Life

13 Hilarious Group Costume Ideas, Because Halloween Is A Group Effort

by Lindsay E. Mack

When it comes to your Halloween costume selection, getting a little help from your friends and family can take your look to the next level. We're not talking about simply asking them for suggestions on what you should be, but we're all for joining forces and dressing up as one cast. Working together to pull off a hilarious group costume can make your Halloween celebration one to remember. Plus, how often do you get to dress up alongside all of your favorite people?

From the most popular emojis to Trump's ex-cabinet members, there are plenty of group costume ideas to go around. And if it feels like Halloween festivities get more elaborate and creative each year, you may be onto something. Americans are expected to spend a record $9.1 billion on Halloween celebrations in 2017, reports The Balance — that's a lot of Spiderman and Batman suits. The reason for this increase in anything and everything related to Halloween is anyone's guess. Perhaps people are craving the chance to be more playful and imaginative in these stressful, uncertain times, or maybe it's just because they want to look good on social media. But one thing we're pretty sure of is that no one really outgrows the fun of dressing up.

Whatever the case, plenty of people of all ages are putting a lot of time, effort, and dollars towards their costume. And because the options are endless, coming up with a clever theme for a Halloween group costume doesn't have to take much time at all. In fact, here are some fun suggestions that will get your whole squad excited for the holiday.

1

The Breakfast Club

Grab your crew and dress as the most important meal of the day. Simply choose from an adult bacon and egg costume ($40, Party City), an adult banana costume ($30, Party City), a glass of milk costume ($30, Halloween Costumes), and an avocado adult costume ($30, Halloween Costumes) to create a well-balanced meal. To tie it in with the The Breakfast Club movie, make a sign identifying each person as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Some John Hughes fan will get the pun and completely lose it.

2

Trend Words

Consider the words and phrases that have taken over social media in recent years. Interpret them too literally and make a costume for each idea (bonus points if the phrase is kind of passé now). For instance, to dress up as #lit, wear a flame shirt ($27, Amazon) and a spiked fire wig ($20, Amazon). Got a friend who's the #salty one of the group? Direct them to an adult salt costume ($25, Amazon). And at least one person needs to dress in #blessed gear from head to toe. Start with a #blessed shirt ($11, Etsy) and add a #blessed trucker cap ($23, Amazon). Finish the look with #blessed shoes (from $26, Amazon).

3

Trump's Ex-Cabinet Members

MIKE THEILER/AFP/Getty Images

Do you have a large group? Fourteen members of Tump's cabinet have already left at the time of this writing, according to Business Insider. Whether they exited voluntarily or got fired, there's some serious turnover happening in Washington, D.C. For a coherent ex-cabinet look, have everyone dress in a unifying man costume ($54, Halloween Express). Get some large name tags ($6, Office Depot) and jot down everyone's identity.

4

Dino Squad

Take it back really old-school with these looks. An inflatable T-Rex costume ($80, Halloween Costumes), T-Rex ride-on costume ($26, Amazon), adult triceratops costume ($90, Amazon) and an adult pterodactyl costume ($80, Amazon) will make your crew look positively prehistoric. It's a straight-up silly costume collection that will get a lot of laughs and cheers. Disclaimer: It's basically impossible to interact with an inflatable T-Rex costume without losing it. Seriously, just try it.

5

Random 'Sexy' Costumes

How do you and your crew feel about Halloween costumes that intentionally make non-sexy items sexy? Some of the current sexy costumes on the market include a sexy hacker costume ($20, Yandy), a sexy Alexander Hamilton costume ($120, Yandy), a sexy pizza costume ($60, Yandy), a sexy rebel red coat costume ($30+, Amazon), and a sexy squirrel costume ($50+, Halloween Costumes). Basically, if you can imagine it, there's a sexy Halloween costume version for it.

6

Crappy Candy

Candy is a celebrated component of Halloween, but some sweet treats are less favored than others. Your group costume can be inspired by the candies that tend to get picked over in a holiday haul. Candy corn, licorice, and Bit-O-Honey often get a bad rap. (Confession: I unironically enjoy all of these.)

One person can wear a candy corn costume ($29, Amazon) and give handfuls of classic candy corn ($10, Amazon) to everyone else. Someone else can wear a team licorice shirt ($16, Amazon) and a licorice lover cap ($16, Cafe Press) while gnawing aggressively on fistfuls of black licorice candy ($18, Amazon) to prove their point. Lastly, a third member of the party can wear the Bit-O-Honey shirt ($20+, Amazon) and a bee antenna headband ($7, Amazon). Force a 1lb bag of Bit-O-Honey ($8, Amazon) on unsuspecting friends and family.

7

Wonder Women

What happens when everyone in your crew wants to dress as Wonder Woman? You go for it. There are tons of badass WW costumes available, including the long dress Wonder Woman costume ($45, Halloween Costumes), the secret wishes Wonder Woman costume ($26+, Amazon), a plus size Wonder Woman costume ($75, Halloween Costumes), and a grand heritage Wonder Woman costume ($99+, Amazon). Now go out and slay — all of you.

8

Emoji

Love them or hate them, emojis are inescapable. Embrace their takeover of all languages with an emoji-inspired group costume. Grab an adult eggplant costume ($60, Halloween Costumes), adult peach costume ($34, Halloween Costumes), tongue out emoticon ($40, Amazon), emoji catsuit costume ($38, Yandy), and an emoji smile costume ($12, Oriental Trading). Your crew is ready to send a not-so-abstract message about Halloween.

9

Top Shelf

These costumes are a fantastic choice for the 21+ crowd. To start, a beer bottle case costume ($20, Halloween Costumes) and some beer bottle costumes ($20, Halloween Costumes) will take care of a few people people right away. Next, a vodka bottle costume ($19, Amazon) and a wine dress costume ($48, Halloween Express) finish off the set nicely.

10

Under The Sea

Live the life aquatic as a crew of underwater sea creatures. Here's an adult dolphin costume ($68, Halloween Express), adult narwhal costume ($65, Halloween Express), adult seahorse costume ($72, Halloween Express), deadly land shark costume ($45, Yandy), and adult jellyfish hat ($20, Halloween Costumes). We predict that your Halloween adventures will go swimmingly.

11

Bat Colony

Go batty with the whole family. This bat costume ($60, Halloween Express) suits the glam gal, while this adult bat costume ($53, Halloween Express) adds a sexy twist. Here's a dramatic wicked bat costume ($60, Halloween Express) if you're going for that evil look, and this bat kigarumi costume ($50, Amazon) just looks downright cozy. If someone has a baby in tow, the infant bat costume ($40+, Halloween Costumes) is beyond adorable. You're all set to take on the night.

12

Suits

Everybody looks great in a sharp suit. Get a Mr. Lover costume ($125, Halloween Express), a Cashanova money suit ($125, Halloween Express), and a skull print suit ($100, Halloween Costumes). You're love, money, and death: some pretty powerful concepts (dressed in very silly suits).

13

Low-Effort Costumes

If you don't want to put a lot of time and effort into costume creation, make that attitude a part of the costumes themselves. A worst costume ever shirt ($30, Cafe Press), an I am a ghost shirt ($16, Etsy), and an error 404 shirt ($20 ILoveApparel) are just a few low-key costume ideas. For a super lazy look, pair the shirts with pajama bottoms. You'll be the most comfortable people ever on Halloween.

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