The 13 Best Adult Halloween Costumes for 2024

We take a look at this year’s best off-the-rack costume picks, including Beetlejuice, Skibidi Toilet, and a Chipotle Water Cup.

By Matt Jancer

Another year, another opportunity to scare, seduce, or confuse a bunch of half-drunk strangers. Of all the shamelessly capitalist holidays, Halloween wears its heart on its sleeve. Nobody pretends it’s about anything other than the costumes, and through them a chance to publicly show off your humor and your creativity.

Because it’s tough enough as an adult to coordinate something as simple as a group lunch, we’ve chosen solo halloween costumes. But with a bit of pre-planning (don’t wait ’til the last minute) you could use any number of them as your contribution to a group theme. These are the best adult Halloween costumes we managed to find for all genders, from 2024’s most topical, unique Halloween costume ideas to new spins on the classics (we encourage you to look elsewhere for the sluttiest, sexiest halloween costumes).

Attention grabbability, baby. Nobody dresses up for Halloween to avoid attention. Even if your shy self threw a sheet over your head like Charlie Brown, people would probably crowd around to congratulate you on your retro throwback. Cost also came into play here. Even the best halloween costumes are typically a one-and-done endeavor. Why spend a ton of money on something you’ll wear once, or even if you recycle costumes, once a year?

There are few reviews for the most topical costumes, since lots of our picks are brand new this year. But for those classics that have spent at least one previous Halloween in existence, we looked at customer reviews to make sure that they were pleased with the sizing, fit, quality (to a degree), and product description’s accuracy.

Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! Say it three times and this costume appears on your doorstep in a matter of days. There might be an extra step in there, such as paying and ordering… Perhaps the most anticipated hit this year, this year saw the release of the sequel to the 1988 film that encapsulated many Millennials’ young lives.

Absolutely iconic now to a whole new couple of generations of viewers, everyone will recognize that you’re dressed up as Beetlejuice. Keep the wig on or else people may think you’re just going as a convict. Michael Keaton’s wild mannerisms and gestures are yours to figure out. All we can do is provide the suit and hair.

Forrest Gump

It took Forrest three years to grow that famous frontal mane. Luckily for you, shortcuts are available. Relive the epic cross-country run that fictionally inspired the famous smiley face logo. Everybody can be a Forrest with this unisex fetching beard-and-mustache combo and 1970s retro running outfit.

This one of the very few Halloween costumes that might actually have some use for the rest of the year. Dunno about the beard, unless you’re in the Witness Protection Program, but the running outfit is pretty snazzy and would look quite nice in the gym or on an outdoor run.

Bonus points if you run to your Halloween party, inspiring crowds of bystanders along the way. And then at the end of the night, you can turn around and say with well-earned conviction, “I’m pretty tired. I think I’ll go home now.”

Raygun

Australian Olympian Raygun wanted to bring breakdancing to the attention of a world of people who’d ordinarily have let the Olympics pass by without even giving it a thought. She accomplished that, to her credit, and did at least succeed in making breakdancing seem fun and not so self-serious.

I was once told by an artist that the worst response to a piece of art isn’t criticism, but rather indifference. Show up on Halloween in that same spirit—that costumes are meant to be, above all, fun so that you can let your hair down and enjoy yourself. So break free of your stodgy, typical dance moves at the party and change up your routine. In our eyes, you’ll score all tens.

Wednesday Addams

Reluctant party goer? Maudlin trickster? Both ends of the spectrum find common ground in Wednesday Addams. Jenna Ortega has truly made the character her own in 2022’s TV series, Wednesday. Try to match her sulking wit and bone-dry humor as you tear up the dance floor with Ortega’s signature Wednesday dance moves. Just try to look like you’re not having fun while doing it.

Dinosaur Cowboy

Hate it when you put all that thought into your costume, and you show up at the party to find a bunch of doppelgängers wearing the same thing? Yeah, there’s probably zero risk of that with this inflatable costume. Your legs are the dinosaur’s legs, of course, but what folks will see as your camo-clad legs are well-designed props. Oh, and the eyes light up, just in case you want even more attention.

Walking Bush

Don’t just hide in the bushes this Halloween. Be the bush. The mesh face mask hides your face (a bit) but allows you to see out and breathe without the claustrophobia. There’s a full zipper, so it’s easier to slip into and out of than it looks, and it even has pockets. There’s one in women’s sizing, too. The plastic pot to stand in doesn’t come included. You gotta swing by Home Depot for that, if you’re so inclined.

Sexy Nurse

Halloween can be awfully risky. It pays to have a trained nurse around who can, uh, listen to your heartbeat with a plastic stethoscope and, you know, wear a little hat. Just like real nurses. You might inadvertently cause a few hearts to go racing, though, instead of lowering anybody’s blood pressure. Perfect excuse to perform a little CPR if you find somebody in need later in the night. It’s available in plus sizing, too.

Costco $1.50 Hot Dog

They say you are what you eat, so… This isn’t officially licensed by Costco. It’s just a hot dog. But nobody has to know. If they’ve been keeping up with recent events, they would know that Costco went to the mat for us this year when they refused to raise the price of their famous $1.50 hot dog. Some other hot dog costumes were just too real-looking, with photorealistic grease sheen. It was terrifying.

Circus Ringmaster

Life these days is a circus, so tame it. Halloween is full of profession-based outfits, often drawing a bit more heavily on Hollywood than the real deal and showing a bit more thigh. Stand out from the cowgirls, doctors, police officers with this circus ringmaster costume.

Everyone will know immediately what it is, especially if you hang onto the whip, but you’ll be unlikely to bump into another ringmaster. Plus, if you run across anyone dressed as a lion, you’ll have free reign to tame them. There’s a similar costume in men’s sizing, too.

