Our Favorite Halloween Costumes Through the Years

Matching, DIY and kids' Halloween costume ideas

Two hands on an orange background, one holding a black witch hat with a pink band and the other a black cat mask, with aviator sunglasses floating nearby

Christmas is our very favorite holiday, but Halloween is a close second. One of the first things Brooke and I bonded over was how much we both love Halloween costumes. These are some of our favorites through the years. Some of them were a little extra, but plenty were quick and easy to put together.

Our pro tip: take your Halloween photos before Halloween. We just do pictures a day or two before Halloween. It's a practice run for the costume, and I don't have to annoy my kids with pictures when they just want to get out the door. The best light hits right when they're ready to go trick-or-treating. That's a losing battle.

Teen boy dressed as Frankenstein with green face paint, drawn-on stitches, spiked black hair and a black blazer over a green tee

Matching Halloween costumes

Two girls posing in matching Starbucks costumes, one as a Frappuccino with a whipped cream headband and one as the green Starbucks siren mermaid

Starbucks Frappuccino and the Starbucks siren

One year, we didn't even know what the other was planning. Cambrie dressed up as a Frappuccino, and Brooke's daughter McKenley was a mermaid. Not just any mermaid, either: she looked like the Starbucks siren. So we did a whole Starbucks-themed photo shoot. Starbucks even sent the girls a little gift card.

Girl in a DIY Frappuccino costume sitting at a cafe table under a green Starbucks umbrella
The Frappuccino and Starbucks siren costumes together at a table under a green umbrella

Maverick and Goose from Top Gun

We picked up the flight suits at a military surplus store and made the patches with a Silhouette Cameo. Aviators finish it off.

Two teen boys in green flight suits with patches and aviator sunglasses, dressed as Maverick and Goose from Top Gun, in a tunnel
Maverick and Goose costumes, one boy crouching in front in aviators
Two boys standing in DIY Top Gun flight suits

Harry and Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber

A great best friends costume. Halloween is still pretty toasty for us, so we went with orange and blue tuxedo T-shirts and top hats. We didn't have a briefcase lying around, so we used a backgammon game and filled it with IOU notes.

Two teen boys dressed as Harry and Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber in orange and powder blue tuxedo T-shirts and top hats, holding a briefcase full of IOU notes
Harry and Lloyd costumes tossing IOU notes into the air

Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf

A red cape and gingham for her, wolf ears and face paint for him.

A girl in a red cape and gingham skirt as Little Red Riding Hood next to a boy with wolf ears and face paint as the Big Bad Wolf
Little Red Riding Hood costume with a red hooded cape and red gingham skirt
Close-up of a boy in Big Bad Wolf face paint with gray wolf ears

Teen boy Halloween costumes

Teen boy dressed as Frankenstein with green face paint, drawn-on stitches, spiked black hair and a black blazer over a green tee

Frankenstein

Green face paint, drawn-on stitches and a black blazer over a green tee. It's still one of our most-saved pins. The hair is all black hairspray. It's so strong and textured that we didn't need gel. Wear gloves so you can hold the hair up while it dries a little.

Teen boy in a white T-shirt with a red magnet and little chicks on it, holding a guitar

Chick Magnet

A super easy DIY for teens: a big red magnet on a white T-shirt with little chicks all around it. We used our Silhouette Cameo and a heat press to make the shirt, and this time it really was quick.

Girls' Halloween costumes

The scariest costume of 2020

You know it was a scary year when you can make a Halloween costume out of it. We made the girls fancy toilet paper hats and T-shirts covered in the crazy things that happened that year. Add mismatched socks and a skirt made out of masks, and you've got one all-around dumpster fire.

Girl in a DIY 2020 costume with a toilet paper top hat, a T-shirt covered in 2020 references, a skirt made of face masks and mismatched socks
Close-up of the toilet paper top hat and the 2020 T-shirt
Back of the 2020 costume T-shirt with Tiger King, Tik Tok and Vote patches and the face mask skirt
Girl dressed as Wednesday Addams with braids, a black dress with ruffled cuffs and striped socks, standing behind a pumpkin

Wednesday Addams

This one never gets old. Braids, a black dress with ruffled cuffs and striped socks.

