October 24, 2024
Pamela Littky/Disney
Looking for a last-minute group costume idea for Halloween? Have your friends grab their cardigans and sweater dresses and be the quirky cast of teachers from 'Abbott Elementary.'
Time is running out to plan your Halloween costume for this year, especially if you'll be heading out for "Halloweekend" festivities before Oct. 31.
If you didn't begin sewing your own costume well in advance and haven't gotten the chance to hit up your local Spirit Halloween for a prepackaged outfit, there are still many creative costume ideas that you can cobble together on short notice.
MORE: Sewing instructors give tips on how to make your own Halloween costume
Sure, you can always throw on an Eagles jersey and call it a day, but why not step a little bit outside the box? There are plenty of local figures that made headlines this past year. For instance, you could wear a suit and grab a rose and call yourself Montgomery County native "Bachelor" star Joey Graziadei. Wear a mini-dress or corset and skirt, put on some boots and give your hair a voluminous blowout — or throw on a blonde wig — and suddenly you're looking a lot like Pennsylvania pop star Sabrina Carpenter.
For something a bit more abstract, you could dress in a green shirt, brown pants and a brown jacket or cardigan and call yourself the viral Liberty Kitchen kale Caesar chicken cutlet sandwich. Extra points if you wear a "sold out" sign, or have a line of people waiting behind you. Or, you could go hyper-local and spray-paint a white shirt to look like "Shamcow" graffiti, street art that has been popping up across Northwest Philly.
Don't want to go solo when it comes to dressing up for the holiday? You and your boo could dress up like retired Eagles center Jason Kelce and his wife Kylie Kelce — think velour tracksuit and flip-flops for Jason, and that coveted Princess Diana Eagles jacket (or a dupe) for Kylie. Or, you could be Jason's little brother Travis and his famous girlfriend Taylor Swift — wearing Chiefs merch for Travis and something bedazzled, plus friendship bracelets, for Swift.
For a more unlikely duo, you could be the Phillie Phanatic and Grimace — the McDonalds' mascot turned Mets' pet that haunted Phillies fans during our heartbreaking NLDS showdown. Amazon Prime some Phanatic and Grimace gear. You can draw a teardrop for both since the Phillies and the Mets are now mourning the untimely ends to their seasons.
Here are five more last-minute costume ideas — for solo Halloween revelers, groups or couples — based on iconic Philly moments, people, animals or trends from the past year or so:
For a great large group costume, look no further than the Philly-set sitcom "Abbott Elementary." The cast of teachers includes a style icon for everyone, whether you want to wear a sweater dress or a custodian's uniform. You could also break up into couple costumes, like fledgling boyfriend-girlfriend Gregory (Tyler James Williams) and Janine (Quinta Brunson), or best pals Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) and Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter). If you have an even larger group — we get it you have friends, stop bragging! — your costumes could tease the upcoming "Abbott" crossover with "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
First look at the ‘ABBOTT ELEMENTARY’ & ‘IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA’ crossover episode. pic.twitter.com/LoaMzV4wt0
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 18, 2024
While Phillies fans are still nursing their wounds from another disappointing postseason collapse, there is a good last-minute Halloween costume that arose from the season. You can wear overalls like backup catcher Garrett Stubbs, lovingly known as the team's "chief vibes officer." The past two seasons, he was seen wearing beer-soaked FOCO overalls during postseason celebrations in the clubhouse. You can opt to put an empty Budweiser box on your head, and be sure to fill your overalls pockets with beer cans — perfect for when you get thirsty. If you didn't hop on the trend and buy FOCO overalls or "shortalls," you can always wear any old pair of overalls.
Garrett Stubbs might have a case of beer in his pockets
— On Pattison (@OnPattison) September 24, 2024
Video: @TimKellySports pic.twitter.com/ypxEZ53ANu
For another simple Phillies-themed costume, you can simply wear an oversized Phillies jersey, like Carpenter did during the finale of her Philly concert earlier this month. But beware what some fans are calling the "Sabrina Carpenter curse."
In January, a New Jersey-based pest control company caused quite a fright when they claimed the state could have "giant venomous flying spiders" by the end of the year. From there, some media outlets continued to incite panic over the arrival of Jorō spiders — large spiders which are native to Asia but were first spotted in the United States a decade ago. While claims that they're venomous, flying monstrosities have been debunked, the invasive species did arrive in the Philly region much sooner than expected. Six Jorō spiders were found in Northampton Township, Bucks County, in September, and a seventh was found in Warminster.
Want to be the eighth Jorō in Pennsylvania? Wear yellow striped clothing and create extra spider arms using stuffed socks. You could also hold up an umbrella to represent the "ballooning" method of travel that spiderlings use.
Happy first day of Joro Spider Season to those who celebrate pic.twitter.com/RY77WWjZjZ
— neature vs norture (@chionogirl) September 23, 2024
Philadelphia just got a fun new toy: a portal sculpture in LOVE Park that links to livestreams from Dublin, Ireland; Vilnius, Lithuania; and Lublin, Poland. Whether the installation leads to global connections or not, it at least makes for a great Halloween costume idea. There are probably several ways you could go about doing this, but the first one that came to my mind was to use a hula hoop. You could dress in all gray and attach the hoop to the front of your clothing. It would be especially cool if you wrap the hoop in tin foil, or paste an image onto it. Get creative!
The portal in Love Park is on pic.twitter.com/x6ISdjWzPM
— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) October 22, 2024
This last one is a little far-fetched, but stick with me as I weave in a Philly connection. In case you've somehow avoided the internet over the past few months, a sassy baby pygmy hippo named Moo Deng — whose name translates to "bouncy pork" — has gained fans across the world after her debut at a zoo in Thailand in July. Sadly, there are no pygmy hippos living in the zoos in our region — although you could see them if you make the trek across the state to the Pittsburgh Zoo. At the Philadelphia Zoo, though, we have the pygmy hippo's much larger cousin, the hippopotamus, and our hippos have had their own fair share of viral fame.
A video taken by publicist Kory Aversa at the Boo at the Zoo event in 2021 has been viewed on TikTok over 55 million times. The video shows a couple of Philly hippos chomping on some huge pumpkins. So, you could pay homage to Moo Deng's recent fame, while giving flowers to our local animal celebs with a costume I'd like to call "Boo Deng." Get it? For the costume, all you need is a gray outfit, lots of blush, some little hippo-style ears — a mouse-ear headband could probably do the trick — a pumpkin and lots of moisturizer.
Pumpkin season means BOO at the Zoo is back! 🎃👻 Join us for 3 weekends starting Sat 10/12. Come in costume, trick-or-treat, enjoy animal pumpkin feedings, spooky eats, and more! All included with admission/membership 🧟♂️
— Philly Zoo (@phillyzoo) October 4, 2024
More info + feeding schedule 👉 https://t.co/RDXR4zelOW pic.twitter.com/VJ2hAJsFSK
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