Choosing a Halloween costume is one of the hardest things a gal has to do, next to picking a nail polish color. Every year for Halloween, I have such high expectations and hope that I can find the most perfect and unique costume, but, in reality, I usually end up being something basic that I’m not as satisfied with. While there is nothing wrong with choosing a basic costume, there are so many ways to spice those costumes up, and I have the perfect guide to helping you pick a unique costume!
brainstorm by thinking about characters from tv shows and movies
I always start by thinking about my favorite movies or television series. It is even better if you think of cartoon characters. This is a great way to get a basic idea of some things you can be. For me, the first characters that come to mind are Minnie Mouse, Little Red Riding Hood, Marie from the “Aristocats”, black and white swan and even more. You might be thinking that these are boring and basic ideas. However, the other key to coming up with a great costume is romanticizing it. Sometimes costumes seem basic, but when you think of how cute it could be and the potential it has, you have the opportunity to create a really unique costume! For example, take a vampire. Most people think that this is extremely basic, but when you think about all of the cool things you can wear for this costume and accessorize with, it becomes really exciting! For instance, for a vampire, instead of just wearing all black with fangs, you can get dark makeup, red rhinestones to put around your eyes, fake blood to put all over your face and body and even do trendy nails; I think silver chrome with rhinestones would pull the look together! This is just one idea, but I really think when you think outside of the box, you can turn a basic look into something memorable.
Use pinterest
Pinterest will be your absolute best friend for Halloween season. Without fail, Pinterest has helped me find my Halloween costume for the past few years. I think it is the perfect search engine when trying to find trendy costumes. I swear, every trendy costume ever is on Pinterest, and as long as you are searching for the right things, you should have some luck finding a cool costume. I usually search for “trendy college costumes for women” and usually end up leaving the app with some inspiration. Not only is it an endless amount of pictures with great ideas, but sometimes it will also link the websites to buy the costumes at. I also love Pinterest because when you click on a photo, it will lead you to related images to the one you clicked on. I usually get trapped looking for costumes for hours once I am on the app, so make sure you have time to be locked in because it’s addicting.
Think of partner Costumes
Think of dynamic duos as a starting point! Group costumes are always fun, so start off by thinking of duos from movies, TV shows or even funny duo costumes. I think there are so many costumes that are much more elevated if you have a partner or group. It makes dressing up so much more fun. An idea I have always wanted to do as a duo is the black and white swan. I think this is so fun, easy to accessorize and is unique; I have never seen anyone do this. This is fun because, in addition to dressing up, you can take really cool pictures with your friend(s) and turn the costume into a fun Insta post. I love doing group costumes; the hardest part is getting all of your friends to agree on something, but once you do it is so worth it!
Use clothes and accessories you own already and turn it into a costume
One thing I realized after celebrating two years of Halloween in college is that costumes are extremely expensive. I love to treat myself and buy a great costume, but for two to three nights of celebrating, it ends up being a lot of money. For at least one night I end up using my own clothing, accessories or old costumes. This is not to say that DIY costumes aren’t as great, they honestly end up sometimes being even better than buying a whole outfit through some random website. You can build the base of a costume with stuff you already own and then buy a couple accessories to finish up the costume. For example, being a cat doesn’t seem like the most out of the box idea, but if you use all-black clothing you already own (maybe a cute little black dress!), as well as black boots that are fun, carry a black purse, and find fun cat ears and accessorize well, it can be turned into an amazing fit. Accessorizing by doing fun nails, hair, makeup and more can pull the whole look together. Maybe try wearing a fun choker necklace with a bell on it, finding fun makeup to create the perfect cat eye and doing space buns with bows could be all the satisfaction in a costume that you need! Like I said, romanticize costumes you are thinking of and the clothes/accessories you already own, and I bet you can pull off a super cool look.
Some inspiration…
After thinking about all of my past costumes, I figured I would give some inspiration and share my favorite costumes I have done in the past. I think my all time favorite was last year when I was Cupid. I got a fun red outfit, wore go-go boots, had angel wings, a bow and arrow and a headband with sparkly red hearts. I thought this was creative, fun and different from what most people do. I also wore red lipstick and drew a heart on my face. This whole look was really fun. I also liked when I was a werewolf. I teased my hair to look really messy and wore furry ears and fangs. I loved this, and I honestly love any costume that involves fangs and fake blood as it is the only time of the year you can wear them. Lastly, I loved when I was a mummy. I did it with my best friend. We wrapped each other up in gauze and created a costume out of it. It was creative and really unique!
There are so many costumes, and really all it comes down to is romanticizing a costume and making it into something you really like. Halloween is the only time of the year you can dress as whatever or whoever you want- so make it worth it!