Ten last-minute costume ideas for Halloween

By Sarah Chung, October 31 2020—

Look, 2020 has been rough on all of us, to say the least. Some of us are in month seven of quarantine, and some of us are soldiering on with our everyday lives without any qualms in the middle of a deadly pandemic. 2020 might’ve robbed us of special events with our friends and family, but it doesn’t have to rob us of having some Halloween spirit. Whether you’re celebrating from home or having a (presumably safe) get-together with loved ones, here are some easy, low-effort, and last-minute costume ideas following 2020 trends.

1. Your favourite Harry Potter characters, or your Harry Potter house uniform

With the resurgence of Harry Potter nostalgia on social media — namely on TikTok where fans are making Oscar-worthy edits of Draco Malfoy — it’s no doubt that you’ll be seeing a lot of people as their favourite characters or in their house uniforms this Halloween, not to mention how easy they are to throw together last minute as well. Do you have long brown hair, a fake beard and some scruffy vintage clothes? You can easily be Hagrid as a gag costume! The possibilities are endless with a fictional universe as large as the Wizarding World.

2. Chav Robert Pattinson

We may remember him as Edward Cullen from Twilight, the new Batman film, or even as Cedric Diggory from Harry Potter, but behind all of his iconic roles he will always be a chav, a person who is essentially a Hot Cheeto Girl from the UK. If you’re on TikTok or Twitter, you might’ve seen this cursed picture of Chav Robert floating around the internet, and it’s a surprisingly easy last minute and low effort costume as well. All you’ll need is slicked back hair, a brown zip-up, camo pants, and brown shoes to complete your Chav Rob look. 

3. “Undercover” Marvel heroes

This idea may be the easiest and most budget-friendly costume to put together. Have you ever watched a Marvel movie and saw how your hero had to go on an obligatory undercover mission? It has become a running gag with Marvel Cinematic Universe stans that every time a character goes undercover, they’ll just slap on a baseball cap, a hoodie, and sunglasses and call it a day. 

4. One Direction 

July 23, 2020 marks a significant day in all of human history: 10 years of One Direction. Granted, they split up five years ago but 2020 is still a momentous anniversary for Directioners. Whether you want to get together with your die-hard Directioner friends this Halloween or come up with a gag group costume, this is one that’ll surely be recognizable even to non-fans. All you’ll need are some wigs (if you already do not have similar hair to any of the members), and the most 2010’s-looking clothes you still own.

5. Tiger King’s Joe Exotic

This one’s for all my cool cats out there who may or may not have had an unhealthy obsession with Netflix’s Tiger King back in quarantine. This Halloween, you CAN financially recover from becoming your problematic fave Joe Exotic: all you’ll need is a metallic shirt (preferably one that’s animal print), a pair of jeans, a trucker cap, a fake mustache and a mullet. 

6. Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Korra characters

If it weren’t for the Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra pop culture renaissance, where else can you find two shows with non-offensive Asian and Indigenous representation? The characters from both shows have distinct costumes that you can recreate from home either from scratch or whatever you already have in your wardrobe, and if you do not want to recreate any of the characters’ looks, you can easily dress in whatever nation’s colours you most identify with. For example, red and black for Fire Nation, and blue and white for Water Tribe.

7. Cowboys and cowgirls

If you’re still bummed out by how Stampede was cancelled due to COVID-19, you can relive your glory days of waiting three hours in line for rides and being squished by the crowd at the Cowboys by recycling your Stampede basics into a classic cowboy or cowgirl costume. You can even take it a step further and be a niche cowboy or cowgirl, such space-themed cowboys or cowgirls, or even as iconic characters like Woody and Jessie from Toy Story.

8. Among Us crew mates 

As the latest and arguably most relevant viral phenomena (as of October 2020) to take over social media and pop culture, to the point where American congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez livestreamed the game on Twitch, you can gather your friends and become last-minute crew mates with coloured hoodies and funky hats.

9. Scooby Doo gang

Whether you’re celebrating Halloween with your friends or celebrating alone, the Scooby Gang is a classic group costume for Halloween, where everyone has a distinct look you can easily recreate from your existing wardrobe with corresponding colours to each character. For example, orange and red for Velma and green and brown for Shaggy. 

10. WAP (literally or metaphorically)

Love it or hate it, WAP by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion took the internet by storm and has a lot of potential for Halloween costumes. You can either recreate looks from the music video, such as the yellow and pink dresses, or you can take this idea on the dad joke route by literally being a wet cat with cat ears, drawn-on whiskers and slicked-back hair. 

This article is part of our humour section.