Bob Ross

Can you do the voice? The smooth, calming voice of everyone’s public broadcast television painter and perm aficionado. This costume kit comes with the wig, beard, shirt, palette, and paint brush. You’ve just got to provide the jeans—which you’ve surely got already—and the calm demeanor. You can dress as Bob Ross in plus sizing, too.

Velma

For the longest time, Scooby-Doo and Shaggy were the favorites of the series, but in recent years Velma has become the breakout star. There’s no mystery why. Unlike that ascot-wearing dipshit, Fred, Velma knows they’re living inside of a cartoon world of ridiculousness. She engages, but with a world-weary self-awareness that resonates with us here in the real world.

Auntie Anne’s Pretzel

What would the suburban mall experience be without an Auntie Anne’s pretzel? Most mall food was, let’s be honest, a notch above prison food. But the Auntie Anne’s stand always sold exactly what it promised through its delightful wafts of baked pretzel dough, and they always had the perfect mix of salt and sweet glaze. Hit everybody in the room this Halloween with waves of nostalgia while wrapped up like a pretzel in that iconic blue pretzel wrapper they remember being handed to them over the counter in their youth.

1920s Flapper

Party like it’s a few ignorantly blissful years before the Great Depression. You, too, can dress up as a snazzy 1920s flapper if you’re not the type to show up at a party dressed as a giant tomato or a spare tire or something. They had style a hundred years ago. Tear it up with dance moves antique or fresh with this dress, headband, and flower clip. The shoes, gloves, and costume jewelry are for you to buy separately.

Piñata

Festive party implement or failed marketing promo for 1999’s hit film, Office Space? Who’s to tell? Does it matter? No. Party animals should just get it out in the open and lean into the wild antics their friends have come to expect from them by donning this full-body costume that taps into our shared, kid-bound nostalgia. Women’s sizing full-body costume and a women’s sizing piñata dress. Bonus points if you gorge yourself on candy and burst open when people hit you with a stick.

Where’s Walden?

Just last week I was lounging on a main lawn of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park with a friend when a man dressed exactly like Waldo wandered into view. He had to have known what he was doing, because there was a chorus of shouts, “Waldo, I found you!” the whole way he walked across the lawn. Now you too can dress up as everybody’s favorite time-traveling photo bomber with this costume that’ll have everyone picking you out of the Halloween crowd and remembering exactly when they found, ahem, Walden. There’s one in women’s sizing, too.

Chipotle Water Cup

Water only! You’d better not be pouring soda in there. Chipotle has partnered with Spirit Halloween for a range of officially licensed costumes this year. While the Chipotle burrito holds a special place in our crusty, cynical journalist hearts, the water cup recalls a nostalgia of our college days.

We’re not entirely sure why the face is covered. Perhaps it’s the shame of two-bit soda theft that leads one to want to hide their face. Hood on or off, though, everyone will recognize Chipotle’s unofficial mascot: the ubiquitous water cup.

Energetic Bunny

Do you have the reputation among your friends of being the one who, on nights out, just keeps going and going and going? Then you remind us of a certain bunny with an unhealthy fixation on batteries. The bunny ears are adjustable, as any good set of ears should be, and there’s a fluffy tail for shaking your booty to the dance music. It comes with a non-copyright-infringing drum and two drumsticks, so you can make yourself heard even when partygoers somehow fail to notice a five- or six-foot tall pink bunny. It’s also available in men’s sizing.

Xenomorph

Feeling villainous? Go as the Alien franchise’s arch villain in this full-body Xenomorph costume. Alien: Romulus released just this past August, the eagerly anticipated seventh film in the Alien franchise. Mercifully, it comes with shoe covers. Nothing would break the illusion so much as a 6 1/2 foot tall monster wearing white Reeboks.

Inflatable Tube Person

We’ve all seen those possibly drunk, enthusiastically arm-waving tube people outside car dealerships and furniture stores. Did you also used to ride past them as a kid and say to yourself softly, “One day, that’s what I’m going to be when I grow up?” No? Oh yeah, neither did we… For all those who may have (secretly), here’s your big opportunity to step into the shoes of every highway business route’s festive hero, the inflatable tube person. Go ahead and show ’em all that you can out-dance that boneless son of a bitch. And yes, it’s also available in men’s sizing. Party on.

Skibidi Toilet

Confuse your friends! Delight your enemies! Make new enemies! OK, this is a kid’s costume. But we’re continuing in a long tradition of convincing adults to cram themselves into too-small Halloween costumes for comedic effect. If you’re on the more petite size, it might even fit you as if it were an adult costume.

The YouTube short video series Skibidi Toilet has been delighting Gen Alpha kids and inducing aneurysms among the rest of us for the past year with its surrealist dance moves, infuriatingly catchy song, and surprisingly coherent backstory of warring factions. Join the forces of evil (yes, the toilets are evil) and take your rightful place alongside the witches, ghosts, and ghouls.

Willy Wonka

There have been several Willy Wonkas by now, but in my mind the role will always belong first and foremost to Gene Wilder, the original film Wonka who brought a mischievous, likable edge to a character who was actually kind of the villain. Donning the top hat and purple coat will give you plenty excuse to wheel around and act like a fool, as if you needed any more excuse than it being October 31. It also comes in plus sizing.

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By Natalli Amato

By Matt Jancer

By Natalli Amato

By Matt Jancer

By Natalli Amato

By Natalli Amato

By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from VICE Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.

By Matt Jancer

By Natalli Amato

By Matt Jancer

By Natalli Amato