2017 Costume Ideas for Halloween

When the temperatures start to dip a little cooler, it’s time to start thinking about Halloween costumes. Whether you plan to purchase your costume or DIY it yourself, it’s easiest to start off by brainstorming by thinking about the following categories: Current events, group costumes, and movie and television characters.

Current Events

Costumes related to current events and popular culture are always a comedic hit, especially if you had a satirical twist. While politicians are always a standard, some people need a break from politics these days. A few funny ideas might include dressing up as a weatherman from the Weather Channel during the hurricane, who was the inspiration for a popular online meme. All you’d really need is some windblown hair and a blue rain coat. Another idea is to play off popular phenomenons or flops, such as by dressing up as Starbuck’s unicorn Frappuccino.

Group Costumes

Dressing up in costume as a group is always fun and can really elevate simple costumes into something more when they are all pieces of a group. Group costumes ideas can be sourced from popular culture, movies, television, or book series. A fun and very current idea for a big female group might be to dress up as all the individual Taylor Swift’s from the ending of her latest music video, “Look What You Made Me Do”. On the movie front, Baywatch was released this year and would be an easy unisex group costume as you would just need red swim suits and self-tanner. Of course, not everyone has a Baywatch approved physique, but that just makes the costume even funnier. Bonus points if you spray on fake lines to imitate a six pack.

Strong Female Leads

Since last Halloween, we’ve seen an increase in strong female leads in movies which give plenty of material for hit costumes this year. There will unquestionably be tons of Wonder Women lookalikes wandering around and for good reason! This costume is a fun one and easily DIY’d. For younger kids or even Disney loving adults, Moana is a great costume choice which can really be taken to another level by adding her iconic flower crown on top of some long brunette clip in hair extensions. We’d also be remiss if we didn’t mention the classic Belle from Beauty and the Beast, wonderfully brought back to life by Emma Watson in the live-action adaption this year. Her signature yellow ball gown would be a fun look to recreate. If you’re able to find someone willing to dress up as your Beast, even better.

TV Series

Last year’s hit costumes stemming from popular television series were without a doubt ruled by the hit series Game of Thrones. It’s safe to say Game of Thrones inspired costumes will be insanely popular again this year and new characters have been added as well. A newcomer to the scene will be Netflix’s Stranger Things series. If Pinterest costume search keywords are any indication, the character of Eleven will be a popular choice. Of course, Halloween is the perfect time for all things spooky and this undoubtedly includes zombies. Whether you are dressing up as your favorite Walking Dead character or just zombified version of yourself, there is no way to go wrong when it comes to Zombie costumes this year.

My name is Matthew Boley and I write for The Lauren Ashtyn Collection.