Girl in a DIY scarecrow costume with a straw hat and sunflower, a denim top and a white tulle skirt

Scarecrow

Another sweet DIY classic: a straw hat with a sunflower, a denim top and a tulle skirt.

Girl in a steampunk costume with a tiny top hat, feathered shoulders and a high-low skirt

Steampunk

Feathered shoulders, a tiny top hat and a high-low skirt.

Girl in a Mother Nature costume with a crown of twigs and moss and a green tulle skirt

Mother Nature

This is an extra crafty one, and it turned out so beautiful. A crown of twigs and moss, blue flowers at the neck and a big green tulle skirt.

Front of the Mother Nature costume with blue flowers at the neck
Back of the Mother Nature costume showing the long green tulle skirt
Girl in Day of the Dead sugar skull face paint with red roses in her hair
Full sugar skull costume with a skeleton top and a pink tulle skirt

Sugar Skull

So pretty. Day of the Dead face paint, red roses in her hair and a skeleton top.

Girl in a Candyland princess costume with a tiara and a candy-covered top
Candyland princess holding a giant lollipop

Candyland princess

Tiara, candy-covered top and the biggest lollipop we could find.

Clown

Gotta love dance recital costumes that can also be used for Halloween. This one was one of my favorites.

Girl in a pink and purple harlequin clown costume with a pointed hat, sitting in a tunnel
The clown costume from behind, dancing in a tunnel
Illustration of a vintage camera with a flash burst

Another photo tip: find a tunnel. A lot of these photos were taken in a tunnel. The background stays simple, and the light coming in from the open end shows off the costume.

Boys' Halloween costumes

Boy in a Davy Crockett costume with a fur cap and fringed jacket, in black and white
Davy Crockett costume close-up with the fur cap

Davy Crockett

A great DIY for boys. All it takes is a fur cap and a fringed jacket.

Little boy in a pirate costume with a black hat, vest and white shirt
Smiling little pirate against a stone wall

Pirate

One of my favorite costumes for little boys, always a classic.

Boy dressed as Ash from Pokemon with a red and white cap, a blue vest and a Poke Ball

Ash from Pokémon

Catch all the candy! All it takes is the cap, a blue vest and a Poké Ball.

Girl in a doctor costume with scrubs, a white coat and a stethoscope

Doctor

Quick, easy and simple: scrubs, a white coat and a stethoscope.

Toddler Halloween costumes

Merry Halloween Santa

I probably should have named my youngest Holly or maybe Noelle. This girl loves Christmas even more than me, and if I hadn't made That Gift Game, I bet she would have. She even asked for a Christmas-themed birthday party, in August. This Santa costume is an easy DIY for little ones, and a nod to our favorite holiday.

Toddler in a Santa costume eating a gingerbread cookie
Toddler in a red and white Santa dress with a black belt and boots
Toddler Santa carrying a metal bucket in a tunnel
Toddler in a DIY Vampirina costume with a spiderweb dress, holding a Vampirina doll in a tunnel

Vampirina

I made this one for our little Vampirina fan, spiderweb dress and all. Of course the doll came along for the photos.

Toddler in a black cat costume with cat ears, a black tutu and fuzzy leg warmers

Black cat

She hated every costume she tried on, but luckily she didn't even realize this was one. Cat ears, a black tutu and fuzzy leg warmers make it an easy one for a baby or toddler.

Illustration of a black cat peeking over the edge

Little witch

So classic, and you might already have everything you need.

Toddler in a witch costume with a big witch hat and a black and orange tutu, shown in four photos
Illustration of a disco ball with sparkles

On to Christmas

The day after Halloween is basically Christmas kickoff around here, and that means planning the family gift exchange.

If that's on your list too, here are 5 fun Christmas gift exchange games to try.

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