Eerie, Sexy, or Funny… What Your Costume Says About You

October 31, 2017

People often ask me what to wear on a first date. I give a few pieces of advice on this topic:

– Wear clothes to match the venue. (As in, something casual at a coffee shop. Something more stylish at, say, a nice wine bar.)

– Make sure everything is neatly ironed and tucked in, as appropriate.

– Shoe choice matters.

While the first date outfit is obviously important, there are other times when you also have to ask yourself the question, “What do I wear??”

We all know what today is (where does the time go?), and the costume you wear can tell a lot about you, believe it or not.

I used to wear this ridiculous homemade “costume” made from a box of Honey Bunches of Oats (my favorite cereal) and an aluminum foil “knife” pierced through it. Can you guess what I was supposed to be? A cereal killer. (I know, I know.) In other years, I gave into the peer pressure to become the “sexy” version of a costume, so I was a “sexy bee.” (I actually wore this costume three years in a row, but I knew it was time to retire it when a guy walked into the party wearing the exact same one!) Through both of those costumes, you’d get a very different impression of who I am, so I want to talk about what your Halloween costume might say about you?

1. The pun 

Like my cereal costume, a punny costume shows that you probably enjoy wordplay. I personally like these types of costumes because, just like in an online dating username that takes a clever take on a word, a clever costume is a fairly decent proxy for intelligence. Some ideas: Sand-witch, a deviled egg, Kevin Bacon.

2. The “In” joke

Like the pun costume, this person is in the know with the news. And this year, there is a heck of a lot of news to keep us occupied. I saw a lot of Trump dogs at the dog park this weekend. (Cute on a dog, not so much on a person.) Now, on the other hand, if someone shows up in an outdated news story costume (the whole “dress” fiasco, anyone?), he or she is likely to get a few eye rolls for being so far removed from the present day. 

3. The “sexy” [fill in the blank]

Just about any costume anything can be turned into the “sexy” version of itself. Sexy doctor, sexy librarian, sexy basketball player… it really doesn’t matter. By dressing as the sexy version of something, it says that you either want to show off when it’s deemed socially acceptable or, more likely, that you’re looking for attention. If you leave nothing to the imagination, people are going to look at you, for better or for worse.

4. The last-minute makeshift costume

You throw on a pair of sunglasses and say you’re Bono. You decide to wear a red hat and say you’re a firefighter. You put a “Hello my name is Posh” nametag on and say you’re one of the Spice Girls. We can all see through these costumes (not literally like in #3, thank goodness), and the only thing most people think is, “Lazy!”

5. The mask or gory number

I hate these costumes. Most come with a mask so you can’t even see the person’s face. This screams (no pun intended) that this person doesn’t really want to engage with people. The mask creates a barrier so that it’s really easy to be anti-social.

6. The box

We’ve all seen those costumes where someone is wearing a big cardboard box—a Martian, a dinosaur, a phone booth. I don’t care what it is—you’re in my way. Wearing a huge box is the kiss of death. You can’t get close to people, and you get in everyone’s way, especially at a crowded party. 

So there you have it. What are you going as for Halloween tonight? Feel free to leave a comment or Tweet your costume to @ALittleNudge.