If you’re looking for some costumes beginning with Y then you’ve come to the right place. Star Wars fans will automatically think of Yoda and he’s certainly a popular ‘Y’ costume, but there are a few more including one of my childhood favorites – Yogi Bear!
I compiled this page along with a number of others as resource pages for anyone who’s been invited to an alphabet party. I used to get invited to a lot of alphabet parties when I was in my 20s and I think it’s high time they caught on again! In a nutshell you have to dress up as something beginning with a particular letter and if you’re on this webpage then the letter chosen is the letter Y! I have other webpages available that cover the rest of the letters of the alphabet, but let’s look at costumes beginning with Y right now.
Yankee – From a northern Yankee soldier in the Civil War to Yankee Doodle Dandy or even a NY Yankee player or fan, there’s lots of options with this. You could even shorten it to Yank and go as a member of the US forces past or present.
Yellow (M&M)
Yellow Power Ranger
Yeoman of the Guard – this is the actual name for the Beefeaters found at the Tower of London. Their uniform hasn’t changed since Tudor times.
Yeti
Yin and Yang – if there are two of you attending you could go as Yin and Yang. I’ve never seen a ready-made costume for this, but I would get some cardboard and draw the symbol, colour one in black with a white circle and one in white with a black circle and attach it to the front of your outfit (if you’re the one wearing the black symbol I’d wear white and your partner wear black).
Yoda – Yoda is an iconic Star Wars character and if you can spout off his words of wisdom then this is the costume for you, if you can’t think of anything ‘yodaish’ to say just stick to – I cannot teach him!
Yoga Instructor – Simply wear a pair of yoga pants, a tank top and you could add a few scarves for a hippy vibe or a bandana for a more serious hardcore yoga instructor.
Yogi Bear
Yogurt Maker
Yoko Ono – wear a hippy costume, long black hair and big dark round glasses
Yoshi – a cool costume idea from Super Mario World, but which color Yoshi will you be? Green, Red, Blue or Yellow.
Yul Brynner – get a bald head cap and recreate his roles in The King and I or the Magnificent 7.
Yuppie – Dress up as an upwardly mobile professional from the 80s, try and get one of the ‘brick’ style phones to really set off the costume.
Hi I’m Louanne from Everything Halloween, welcome to my blog! I just wanted to let you know that this post may contain affiliate links which means, at no cost to YOU, that I might receive compensation if you purchase something through a link on my site. In the online world this is called ‘affiliate marketing’ and is a very common way that bloggers make their money, if you want to find out more then check out this post to find out what is affiliate marketing and how we make money on this site, If you want to see my full affiliate disclosure and the other ‘legal stuff’ then click here.
If you’re looking for a cool costume idea for a man this year then why not check out the eighties for inspiration?
There are so many cool 80s costume ideas for men that are absolute classics from Ghostbusters to his holy purpleness Prince, Billy Idol, MC Hammer and so many more.
If you’ve never been to a toga party in your life then you may not have grown up in the 80s under the influence of movies such as Animal House and been introduced to Bluto, a very simple costume idea in itself.
Let’s take a walk back in time to the 80s and catch up with the likes of Marty McFly, Adam Ant and ALF and get some truly bodacious costume ideas for you to try out this Halloween ……. in fact you might get so many ideas you decide to start throwing 80s parties and they’re never a bad idea!
There really are lots of ideas for and 80s costume that will suit a guy so if you really can’t think of one then just check out the list below for ideas. I’ll discuss actual costume ideas further down the page and I’ll also be linking to costume ideas on this list to make it easier for you if you see the perfect idea for you.
But firstly though, let’s have a look at a few costume ideas inspired by 80s movies such as Ferris Bueller, Labyrinth and Back to the Future to name a few.
During the 80s there are two lovable aliens who instantly spring to my mind, the first was a regular to our television screens brought to us from the planet Melmac where his real name is Gordon Shumway. I’m talking, of course, about the big furry wiseguy who we called ALF (alien life form).
The second is an alien that caused my best friend to cry when we watched him on the big screen and made us all want to phone home. This lovable alien also made a star out of a very young Drew Barrymore and is of course known to us all as ET.
Either of these aliens would make a cool unisex costume. If you’re a single guy you should know that millions of girls around the world thought this guys really were ‘out of this world’ cute!
ALF Costume
This ALF costume looks so cute I wouldn’t want to unleash it without first making sure that any cats are hidden away!
I absolutely loved ALF and watched it religiously every Thursday night with the rest of the family, it was the night when we all watched tv and ate junk food for dinner – ALF, Sledgehammer (my father loved to say, ‘trust me, I know what I’m doing) and LA Law.
This bodysuit certainly looks like it would be a warm costume which would make it ideal if you have to dress up in the winter. It looks very realistic, except the height of it and just seeing the image makes me feel very nostalgic indeed.
