18 Most Cliche Halloween Costumes

Halloween season is quickly approaching and many teens and adults are just as excited for the holiday season as children are. Dressing up for Halloween has become popular in recent years from a more adult audience… but that doesn’t mean every costume has been original. We’ve seen ‘em all by now, and we’re counting down some of the easiest and most cliche Halloween costumes to date! Pour yourself a bowl of Count Chocula and get started.

18. Ghost

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Being a ghost is one of the easiest and oldest costumes in the book. Simply finding a white sheet and cutting a few holes to see out of certainly isn’t rocket science, so maybe that’s why people are so drawn to this seemingly lazy design. It’s simplicity allows for many different modifications and creativity with each individual ghost wannabe, so inventive creations are likely to come out of it. We acknowledge this one is a bit outdated… buuuut, let’s face it, if you’re still in your early teens and looking for a quick way to snag some candy, a ghost costume may be your easiest ticket to getting those sweet and savory Milk Duds.

17. Vampire

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As hammy and old-school as vampires are in terms of Halloween, we can only argue that the popularity of being a vampire has returned to popular culture ever since the Twilight movies skyrocketed. The female audience in general have taken a liking to dressing up like these blood suckers, where men have surprisingly turned away from these costumes. Perhaps they don’t want to be associated with Robert Pattinson’s incarnation of the Twilight character. It’s likely they’d be quite the chick magnet if they did, though men usually imagine a long, dorky black cape and fangs rather than soft pale skin and a killer ascot.

16. Referee

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*Obnoxious whistle sound* “There’s a flag on the play. Unoriginality and lack of every. At least 10 people here. 4th down.” We’ve all seen the person who has an a official’s jersey that belongs to their second-uncle who’s a peewee basketball referee. And pair that with shorts, a whistle, and if you’re feeling bold, some thick eye black and we got ourselves a costume. The benefit here is you have your designated party foul official for the evening.

15. Pirate

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Arrrrrgh! These mateys are known for their swashbuckling adventures… and also looking extremely dorky with their big hats and old-timey clothes. The interest in pirates seemed to hit a new form of popularity when the original Pirates of the Caribbean film debuted in 2003. Critics and fans alike were attracted to the infamous Jack Sparrow’s personality and charm, and it’s arguable that this is what men would like to imitate most during the holiday season. Only, instead of looking rebellious and cunning, they just sort of look…. Lame. That’s not to say it isn’t a fun costume; it’s enjoyable to walk around with the plastic sword, artificial parrot, and carry around tons of booty. But time has altered this costume from a new and innovative idea into something that’s a thing of the past.

14. Indian

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It’s trendy! It’s vibrant! It’s… slightly insensitive. Seriously, how do these still exist in the mainstream? Stereotyping Native Americans has always been offensive, so doing it nowadays is really no excuse. The indian costume is popular among men and women, mainly because there’s tons of different set-pieces and crafts that go into designing. So it can be a relatively inventive costume, but the fact that it’s loaded with anachronisms and still celebrated as a popular costume in society every year is just slightly baffling. C’mon guys! It’s 2017 for goodness sakes! This is the year of being progressive and - er, scratch that entire statement. May have spoke too soon.

13. Hippie

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Proudly representing the 70’s stoner crowd, the hippie costume takes you all the way back to the Woodstock days… ya know, before dressing like a hippie was incredibly mainstream? Dressing like a hippie can bring out the most psychedelic side in someone as they rummage through various rainbow patterned clothes and artsy headbands. It also might give them an opportunity to smoke God’s grass scott-free, but besides that, it’s once again more of a stereotypical look at a specific culture of people. Certainly not as offensive as dressing as an Indian, but the hippie costume feels… particularly lazy. There haven’t been many other variations from what you usually see every year, and it almost seems like the hippie dialect always feel somewhat phony. This is certainly a costume that’s been burned out.

