The first step is admitting you have a problem: you didn’t come up with a Halloween costume. It’s alright. Neither did I. Which is why I spent the morning brainstorming fanciful get-ups you can piece together last-minute.
This is by no means a definitive list – just a stream of costume consciousness from a fellow holiday procrastinator. Maybe you’ll find some outfit inspo, or maybe you’ll hate all of these so much you’ll come up with something better. Either way, time is running out…let’s get started!
1. Miss Frizzle: Grab a dress, cut some stars/moons/planets out of construction paper and stick them all over. Finish by pulling your hair into a chignon and attach a reptile Beanie baby to your shoulder. Spout scientific facts with enthusiasm for added effect.
2. A Millennial: Break out your hipster ready-to-wear! This one also allows you to self righteously play on your phone all night.
3. Your Mom: Dress in “Mom jeans” and your finest turtleneck. Then, when people ask what you are, simply reply – you guessed it – your Mom.
4. Tourist: You can wear printed a button-up shirt, sneakers (preferably white), hold a paper map, take pictures constantly (even of insignificant things) and walk slowly everywhere you go.
5. Spinelli from Recess
6. Amy Schumer circa Trainwreck. Paper bag is a must.
7. Any of these Hillary Clinton looks from Glamour.com. They have looks to mirror Hillary through the decades! I’m particularly loving “cold shoulder” Hillary and texting Hillary.
8. Member of Pussy Riot
9. Marina from Marina and the Diamonds (pre-Froot)
10. A Real Housewife: Be sure to bring an appropriate piece of fruit with you to hold in pictures.
11. Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century
12. A recurring SNL character, like Stefan, Target Lady, Gilly, Tonkerbell, one of the Dick in a Box guys, Garth Algar, Wayne Campbell, or Jason Sudeikis in a red jumpsuit on What’s Up With That.
13. A Times Square Topless Woman – not for the faint of heart, I must admit.
14. Cheryl Strayed, or, rather, Reese Witherspoon-as-Cheryl
15. Angel of {Insert Noun}: Dress in white, put some sparkly eyeshadow on, and choose a noun to serve as your prop. Pizza! Be the angel of pizza.
16. Miley in Dooo it! complete with glitter face
17. A Fancy Lady, a la Lena Dunham’s childhood
18. The Illustrated (Wo)man: Buy temporary tattoos and give yourself a sleeve, or two sleeves, or literally just cover as much of your skin as possible with faux tats. Go wild.
19. Dr. Mindy Lahiri
20. Mrs. Congeniality
21. Max from Where the Wild Things Are: Shearling is very in right now, so pick up one of those fuzzy jackets from H&M/Forever21 and add a paper crown. Footie pajamas may also be used.
22. A Trendy Middle-Schooler. Ask a young woman what the hot fads are for tweens right now. Another option: wear what was cool when you were in middle school, which for me would be the Abercrombie/Hollister catalog look.
23. Mary Katherine Gallagher
24. Reggie from Rocket Power. Bring a skateboard or roller skates if possible!
25. Alternatively, take those wheels and turn ’em into a roller derby uniform – extra points for nailing the Hurl Scout look from Whip It.
26. Your fave emoji
27. One of the Chanels from Scream Queens
28. Thelma and/or Louise
29. Regina George in Mean Girls, after Cady cuts up her shirt
30. A Bro: There are many types of bro – I should really create a bro taxonomy. You can’t go wrong with a polo or a lacrosse jersey, but feel free to get interpretive with this one. Mainly, though, keep your costume legit by employing lots of bro-slang throughout the night.
31. Speaking of slang, here’s another costume that practically comes with its own lexicon: Kimmy Schmidt.
33. This, too, can be flipped into another costume: Adele in her music video for “Hello.” All you need is a flip phone.
34. Broad City anything, everything. You could do Abby’s cleaner uniform, you could copy one of Ilana’s iconic looks and carry around a bag of bagels…the options, the options…
35. Hunter/Huntress: Borrow ALL THE CAMO you can from friends ‘n’ family, then wear it all at once.
36. One of the emotions from Inside Out
37. Very, Very ‘Merican. Own a sizeable collection of American flag attire? Now’s your time.
More from BUST.com:
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How To Make An Elephant Mask With A Trunk: Easy DIY Costume
Don’t Be Racist This Halloween: An Open Letter To Costume Enthusiasts
5 Ways To Get Witchy This Halloween Season
