Unique Costume Themes for your Costume Party.
Costume parties are heaps of fun all year round, and there are so many dress-up possibilities that you could be in character every day of the year if you saw fit! Whether we’re dressing up for a night out or dressing up for a costume party, we all want to be unique. So take a look at our unique costume themes ideas and be inspired for an unforgettable costume party!
- Song titles
Even if at first this theme seems daunting, it’s actually a whole lot of fun and a cool mental exercise. Almost any piece of iconic music can bring a costume to mind, so if you want to set your guests a challenge, go with this theme.
Some classic example might be Aerosmith’s ‘Dude Looks Like a Lady’, David Bowie’s ‘China Girl’, Freddie Mercury’s ‘I Want To Break Free’, The Clash’s ‘Rock The Casbah’ and Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’. If you can get your guests spend the night warbling out classic song lyrics to their hearts’ content… you have achieved your objective!
- Tequila Mockingbird
You can probably predict where this party might end up, but the fun is in getting there. This theme is all about twisting and being twisted! First up you and your guests will want to twist the name of a book character into something alcoholic. If it can resemble the original title when slurred, you’ve nailed it.
Good boozy examples might be Huckleberry Gin, Dorian Grey Goose, or Ciroc Holmes. Set your guests the challenge of coming up with a character that is novel in more ways than one; ask them let you know who they plan to come as, and on the night, have a range of drinks suited to each character. Games can be centred around drinking and cosplay; so losers may tarnish their character’s name by performing a drunken ditty in their guise.
- When I grow up
For this one it’s best to consult with your inner child. Who or what did you most admire as a child? It’s time to live those pre-adolescent fantasies out for an evening, rekindling your long-extinguished hopes and dreams. This is a great conversation starter among guests and is very connective!
With all those inner-children coming out to play, who knows what might happen? It might be best to warn the neighbours! No doubt your home will have astronauts, mechanics, Barbies and Kens, vets, Doctors, and rock stars passing through… heaps of fun.
- Superstitious
Take the pressure off the guests a little with this one and turn the focus more onto the surroundings. By throwing a superstitious party, your home will become a depiction of society’s irrational assumptions!
Guests can bring around an item that represents a superstition they either believe in or find amusing. You’ll soon find your home dotted with random objects; think opened ladders, shoes on the table, upside down horseshoes, opened umbrellas and piles of spilled salt.
Prizes could be offered to anyone who manages dress convincingly as their superstitious representation; fortune-tellers or black cats would make good costumes… see what they can come up with!
- Reality TV
This is where all those years of watching trash TV will have paid off. A Reality TV themed party is an opportunity to embody those eyebrows raising characters on the screen. Most people only bag a place on such shows by being outrageous, eccentric and quirky… if not loud, abrasive and unruly!
This gives you a lot of fodder for your theme; be Kim Kardashian for a night, or perhaps one of the many Big Brother stars. You might prefer to be one of the aspiring brides in The Bachelor… the choice is yours. Whoever you opt for, practice getting their personality down to a tee, and see if your fellow partygoers can figure out who you are.
- Anything but clothes `
Now before any eyes go lighting up, this doesn’t mean turn up naked! Nakedness is traditionally more an ‘end of night’ thing… so you’ll get your chance. This theme requires costumes made from literally anything that isn’t traditional clothing; such non-traditional outfits tend to be constructed haphazardly, so they’ll probably come apart anyway after a night of partying anyway!
If you’ve got a creative streak, you’ll love this one. Make your outfit out of monopoly money, masking tape, scotch tape, saran wrap, toilet roll tubes, empty bean cans, curtains or even leaves. There are no rules; if it isn’t traditional clothing, it’s game. The more likely your sanity would be questioned out in society, the better!
- Dead famous
Dead famous is a great theme. Your guests will have no end of dead peeps to choose from; from Whitney Houston to Michael Jackson, Steve Irwin, or even Steve Jobs if you’re more on the conservative side. Ignore the naysayers who tell you it’s bad taste to dress up as a recent dead celeb… we think you’re honouring their memory!
The scope is large – you can be as classy or trashy as you want to be, so expect hilarious combinations of ball gowns, khakis and mullets. Have a good range of drinks available to suit your ‘classiness’ range – that means everything from champagne to VB cans. Crack on!
- Wedding theme
Here comes the bride, all dressed in costume! Nobody’s actually getting married here, unless they happen to hit it off on the night. This wedding theme is a tongue-in-cheek reenactment of a traditional wedding, but you can have as many brides, grooms, preachers, teary mother-in-laws, pageboys and bridesmaids as you like.
To guarantee mixing it up a bit, have guests pull their characters out of a hat. Then you can stage a hilarious joke ceremony. Lots of people will love this theme – those who adore weddings or have bridal fantasies will relish it, and those who can’t stand them will get to behave as badly as they’ve always wished they could! One things for sure, the reception will be a blast.
9. Dress up as a pun
This idea is another challenging theme, but we like a challenge! Dressing up as a pun results in a guessing game that guests will surely love. Who doesn’t like to pit their wits against the competition?
You might dress up as the spice girls (chili, salt, pepper, etc.), or a social butterfly (bee). As a host, you could get rid of all the chairs…. because it’s a one-night stand! Boom! A fun party idea would be to hold some timed challenges in which guests have to think of as many puns as they can in one minute. Prizes and/or drinking games work well with this idea.
The best thing about these themes is that there are nine of them – that’s nine of your future costume parties sorted! Don’t forget to check out Creative Costumes for all your party supplies, and whichever theme you go for first, we hope you have an absolute blast!
Meet Dale Pruser, our fabulous blogger who lives and breathes costumes! With boundless enthusiasm and a knack for turning heads, she’s the perfect guide to unleash your inner alter ego. Dale’s 30+ years experience in the costume and cosplay industry, make her the go-to source for finding the perfect costume. Her passion and knowledge shine through her blog posts, where she shares helpful tips on finding the perfect costume, DIY hacks to make your outfit stand out, and even delves into the fascinating history behind some of the most iconic characters. Her writing is as vibrant and colorful as the costumes she adores. With a twinkle in her eye and a wardrobe bursting with creativity, Dale dives headfirst into the realm of costumes. She lives for those magical moments when you put on a costume and become someone entirely different—whether it’s a mighty superhero, a swashbuckling pirate, or a glamorous 1920s flapper.