ET Costume
Now I know a lot of people thought ET was cute, but look at his face, I’m sorry but he was pretty ugly!
There was something utterly endearing about him though and as far as iconic characters of the 80s go he was right up there which makes him a perfect costume choice.
I can’t find an ‘actual’ E.T. costume available at the moment, but this one is a costume of Elliott with E.T. in his bike basket which is pretty cool.
The costume includes a red zip-up style hoodie, the ‘bike basket’ with handlebars (this is actually made of cardboard), a cardboard E.T. bust with pointing finger that fits inside the basket and a white blanket to cover the bust.
80s Fashions for Men
How do you encapsulate 10 years of diverse fashion into a few paragraphs to sum up what men were wearing? I can’t think of a more diverse time in men’s fashion than the 80s – the haircuts alone varied enormously depending on your ‘clique’ as well as what year it was.
We had the mullet, the perm, the rats tail, the rocker look, the asymmetrical look, the preppy look and so much more – why we even had a white guy wearing dreads in the shape of Boy George which was absolutely unheard of until the 80s hit.
As far as clothing went you had acid-wash jeans which were often worn with an acid-wash denim jacket although as the decade progressed brown or grey leather jackets were worn with your jeans instead. Suits were big along with pastel colors – fathers around the world were disgusted to see their boys wearing ‘sissy pink’, it was so rebellious! Of course, if you’re wearing pastel colors then that also meant combining the suit with boat shoes and (gasp) no socks!
Thin, black leather ties were added to shirts and some people even owned piano key ties which were pretty cool! Sharks tooth pendants (I don’t think they were all sharks teeth as they were mainly brought at dodgy market stalls, but….) pendants were an important accessory to wear.
I haven’t even touched on half of the fashions, but I hope it’s given you a few ideas on the diversity of men’s clothing during this tumultuous decade.
Fun 80s Costume Ideas for Men
Cool Threads Man!
Here are a few ready-made costume ideas for guys that you might like to look at getting, or just get inspiration from if you’re planning on making your own outfits.
Hi I’m Louanne from Everything Halloween, welcome to my blog! I just wanted to let you know that this post may contain affiliate links which means, at no cost to YOU, that I might receive compensation if you purchase something through a link on my site. In the online world this is called ‘affiliate marketing’ and is a very common way that bloggers make their money, if you want to find out more then check out this post to find out what is affiliate marketing and how we make money on this site, If you want to see my full affiliate disclosure and the other ‘legal stuff’ then click here.
Looking for some 80s costume ideas for women? You’ve come to the right place if you want to take a trip back in time to the decade that rocked!
If you love the 80s then you might want to throw an eighties party so that you can nostalgically dress in some of the cool 80s fashions, then again you could just go back to the 80s for Halloween this year. Whatever reason you have for wanting to dress up in cool, retro fashion I promise to give you lots of cool costume ideas to choose from.
Create your own 80s outfit, dress like you did way back then or pretend to be an 1980s star – the options are all yours.
Make sure you have plenty of extra strong hold hairspray because we need big hair to go with these outfits – what are you waiting for we’re going back to the 80s man and there’s just no stopping us!
The Big List of 80s Costumes for Women
The Most Bodacious Costume Ideas Ever!
There are lots of great costume ideas for women, you can make your own or buy ready made costumes the choice is yours, but what exactly do you want to dress up as?
I’m going to start with a big list of all of the 80s costume ideas I can think of and then we’ll go into more detail on a few of them further down the page. If you see one that takes you fancy and it’s a link then click on the link to go to that part of the page (or another webpage) for more details.
The Goth subculture was born in the 80s which is why the Gothic look associated with this decade is often referred to as Traditional Goth (or 80s Goth). The 80s embraced bands such as The Cure and All About Eve which seemed to embrace the darker side of life.
One of the things that you think about when you think of Goth is black clothing although it was really about irony as well – wearing an old white wedding dress with big Gothic hair was seen (and photographed for Sunday paper excerpts) around cities in the UK etc.
If you’re thinking of creating an 80s Goth costume though I think you should go with the black look that everyone is familiar with.
If you don’t have black hair consider dying it and then back-combing to get a lot of volume, alternatively you could try one of these wigs. This black shag hair do works really well in a Gothic look, it would also work for a punk or rock look too.
The good thing about this particular wig is that it suits for either a male or a female costume so if your partner is dressing up in an 80s Goth fashion as well you could get two of them!
If you prefer a longer hair style then you could try the next wig.
Personally, I would backcomb this wig a bit to get more volume (I much prefer the one above for a costume idea).
