A Guide To 2020's Meme-Inspired Halloween Costumes

Let’s be real: we all have low expectations for Halloween 2020 — the one thing more depressing than fun-sized candy is no candy at all, followed by a night of hauling your rotting pumpkin out to the dumpster and watching Monster House alone. But you can make up for it by being the life of your Zoom party with these meme-inspired costume ideas, ranging from the low-effort to the next-level. That being said, here are some things you should absolutely avoid doing so you don’t make the handful of determined kids who come to your door cringe.

Don’t try too hard. Be low-effort. Low-effort anything is often frowned upon, especially for a holiday as beloved as Halloween, but it’s the era of COVID-19, and it would be a lie to pretend you care about anything other than whether or not Carole Baskin killed her husband. Would you rather spend upwards of $50 on an embroidered and foam-lined full bodysuit of an Among Us crewmate, or would you rather put on a pair of foggy old scuba goggles and wear a blue T-shirt? This is especially important if your costume is mainstream, or if it’s something that’s been around a while.

Or, the alternative: don’t try hard enough. If you’re going to put any effort above the absolute minimum into your costume, then go all out. There is no in-between when wearing a meme-inspired costume. Sometimes, the line between the two can be a bit fuzzy, but generally, if you look down and see that you’re wearing a morphsuit and a painted cardboard tail to look like Taylor Swift from Cats, then you’re doing something wrong. Either invest in a full fursuit or revert to minimalism. Ultimately, if you’re into going all out, your go-to should be an inflatable dinosaur suit. This is a classic, timeless meme costume that you can wear every year — or even to your friend’s bachelor party, a corporate meeting or your high school orientation, if you so desire.

Don’t be a stale meme. If you Zoom your friends on Halloween and they discover you’re dressed as the Yodeling Walmart Boy or Johny Johny, there’s no hope left for your social life. At that point, you might as well crawl back into social distancing for another six weeks of winter, scared of your own shadow. Instead, consider something timeless.

Current memes are great too (there’s nothing scarier than a frowning Karen in a blonde updo). But years later, you may look through a photo album and wonder why you were swaddled in a blanket and painted Baby Yoda-green. On the other hand, if you grab a mug and cut out a “Change My Mind” sign, you’ll always be able to re-experience the feelings your costume evoked in 2020 as you scrambled for some source of serotonin amongst the chaos.

Be warned that attempting to recreate a TikTok meme may result in teenagers sniffing you out from miles away and congregating in your front yard to turn your trees and shrubbery into a winter wonderland of toilet paper. No further explanation is needed here — you’ve wronged them, and you’ll pay the price.

A few final considerations: never try to dress up as a celebrity. You’re not. Your 65 Instagram followers know it, and so do you. Don’t take the skeleton memes too literally and claim you’re a dying COVID-patient in your glow-in-the-dark bones costume. The 2020 U.S. presidential election is also right around the corner, so there’s a pretty valid reason to avoid political meme costumes this year if you don’t want people to throw pumpkins at you. Lastly, and most importantly, Minions are not and never will be memes, so come up with a different costume idea.

Still need some inspiration? Well, look no further. Here’s a few more from us, just so you have no excuse: