While this article might be too late to be an inspiration for your Halloween costumes this year, I definitely think having some character ideas lined up for the future can be useful for planning. I know most of us, aka me, tend to shop way last minute… or not at all, leading to repeated outfits. Take it from someone who was a witch four years in a row with her mom’s hand-me-down costume (which honestly is pretty sustainable and cheap). However, as someone who struggles to come up with fun, unique costumes each year, I honestly think letting your inner child run free could be the best way to go. So, from my own childhood, and from trends I have been seeing all over social media, here are some of the characters I cannot wait to dress up as these next few Halloweens.
Group Costumes
Starting with who I am going to be this year, my first recommendation, especially if you are going out with a group, is to be someone from the Monster High movies. Personally, I have chosen to be Cleo Di Nile… you know… the cartoon version of Cleopatra. Nonetheless, dressing up as one of these characters lets you be a little more unique. You wouldn’t just be a vampire; you could be Draculara, Dracula’s daughter. You wouldn’t be just a werewolf, but a specific werewolf named Caludeen! That said, I know not everyone watched these movies when they were younger, but at the time they were my lifeblood. So for me, I will be having a fabulously ghoulish Halloween dressed as my favorite ghoul from the movies. If you need inspiration for how to create a Monster High Costume, look at the Katseye music video from a year ago. While giving us a revamped version of one of the classic theme songs, their outfits are stunning!
Next is probably what I’ll be doing next year: one of the fairies from the WINX cartoon. Like all the good cartoons from when I was a kid, this show recently got a remake, and, like my sister, newer generations have become more engaged with these classic stories. That said, I think it would be so cute to dress up and match with my sister, especially connecting over characters that we have both loved in our own ways. Moreover, within this cartoon, couples costumes can also be easily made. Think, for example, of a Bloom and Sky duo. If you have never watched the show, I apologize for mentioning characters whom you do not know. That said, I would highly recommend watching if you are looking for something that is great for background purposes; the episodes are free on the official YouTube channel! While you do not have to do this to match with someone else, I feel like that is just a bonus of being a character from this TV series. Costume-wise, if you are looking to get wings for a fairy costume, I have heard that ones with a U-shaped bracket work better and allow for a more seamless appearance to your costume, rather than having wings that simply strap around your shoulders.
Next, while admittedly from a show I have never watched, I am taking inspiration from my dorm hall’s theme of the Powerpuff Girls. In doing this outfit, you have three distinct characters whom you and your friends can dress up as. This, I also think, is a costume in which you can go as laid-back as you want to be. You could simply dress head to toe in the color of your specific Powerpuff Girl (green, pink, blue). While some other people could have really detailed costumes for these girls, I think this could be the perfect option if you want to dress up as a childhood cartoon character without worrying about finding the best clothes in the world.
Costumes by Vibe
While the costumes in my previous section may have been about nostalgia and also wanting to become my favorite characters from shows that I have watched, or that others my age have watched, I feel like sometimes you just need to be silly and goofy instead. While still fitting the vibes of childhood TV shows, I think being characters from The Cat in the Hat could be fun. I have this vague memory of when I was a kid, and my parents did this exact thing… they were Thing One and Thing Two with the horrendous-it’s-funny-looking blue bobbed wigs. As this could also be considered a group costume, I think it is an amazing idea if you had a real twin to twin with… or even if you have a friend with whom you act as if you are twins (shout-out to my roommate!) I think it’s completely fine and encouraged to find outfits that make you laugh and create an environment to mess with your friends, and I think this costume could do just that.
Lastly, though this costume might be more in line with my mom’s generation, as I am unaware of how many other people I know have ever watched this show; being a character from Rainbow Bright could be extremely unique. I remember as a kid being obsessed with this 1984 animation, and I think more people need to know of its existence. Moreover, I think dressing up as all colors of the rainbow just seems like a happy and fun way to spend Halloween. Not all costumes have to be scary-looking, and I think simply having the opportunity to express yourself is what this holiday is all about, well, besides the candy. That said, Rainbow Bright could be the light costume in the sea of mythical creatures and scary-looking clowns.