Last Minute Costume Ideas
By Lauri Apple in Miscellaneous on Oct 30, 2008 4:00PM
Not interested in dressing up as Sarah Palin this year, like just about everyone else is planning to do? You rebel, you. But maybe you're uncreative and can't think of anything else to be. To the rescue we come, bearing suggestions (none of which involve being "slutty" something -- score!):
"Joe." Joe the Plumber, Joe Six-Pack American, Joe the Dumber (McCain's 911-calling bro), and Joe Biden lead the Famous Joes of 2008 parade. Well, why not be a hybrid of them? While you're at it, add references to other joes, such as coffee, sloppy joes, and the R&B singer Joe. Think of it as being like a bride (old/new/borrowed/blue), but involving Joe references.
Bill Kaulitz, lead singer of Tokio Hotel (see left). Probably easiest for lanky model types and 15-year-old boys, but if you look halfway decent in skinny jeans you might give this one a try. Also provides an opportunity to practice your German accent.
The GTalk dot. Good for moody types. Change your color from red to green to orange to "invisible" to indicate how social you're feeling at a given moment. Maybe attach a small chalkboard at the bottom for people to write and erase "clever" taglines, or just keep it as "away."
A right-wing blogger. Suggested props: Laptop, baby doll, button/pin featuring one of those dead bloody fetus pictures, radio blasting Rush (Limbaugh, not the band), lots and lots of anger.
The Twitter failwhale. When you get too drunk, just yell, "I'm over capacity! I'm over capacity!"
The Dow Jones. This one can be really fun, because you get to jump up and fall down, and jump up and fall down again.
A McMansion. Get about 10 cardboard boxes and staple them together to form an absurd house-like shape. Then saw a broomstick in thirds, and attach a "foreclosure" sign to one of the thirds. Stick the sign on your head.
NSFW. Use boxes or some other material to make a costume out of the letters N-S-F-W, attach a mouse and make people "click" you. Don't wear anything underneath.
A LOLcat. Wear a cat costume, then talk like you've got a speech impediment. Shouldn't be so hard after a few drinks. I can haz 'nother?
Bonus suggestions, tested by Chicagoist staff:
Hunter: My last-minute idea in high school was a run-on sentence. I wore my cross-country outfit and printed out a long-ass sentence that I taped around me. Yeah, I was a dork.
Chuck: There's the always handy "cereal killer:" string a series of single-serving cereal boxes on a string, strap it around you and dabble a white sweatshirt with fake blood and/or a rubber knife.
I dressed once as a used Biore blackhead strip. I just bought a paper hazmat outfit from a hardware store, some black pipe cleaners and crazy glue, and glued the pipe cleaners to the front of the suit. That was a last-minute costume.