Of course, it’s not just about the hair when it comes to creating an 80s Goth costume is it? You also need to get the make-up right, the first thing I think of is heavy black eyeliner, black eye shadow, pale skin and the choice of bright red or black lipstick (although I’ve seen some costumes where people have worn purple and have pulled it off very well).
Don’t forget the black nail polish. Back in the 80s it wasn’t as commonly used as it is these days and was really mainly Goths that wore black on their nails.
Next up we have to think of what to wear and a long black skirt is the way to go, you can use a black maxi skirt which would look really good. What would be even better is if you could find a black 80s petticoat skirt – these skirts had a ragged-looking edge to them which was just perfect.
Over the skirt, you’ll need to wear an over-sized black t-shirt and to this you can add a studded belt if you like and finish off with a leather jacket if you have one although it’s not really important that you have that, some Goths just wore long black coats, especially in winter.
But what about footwear for a Goth?
Doc Martens are a classic 80s Goth boot – you basically want a pair of boots that say – don’t mess with me – and Doc Martens say that best!
A lady Goth could get away with wearing a Victorian-style heeled boot however, although I tended to prefer Doc Marten rip-offs when I was going through my Goth stage, but that was just because I was a broke teen and couldn’t afford genuine DMs.
Dance & Fitness Inspired 80s Costume Ideas
Flashdance, Fame & Fitness Costumes
Two 80s classic dance movies were Flashdance and Fame and between then they introduced legwarmers to the 80s fashion scene!
Not only did we have the two movies mentioned above, but one of them – Fame – spawned a popular television show which meant that dance wear and fashion melded together.
Add the aerobic fitness craze that caught peoples attention during this decade, thanks in part to Jane Fonda’s fitness videos and everyone was ‘Getting Physical’, not just Olivia Newton John!
You first step for this costume is to get a high cut leotard. You wear this leotard over the top of either leggings or bike pants with either a pair of slouch socks or (preferably) leg warmers and some sneakers.
Next you’ll want to wear a thin belt around your waist (you want to be sure everyone notices your waistline, your sweaty aerobics classes aren’t being taken for fun you know!).
An optional idea is to wear an 80s string vest over the top of your leotard, either black if you’re wearing bright colors or if you have fairly muted colors then make sure the vest is a neon color (neon pink is particularly nice over grey or black workout clothes). Alternatively you can wear an off the shoulder t-shirt over your leotard. You can source these shirts in a number of high street shops these days or else you can take a pair of scissors to a t-shirt that you already own.
Here’s a tutorial on transforming one of your existing t-shirts into an off the shoulder cute top – DIY Off the Shoulder Shirt.
Now you need to add sweatband to your wrists and you’re nearly ready.
As far as make up is concerned I would just add clear (or very pale pink) lip gloss, but a little blue mascara is a nice touch if you want to add more than just lip gloss. If you have long hair then the easiest way to wear it is in a simple, high ponytail. If you have shorter hair then try and lift it abit (google 80s hairstyles for ideas), next (and very importantly) you’ll need to add a headband!
Pac Man Costume Ideas
I love Pac Man it really is an iconic 80s video game which makes it perfect as a costume idea. Some of the Pacman costumes are unisex which are cool, but some are made especially for women in the form of tank dresses. I’ve added a selection of both for you to look at here –
Both the power pellet style of costume featured above and the lady’s pinky costume are available in all of the ‘ghosts’ namely Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde as well as the power pellet. You can make a group costume up with your friends including Pacman himself along with all four ‘ghosts’ and if you have a sixth person a power pellet as well.
Rubiks Cube Costume
A Fun 80s Costume Idea
Another fun and iconic 80s game is the rubiks cube, I say game, but for many it was a source of extreme frustration! It is a quickly recognized icon of the eighties however which makes it a great costume idea.
You can buy this costume here or make your very own costume, all you need is a big box, paint and black electrical tape.
It’s been a few years since I made a Rubiks Cube costume, but I do remember that I had forgotten I would need to go to the toilet much to my friend’s amusement!
Now how you wear this will depend on the size of the box you get – if you get a big enough one you could have the top resting on your shoulder, otherwise you’ll need to use braces to keep it in place around the middle of your body.
I cut out the bottom of the box so that I could walk properly, I also cut a good size hole in the top so that I could fit it over my head, but not too big so that it could sit on my shoulders – obviously if you’re wearing yours lower you’ll have to see if your shoulders or hips are the smallest and cut a hole to accommodate them.
I also had arm holes cut out of two sides of the box, but if you’re using braces to keep the cube around your middle you won’t need these.
Now paint each side of your box a different color, using the colors of the rubiks cube – red, orange, yellow, blue, white and green. Now you need to use the black electrical tape to transform these solid colored sides into nine smaller squares.
Wear black leggings and a black t-shirt underneath the box.