12. Nurse/Doctor

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Is there a doctor in the house? Oh, there’s several? Twenty?? You’re always bound to see these medical attendants at your local party, and it’s almost amazing as to what qualifies as dressing up like a doctor or a nurse these days. You have the typical scrubs, and then there’s just grabbing a simple lab coat and labeling yourself as a “doctor.” It’s a simplistic concept that never lends itself to going all-out, and really, what draws people to this costume so much? Maybe if you’re an aspiring nursing major, or if you’re a big fan of “Grey’s Anatomy,” but there’s nothing particularly fascinating or visually interesting about this kind of costume. It’s just somewhat bland. And let’s hope nobody chokes on their candy corn, because these doctors and nurses won’t be able to help in any which way.

11. Clark Kent/Superman

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There are obviously a lot of interesting ways you could go about dressing like Superman, buuut, it’s evolved to people wearing fake glasses and sporting a Superman t-shirt under their button-up dress shirt. It was a funny idea at one point, but once a handful of guys started doing it as any excuse to look nice in their fancy work shirts, it slowly started to lose its charm. Look, I’m not saying it’s not a cool look, but if you really wanna look as dope as possible, you could dress as identical as the Man of Steel himself. Think of how the ladies will like that gun show! In reality, it always will be a pretty sweet idea, but there’s nothing that super about this overdone concept.

10. Risky Business

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Calling all Tom Cruise wannabe’s! Grab your Ray-Ban’s, button-up shirt, and cleanest tighty- whities! And slide through any function with this Hollywood classic. A great mix of simple, and sophisticated (button-up), while fun and ready to party (underwear and Ray-Ban’s). While you may run the risk of a wardrobe malfunction with this one, there’s probably 0.0% chance you’ll be the only one in this costume. So take the old records off the shelf and have some fun with you and every other Tom Cruise in the house.

9. Banana Suit

Wanna be filled with potassium this Halloween season?? Well, most people don’t… but the banana costume is a silly and unusual sight gag that may or may not have been entirely played out by now. At this point in time, it’s almost impossible to not see at least one banana during the holiday season. Mostly because it’s funny and laughable, yet still comfortable and easily slips over your clothes. Though, that doesn’t mean it’s as comedic as it used to be. The charm of the banana costume has surely worn out, and it’s so common that it usually doesn’t even get a laugh anymore. It may be zany and comfortable to sport on Halloween, but don’t expect any gut-busting laughs from anyone. This costume just simply isn’t “bananas” enough.

8. Harley Quinn

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Probably the most recent edition onto this list is Harley Quinn, who recently grew in popularity after the release of Suicide Squad. Let’s face it, most people portraying Harley Quinn aren’t Suicide Squad fans themselves, though. They just love the cute pigtails, rebellious persona, and wearing layers of different make-ups and fishnet stockings. It’s no wonder it’s such a popular costume, it’s allowing people to go as all out as they can and still look cute while doing so. It’s most certainly a better Halloween costume than Suicide Squad was a movie…

7. Nerd/Schoolgirl

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Ever want to dress up like a typical 70’s or 80’s nerd or a Catholic school girl? Well, these costumes are there to represent your local dorks, though it’s funny to see how this costume is actually somewhat outdated, yet dozens of people still sport it regularly every year. The typical “nerd look” equipped with big glasses, freckles, a bowtie, and a shirt buttoned all the way up (w

ell, on the men's’ side, at least) isn’t really representative of how your typical dork dresses up at all these days. It’d be much more appropriate in today’s society to celebrate pop culture and embrace the “nerd” costume, but sporting Marvel material and wielding a lightsaber too. But for now, we’ll just have to deal with the generic costumes at hand. Hopefully one day the concept will be stuffed in the back of a locker completely.

6. Anything But Clothes

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Looking to appear as provocative as possible this holiday season? Using plastic bags, construction paper, and pretty much any raw material you can get your hands on, you have yourself an ABC (Anything But Clothes) costume. ABC costumes can certainly be fun and flirty, but also inspiring very uninspiring costumes with very little design or effort behind them. Really, ABC means finding the bare essentials a piling them together as an actual costume. And, of course, that makes it very, very popular during the holiday season. I suppose ABC costumes are definitely easy on the eyes, but besides they, that end up creating a stigma for completely overplayed costumes. As for creativity, ABC costumes are anything but.

