants (22nd century)
A towel
You could try some variations (substitute a panling lanshan for the toga, perhaps) but this combo should work over much of earth's history. You will get laughed at wherever you go but you will probably be tolerated as an eccentric. Even if they locals react poorly, you should get a few seconds of stunned incredulity to give you a head start running.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 2:46 PM on October 27, 2011 [3 favorites]
Well, you could just be a Viking. But... a bored Viking, with a cat's cradle woven between the horns of the helmet. Or a very lazy Viking, with a cobweb woven ditto. Or a flower-child Viking, using the horns as single-stem vases (assuming they're hollow and you don't mind making holes in them).
Or you could be a Valkyrie. You'd need wings. (A horned helmet isn't quite right, but I doubt anyone would quibble. Especially not if you have a sword.)
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 2:49 PM on October 27, 2011
Or you could be a Valkyrie. You'd need wings. (A horned helmet isn't quite right, but I doubt anyone would quibble. Especially not if you have a sword.)
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 2:49 PM on October 27, 2011
Considering what is being thrown around as ideas in my friend group, how about an #occupyvalhalla protester?
posted by fillsthepews at 2:53 PM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by fillsthepews at 2:53 PM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Long orange wig and you're a heilan' coo.
posted by sagwalla at 2:53 PM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by sagwalla at 2:53 PM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: If you like terrible puns, you could buy a few of those tiny cans of Coke and carry them with you while wearing the helmet. Whenever someone asks you what you are dressed as, you give them a can and say that you are a mini-soda viking.
posted by MegoSteve at 4:03 PM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by MegoSteve at 4:03 PM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
Last year, I was Saga Gaga.
Lady Gaga in a Viking helmet. So: think crazy Lady Gaga nonsense, but with a blonde wig and Viking helmet.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 4:08 PM on October 27, 2011
Lady Gaga in a Viking helmet. So: think crazy Lady Gaga nonsense, but with a blonde wig and Viking helmet.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 4:08 PM on October 27, 2011
Saga Gaga: Lady Gaga in a Viking helmet.
How is that different from dressing as Lady Gaga?
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:31 PM on October 27, 2011
How is that different from dressing as Lady Gaga?
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:31 PM on October 27, 2011
The only thing that pops into my head is the Lost Viking Hoard. So maybe you could dress up like a prostitute with the helmet, carrying a map, and be the Lost Viking Whore.
and maybe I really need to just go to bed
posted by TooFewShoes at 5:23 PM on October 27, 2011
and maybe I really need to just go to bed
posted by TooFewShoes at 5:23 PM on October 27, 2011
Here's a link to prove I'm not completely crazy.
posted by TooFewShoes at 5:25 PM on October 27, 2011
posted by TooFewShoes at 5:25 PM on October 27, 2011
Add a a tweedy jacket and a button down shirt and you could be a rejected Prairie Home Companion sketch.
posted by munchingzombie at 5:58 PM on October 27, 2011
posted by munchingzombie at 5:58 PM on October 27, 2011
You should dress up as an Iron Age warrior - because the only horned helmet found in Europe from the Viking age or earlier is Iron Age (from about 800 years before the major Viking age).
taking my pedant's hat off --
you could go all kind truly Viking and be a character from Norse myth - like Hodr, the blind god, or Baldr, his beautiful brother.
Or one of the two very interesting major female characters from the Greenland Sagas - Freydis or Gudrid.
posted by jb at 6:14 PM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
taking my pedant's hat off --
you could go all kind truly Viking and be a character from Norse myth - like Hodr, the blind god, or Baldr, his beautiful brother.
Or one of the two very interesting major female characters from the Greenland Sagas - Freydis or Gudrid.
posted by jb at 6:14 PM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
If you are considering a figure from Norse myth (I agree with jb that that's the way to go), take a look at Egil One-Hand. He had a sword for an arm, a missing ear, and he once disguised himself as a goat. Plenty of costume opportunities there.
posted by painquale at 4:18 AM on October 28, 2011
posted by painquale at 4:18 AM on October 28, 2011
Going as a jotun might be fun too. A frost giant would be unexpected! Blue facepaint, ragged blue clothing, spraypaint the helmet light blue, and put in some fangs.
posted by painquale at 4:29 AM on October 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by painquale at 4:29 AM on October 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Lots of excellent ideas, thank you! I'll post what I end up with tomorrow. (Still another few hours if anyone has more ideas, too)
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:33 AM on October 28, 2011
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:33 AM on October 28, 2011
Response by poster: I went with the Mini-Soda Viking, although after the initial wave I had to set the sodas down somewhere so ended up just being a viking with braids. Might do one of the other wonderful ideas for other Halloween events we're going to in the next few days.
I made a yellow braided yarn wig using roughly the method described at that link.
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:32 PM on October 29, 2011
I made a yellow braided yarn wig using roughly the method described at that link.
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:32 PM on October 29, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by 2bucksplus at 2:24 PM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]