Tier 1: The Lazy Man’s Costume
I love Halloween. I love any excuse to get dressed up, eat candy and have a good time with friends. However, I must acknowledge that not everyone loves dressing up in costumes as much as I do. If you relate to this, then this category might be for you. The general formula for this costume is Jeans + graphic tee = costume. I have seen the “Jack and Coke” costume where one person wears the Coca-Cola t-shirt and the other a Jack Daniels tee, and boom! Couples costume complete. In this category, you may also find the bed sheet ghost and the “Error 404: Costume not found” shirts.
Tier 2: The “Found it in my closet” costume
This is where we start to get a little bit more creative. Dig around in your closet and see if you can drum up the basics for a costume. Perhaps a flannel shirt, jeans and boots become a cowboy/girl. Dress in all black and go as a witch or a shadow. Throw it back to middle school and put on your PJs and bunny slippers and go as a baby. These costumes are often enhanced by one or two store bought accessories. Pick up a hat for that cowboy costume or a binky for the baby.
Tier 3: The store-bought costume
This is a tricky tier for me to talk about. I love the creative process of thinking of a costume and working out the plan for making or buying each element to make a unique version of my favorite TV character. That being said, I KNOW most people don’t have the patience for that. For those of you, I suggest a trip to the Halloween store and find yourself a nice pre-made, all parts included costume. Forewarning, these will usually run you somewhere near $50. Often even more than that.
Target has these incredibly creepy options for $30 each.
Tier 4: All about the makeup
This costume tier is not just for the ladies. I know several guys who have rocked the makeup based costumes over the years. Whether it be FX makeup or glitter and false lashes, these costumes revolve around the makeup. YouTube is littered with amazing tutorials for costume makeup of all varieties and if you are brave enough to try it, it can be a lot of fun. Just be careful not to smudge your masterpiece!
Tier 5: The DIY
This is where I usually operate for my Halloween costumes. Pick a character, item, pun, or animal. Now spend some time breaking down the elements that make up this character’s outfit or what makes the item identifiable, write these down. I usually start in my closet and see if I own any anything that can work as a costume base like a black dress, specific colored shirt or accessories. Then I usually visit the thrift store once or twice and see if I can find any key elements for cheap. This is a great place to find items like suitcases, jackets, hats or obscure clothing items. The last phase is usually the DIY. Sometimes I start here is I know I have the time and tools needed. Here are an example.
Mermaid: Top was thrifted and embellished using fabric and a sewing machine. Leggings were DIY’d by making a pattern of a pair of leggings I owned and some fabric I ordered online. Shoes were a labor of love and I lost them in a recent move. I was devastated. As you can imagine after gluing a million sequins to a pair of clearance white Keds.
Tier 6: Cosplay level unlocked!
These costumes are always impressive to me. I have achieved this status once. The hours put into this project were justified because I wore this to NYC Comic Con AND Halloween that year. I will tell you now, this costume tier is not for the faint of heart. This is Full Costume Commitment. You will see more of this costume than your significant other during the process. There are schematics and budgets and likely some metal work. Cosplay aims to be as close of an exact replica as possible, maybe with a twist like a gender swap or steampunk version of a classic character. Always impressive and always the recipient of “Best Costume” at any party they attend.
Comment below with which costume tier you are.
~A huge costume nerd