Nightlife

Costumes ad nauseam: Halloween get-ups that have gone stale

Image
Bumblebee
N9NE Group

Editor's note: California attorney Greg Adler was mistakenly identified as the only Bumblebee costume winning on the Strip in 2009. There were, in fact, multiple contestants wearing Bumblebee costumes who won at different venues.

Halloween costumes and reality television have a lot in common: Both can be mass-produced, prepackaged, unoriginal and cheap—and both bring in the bucks. Now reality television has produced Halloween costumes, with flame-retardant versions of Snooki and The Situation in one convenient bag. Besides the plethora of Jersey things we’ll surely see this weekend, here are a few more costumes we’re sick of seeing in Vegas clubs:

Captain Jack Sparrow: We love dudes in smudgy eyeliner, but our favorite pirate is played out—unless it’s Johnny Depp himself. Mix it up and go as Captain Teague Sparrow. Keith Richard’s cameo character can double as a zombie. Speaking of movies, enough with Heath Ledger’s Joker, too.

Things with wings: Crowded places and large appendages don’t work. As you sandwich between glitter dandruff dude and strategically placed electrical tape lady, you better trash those inevitably broken wings before you damn near poke someone’s eye out.

Lady Gaga: Even before Halloween, the number of Gaga costume contests this year was astounding. Granted, this reporter was guilty of dressing up like the diva last year in a homemade trash bag dress, but unless you’re going to dress in tenderloin in 2010, we’re not impressed.

Pop stars: They make garbage look good. (Not pictured? The strapon Gaga on the far right was wearing).

Alan Garner: Who? For Zach Galifianakis’ character in The Hangover all you need is a beard, Baby Björn and … a baby. Tourists friggin’ loved this costume last year as dozens of grown men carried dolls around the club.

Skanks: We still can’t figure out why the average Vegas girl uses Halloween as an excuse to dress like a ho. Don’t they know you can do that any night around here? Naughty school girl, naughty nurse, naughty IRS agent ... If you want to dress like a prostitute, go as our pal Air Force Amy. She’s not naughty anything; she’s just herself.

Transformers (specifically, Bumblebee): The incredible custom suits totally deserved to win. But when the Bumblebee-clad contestants started cleaning up at practically every major contest, culminating in the Night of the Killer Costumes at Rain (after winning at Moon only days earlier) we have to cry foul. Give the Carols and Maxes of the world a chance. There's more to Halloween than a giant yellow robot.

Not sure if your costume is overdone? Just Google “popular Halloween costumes” … and then don’t go as any of them. Or, if you’re really strapped for ideas, just cut two holes in a sheet and embrace your unoriginality.

Share
Photo of Deanna  Rilling

Deanna Rilling

Get more Deanna Rilling

Previous Discussion:

Top of Story