More Fun 80s Costumes
Ready Made 80s Costumes for Women
There are so many different ideas for costumes I just had to add these fun ideas to the page for you to look at as well.
Hi I’m Louanne from Everything Halloween, welcome to my blog! I just wanted to let you know that this post may contain affiliate links which means, at no cost to YOU, that I might receive compensation if you purchase something through a link on my site. In the online world this is called ‘affiliate marketing’ and is a very common way that bloggers make their money, if you want to find out more then check out this post to find out what is affiliate marketing and how we make money on this site, If you want to see my full affiliate disclosure and the other ‘legal stuff’ then click here.
Since the 1984 hit comedy hit the big screen Ghostbusters costume ideas have been very popular around Halloween. Let’s face it with all the ghosts and ghouls that come out on All Hallows Eve who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!
The Ghostbusters costume has been updated with the new female cast of Ghostbusters in 2016. It remains easily recognized as it’s an iconic outfit. So whether you’re dressing up as a solo Ghostbuster or going with friends as a group costume let’s look at the costumes we have for you.
The Paranormal Investigators & Eliminators in Overalls!
The iconic Ghostbuster Halloween costume is basically a pair of overalls, usually with some form of backpack and attached proton wand to capture all of those ghosts with.
The costume above was based on the original 1984 Ghostbuster costume. Fans of the female cast that were vanquishing ghosts in 2016 may prefer this next Ghostbuster Halloween costume.
In the 2016 movie the female ghostbusters had orange stripes on their overalls. Whichever overalls you use though everyone will know who to call when they see any pesky spirits of the paranormal variety.
More Ghostbuster Halloween Costumes
If you are after a group costume and there’s more of you than four you can add a few more favorites from the Ghostbusters movies such as Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow man and if you don’t have four humans to dress up as Ghostbusters you can even dress your dog up as a paranormal investigator too!
Check out these fun Ghostbuster costume ideas –
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Which is your favorite costume idea from here? I like the classic Ghostbuster overalls, although I’d probably go with the 2016 style as I do like the stripes on the overalls!
Hi I’m Louanne from Everything Halloween, welcome to my blog! I just wanted to let you know that this post may contain affiliate links which means, at no cost to YOU, that I might receive compensation if you purchase something through a link on my site. In the online world this is called ‘affiliate marketing’ and is a very common way that bloggers make their money, if you want to find out more then check out this post to find out what is affiliate marketing and how we make money on this site, If you want to see my full affiliate disclosure and the other ‘legal stuff’ then click here.
Have you ever been to an alphabet party? When I was in my early 20s they were all the rage, somehow every time I was invited to one it was always a P party which meant dressing up as something beginning with the letter P. You can choose any letter of the alphabet however and today I’ve chosen the letter N.
Fancy dress parties or costume parties are so much more fun when they’re themed, but you don’t always want to have an 80s party, beach theme event or even a Star Wars themed party. Choosing a letter to base your party around is fun because seeing how people interpret it can be really interesting…..some people really know how to think outside of the box.
Nightwing – AKA Dick Grayson, the original Robin sidekick to Batman and ward to Bruce Wayne, Dick becomes Nightwing as he grows older and the costume is basically a black bodysuit with a blue wings motif along the top chest part with the blue going down the arms.
Nikki Minaj
Nineteen Eighties Yuppie – The economic boom of the 80s saw a new breed of upwardly mobile young people burst onto the scene believing the mantra ‘ greed is good’ and we called them Yuppies. Dress up in a designer suit and shoes, red braces and a loud tie and carry a brick like mobile phone if you’re a man. If you’re a woman be sure to wear a suit with big shoulder pads, stiletto heels, big ear rings and of course a brick mobile phone!
Nineteen Fifties Boy – there are two options for a 50s boy, you can dress up like one of the T-Birds from Grease or you could be a Teddy Boy.
Nineteen Fifties Girl – as with the male costume idea there are also two options for a 50s girl – in the style of Grease and the Pink Ladies or as a Teddy Girl
Nineteen Thirties Film Star – Wear a full length backless gown cut on the bias with gloves and costume jewelry.
Hi I’m Louanne from Everything Halloween, welcome to my blog! I just wanted to let you know that this post may contain affiliate links which means, at no cost to YOU, that I might receive compensation if you purchase something through a link on my site. In the online world this is called ‘affiliate marketing’ and is a very common way that bloggers make their money, if you want to find out more then check out this post to find out what is affiliate marketing and how we make money on this site, If you want to see my full affiliate disclosure and the other ‘legal stuff’ then click here.
If you’re looking for some costumes beginning with Y then you’ve come to the right place. Star Wars fans will automatically think of Yoda and he’s certainly a popular ‘Y’ costume, but there are a few more including one of my childhood favorites – Yogi Bear!
