As Halloween creeps up on us this week, the scramble for a good costume becomes intense, especially if you’re planning on coordinating a group costume. But fear not, because here are seven Halloween group costumes that can be put together last minute
1) Scooby-Doo
This is a classic bunch of Halloween costumes that will never go out of style. Although it consists of everyday clothing items, it is easily recognizable, which will catch everyone’s eye immediately. For the Velma of the group, start with an orange top, red bottoms, some knee-high socks, and classic “nerdy” glasses. For Fred, all you need is a white top, blue bottoms, and an orange handkerchief. A Shaggy costume can be completed with a green top and brown bottoms. Daphne needs anything and everything purple, while Scooby-Doo just needs all brown clothes and a collar. These costumes are super basic but can be accessorized as much as you want! Go all out with matching jewelry, belts, shoes, and other accessories.
2) “Inside Out”
This is a costume I haven’t seen a lot before, so it’s a good group costume if you’re trying to be unique but recognizable. For this, each member of your group will take on a different emotion from Riley’s head in “Inside Out:” Joy, Disgust, Anger, Fear, and Sadness. For this costume, you really just need some business casual clothes and a colored wig. Since each character has a specific color (Joy as yellow, Sadness as blue, Disgust as green, Fear as purple, and Anger as red), add pops of color to your outfit with fun makeup or accessories.
3) The Eras of Taylor Swift
Listen, I am such a Swiftie it’s embarrassing, but I know there are plenty of others out there. This costume doesn’t require much besides a group of Taylor Swift fans. Each person can be a different era/album of hers, like Fearless Taylor, Reputation Taylor, Folklore Taylor, etc. Just refer to the “Look What You Made Me Do” music video for some of her iconic looks.
4) Decades
This group costume consists of each person dressing up as a different decade. What I like about this idea is that you can dress it up or down, and this can accommodate a bigger group (1920s through 2020s). For some of the earlier decades, like the 20s and 30s, you could go all out with a flapper dress or long skirts and matching accessories. But for some of the later decades, like the 80s and 90s, you can pretty much just wear normal clothes but with some bright pops of color or heavy makeup.
5) Ghostbusters
This has to be one of the most iconic group costumes there is. For this, all you need is some beige clothes with a “proton pack” that can easily be DIYed with some cardboard and black paint. You could easily find these clothes in your closet, but if you want to be a bit more coordinated with your group, you could run out and buy some cheap, matching beige clothes.
6) “The Good Place”
This is one of my favorite TV shows of all time and makes for a super easy costume. This group costume can be done at the very last minute because all of the main characters just wear everyday clothes! One person can wear jeans and a top for Elenor, a sweater vest and glasses for Chidi, a tracksuit for Jason, a fancy dress for Tahani, and a suit for Michael. These may just look like normal clothes for an individual, but the five costumes come together to make a fun sitcom costume.
7) “Squid Game”
As one of the hottest shows of 2021, and one of my personal favorites, it only felt right to put a “Squid Game” inspired costume on this list. There are a lot of things you can do with this group costume. For example, you could all be players by wearing a green tracksuit with a three-digit number on one side, or you could be the pink soldiers by wearing all pink and a black mask with a circle, triangle, or square that you could easily DIY. Or you could be a mix of both, maybe even throwing in the Front Man with an all-black costume and mask.
If you and your friends procrastinate a lot like me, these costumes are great to throw together last minute. But the possibilities for a group costume are endless if you just be creative with it! Get a group together to go as your favorite food products, celebrities, or characters from your favorite TV show. Whether you pull something out of your closet or DIY a costume, the important thing about Halloween is having fun!