These are the best & nerdiest costume ideas to steal this Halloween

My best Halloween costume ideas always come in around June and by the time October comes around I’ve completely forgotten them.

I blink and it’s a week til Halloween and all I can think of are lame puns or something involving my tiger print unitard. I love costumes, especially ones that are funny, interactive and DIY. It can be hard to find a funny Halloween costume where the joke will land across audiences, but I’ve figured out a solution: tech. 

Buckle up, my bad witches, because Halloween is almost here, and a lot of you probably still don’t have a costume.

1. Release your own celebrity iOS press release

Given celebrities’ propensity for drama and tendency to air out that drama via a screenshotted note, you’ve got a lot to choose from. Plus, it’s almost as easy to make as Jim’s Facebook costume from The Office.

Make your own version:

You’ll need cardboard or poster board, string, and scissors.

Start by making the note itself, either by painting on the board or printing out the note and gluing or taping it to the board. If you print, do so on large paper or tile several regular-sized pieces together.

Once your note is done and dry, carefully cut holes in the top corners to tie the string through.

2. Resurrect those ghosts of technology past

Do you still mourn the loss of Clippy? Do you find yourself reminiscing about the days when Google’s logo still had serifs? Wear your feelings this Halloween and memorialize the interface or feature you loved and lost.

Make your own version:

This one’s pretty simple. You can do the classic white sheet method or you can wear white body paint and put flour in your hair.

Once you’re ghosty, add a cut out of the technological relic and pin it to yourself.  

3. Be the cloud, because why be one thing when you could be everything?

The cloud holds everything and you hold the key to a very fun Halloween.

You can customize the tone of this one by adding different folders like “Pictures of dogs” for a light sweet tone or “Nudes” for a slightly more risque vibe.

Make your own version:

This one’s got options. To keep it simple, do a sandwich board method.

Cut out a cloud shape in cardboard or poster board twice, punch holes in the top and put a string through so that the string sits on your shoulders.

To level up, glue cotton balls onto the board so that they cover the entire surface. Make mini folders out of actual folders or cardstock, then glue them to the cloud.

Staple the sides of the folders shut if you want to put things in your folders.

4. Rock the ultimate sign of 2019: Your fave meme!

The internet is a weird place. One of its weirdest products? Memes. Memes offer a lot of options for individuals, like Tide Pods or Yodel boy. There are even couple and group costumes options like the two Spidermen or Expanding Brain. 

Make your own version: Tide Pods Edition:

The easiest execution would be to draw or paint the blue and orange swoops onto something white, like a t-shirt or a white trash bag (for texture) with holes for your arms and head.

If you want to be puffier, make two rounded square pillows with the seams outside so that you have the flat ruffled edge. Sew or iron on blue and orange shapes before you fill one of them.

Once you have both the pillows, add shoulder straps so that one pillow hangs on your front and one hangs on your back.

Make your own version: Expanding Brain Edition: 

Get a group of 3-5 friends. Each person wears all black.

The first person has minimal blue accents, like a skull outline painted on their face or the outline of a small blue brain fastened to a headband or black hat.

The next person has more blue accents, plus spots of purple. I’d recommend using purple glitter hairspray.

The next person should have a glowing head, achieved with a LOT of glitter or a hat covered in blue and purple glow sticks.

The last person should have their whole body sprayed with purple and blue glitter with glow sticks along their whole body.

Print out the different captions for each phase on white paper and fasten them to the corresponding person.

To make it interactive, get mini whiteboards so that you can live-meme the night.

5. Don’t forget the spookiest signs ever: Texting dots

Is there anything spookier than those three little dots taunting you as you wait for a response? I didn’t think so. If you hope to inspire fear and anxiety in everyone you pass on Halloween night, this is the costume for you.

Make your own version:

Wear a white shirt and white pants.

To make the text bubble, use the same method as the note costume, but cut the cardboard into a bubble shape.

Want to get even spookier? Punch out the three dots and cover the holes with translucent paper or fabric, then fasten glowing lights behind them so that the holes glow.