5. Police Officer

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Watch out, baddies. You’ll likely being seeing a cop at your local Halloween party… actually, lots of them, because everyone wants to join the police force this October. Proudly wearing their badge, armed with a nightstick (because walking around with fake guns in 2017 isn’t such a great idea), and always carrying an extra set of plastic handcuffs, these officers aren’t exactly prepared for crime, but usually are prepared to be called out for their unoriginality. For guys, most will go the root of being a “sexy cop,” which is just an excuse for these men to take their shirts off. Sorry boys, you most likely won’t be locking up any ladies tonight, unless you have a killer bod to show off.

4. Devil/Angel

Whether you’re riding for the good side or the dark side, devil ears and angel halos are always a classic depiction of good and evil. Whether someone considers themselves a “good girl” or a “bad girl,” these costumes will always be there to combat both fiery evil and glowing heroism. The funniest part about these costumes is that you’d typically find two friends dressing as both an angel and a devil back-to-back. Chances are, an angel would definitely not hold an angel’s hair while she puked or talk about how hot Brad looked in his tight jeans.But, it’s okay. Halloween is the one time we get to watch demons and angels be civil with each other, and in the teen world, that can be quite the rarity at times. Enjoy praying as well as summoning agents of darkness this holiday season.

3. Football Jersey

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This is a big one with the ladies, even if you’re not an avid fan of football, at least one hometeam jersey is a typical household item. It’s a classic way to show off some spirit for your city’s team… even if you might not even know whose jersey you’re sporting. Seriously, it’s almost like someone dressing up like Elvis for Halloween, yet not knowing who Elvis is. Oh, you’re wearing a Carson Wentz jersey, you must be a fan of Carson Wentz, right? Oh, you’ve never heard of him? Oh, nevermind. Yeah, you get the picture. Despite this, it always is a cute outfit choice for the girls’ during the Halloween season, even the ones who couldn’t tell you a thing about the game itself.

2. Cheap Store-bought mask

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Whether it be aliens, werewolves, demons, or goblins, the dollar store mask is a quick and easy way for to be scary without spending more than $5. Let’s face it, you’re only buying a dollar store mask when you’re not really trying to dress up and just want to be festive at your friend’s social gathering. Though it’s easy an easily accessible, it loses major points for its lack of imagination and generic facial display. For all we know, how are these plain, knock-off masks supposed to be scary characters? The big-eyed alien mask you wore last year might represent an extraterrestrial who regularly attends his day job at the supermarket to support his wife and two children. Don’t mock this loving and caring alien man! But, you can certainly bang for your buck with this cheaply made headgear.

1. Cat/Bunny

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Ah, perhaps the most common and simplest Halloween costume you’d see for the female gender (aka every girl ever). Being a cat for Halloween is no difficult task, finding cat ears, black paint, a black shirt, and a bow-tie all seem like relatively simply household products… and that’s because they are. Collecting common house items and being a pet that has a long history of ruling the internet in various memes and gifs seems like a promising idea. Though, it’s strange to us that no one takes advantage of this concept. Where are all the keyboard cats? Grumpy cats? Puss ‘n Boots? C’mon, guys! We can do better than this! A little creativity is all we ask. As is, being a cat will always leave people short of landing on their feet in terms of creativity.

In the very same vein as dressing like a cat, bunnies are a personal favorite among girls around Halloweentime. The only reason they’re above cat is because there’s a bit more creativity that you can do with a bunny costume. For instance, a playboy bunny in particular has become more popular in recent years. But that doesn’t make the bunny costume any less basic. All you do is grab some bunny ears, and you’re set. Any high schooler making a weekly allowance of $5 will be able to afford only the bare minimum, so bunny ears it is! And, let’s face it, everyone loves the idea of being a cute, little bunny. Sure enough, there will definitely be a handful of people “hopping” into this costume again this year.