Halloween costume trends have changed a lot over the years, often following what’s popular in movies, TV, and pop culture at the time. Decades ago, people mostly stuck to traditional spooky themes like witches, skeletons, and vampires, often using homemade costumes. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, store-bought costumes became popular, with kids dressing up as characters from cartoons and films. In recent years, social media has played a big role in shaping trends, with people pulling ideas from viral memes, TikTok, and trending shows. Costumes have also become more creative, niche, and sometimes even funny or ironic, reflecting a wider mix of personal expression.
Single Costume Ideas—
Mermaid: A mermaid is a perfect solo costume for someone creative. There are endless options and combinations to make this costume. Some options for girls include a skirt and seashell top, a blue/green sequin dress, or a homemade top and bottoms. Although this costume is more popular for girls, guys could wear a teal top with white bottoms and accessorize with sea-themed jewelry.
Construction Worker: A construction worker is a simple, easy costume that’s easy for both girls and boys. For girls, you can wear a black tank top, a black skirt, a construction vest on top. You can also buy a construction workers belt on amazon and pair it with some black boots. Guys can wear a very similar outfit, a black tank top with black jeans, a construction vest, black shoes and accessorize with a belt.
Army: Army men and women are classic Halloween attire. Most halloween stores like spirit halloween and online stores such as Amazon sell cute affordable army costumes. If you want to make one from clothes, you can get a matching camo set and accessorize with a belt and boots.
Duo Costumes—
Racecar Drivers: Two racers is a perfect costume for a duo. Options for this costume include wearing a one-piece bodysuit and a vintage race jacket on top or buying a costume from Amazon. For boys, black pants and a racer jacket look perfect. To spice it up, each person could wear a jacket for a different team, such as Ferrari and Mercedes.
Dumb and Dumber: Recreating the iconic dumb and dumber from the movie is a perfectly niche costume. One person wears blue with a white tie, tophat, and cane. The other wears all orange with a white tie, tophat, and orange cane. This costume is easy for both girls and boys. Boys could wear this with suits, and girls can wear it with skirts and corset tops.
Trio Costumes—
3 blind mice: 3 blind mice has been an iconic trio costume in the last few years. The costume is super simple, with three all black outfits, white ties, sunglasses, and a black cane. This is super easy to put together even at the last minute.
Batman, Joker, and Harley Quinn: This costume is recognizable and fairly simple for everyone. The easiest way to do this is buying premade costumes from Spirit Halloween, however it is possible to DIY them as well. This can be done for both boys and girls, although Harley Quinn might be a little harder for boys to find costumes for.
Cavemen: For those who are more creative, this is a perfect costume as it has a lot of room for experimenting with clothes. Most likely this would be a home-made costume. An idea for girls is an animal print top with a bone necklace, an animal fur skirt, fur boots, and a fur hat or ears. Boys could recreate this by wearing a tattered shirt, black pants, and a fur raccoon hat and maybe a bone necklace.
Group Costumes—
Alice In Wonderland: There are so many different characters, which is what makes it great for big groups. Some characters are Alice, Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, White Rabbit, Queen of Hearts, and Tweedle Dee/Tweedle Dumb. Each costume can be home made or store bought.
Scooby Do: This is a great costume for a group with a mix of girls and boys. All of the costumes can be home made or store bought, and are relatively simple. This works best with a group of five, but a few extra characters can be added.
Pimps: A super easy, low effort costume for a group of any size that is easy for both girls and boys. All people can wear black with a pimp coat from Spirit Halloween, a money gun, cane, and glasses. Accessories such as bold necklaces make a great addition.
There are endless options and ways to express yourself on Halloween, whether it’s alone or with a group. Madi Quinonez, who was an Army woman last Halloween said, “Halloween is my favorite holiday because I love picking out costumes and matching with friends.” She also said being an army person was a “super simple but super adorable” costume for everyone. So many costumes are out there, it’s up to you to find one that makes you feel great this Halloween!
Photo Credit: Natalie France
Mermaid Costume and Army Woman Costume Idea
