Your un–boo–leivably creative ideas 👻
We’re only a few weeks away from Halloween. It falls on a Wednesday this year – so you can celebrate both the weekend before + after.

I think my fiancé + I have exhausted our Game of Thrones-themed Khaleesi + Joffery Halloween costumes over the past three years – so I wanted to get a lil’ more creative (and local) for Halloween this year.

We wanted to know: What are the most Columbia Halloween costumes you can think of?

For example: I could be a City employee spraying for West Nile mosquitos, and Sam could be Ole Timey Meats butcher shop. 👇

COLAtoday team’s Halloween costumes | Photo by Mark Cox

COLAtoday team’s Halloween costumes | Photo by Mark Cox

Now that we’re all set with our costumes – we have to help dress up the rest of our readers.

Here are 18 of your best ideas for Columbia-inspired Halloween costumes (plus a few of our own).

Individual costumes

Adluh Flour | Wear an Adluh Flour shirt (you can even DIY with red, glow-in-the-dark puffy paint on a black shirt to create the effect of the sign lit up at night). For a fun final touch, put flour in your hair. 🍞| Shoutout to Amy, Lydia + Gina for the suggestion

Busted plug sculpture | Achieve this look with a store-bought fire hydrant costume. #ProTip – After you get all dressed up, you can go take a #twinning picture in front of the Taylor St. sculpture. | Shoutout to Joshua for the suggestion

Chicken Man Painting | Dress like a chicken, but pull out your brightest colors – and do your best to strike a pose to resemble the famous Ernest Lee paintings when someone asks if you’re a Gamecock. 🐔🖌| Shoutout to Sarah for the suggestion

City of Columbia Parking Maid | Clip on that fanny pack and cover yourself in all the parking tickets you haven’t paid yet. Going to a party? Take a couple of extra citations + hand them out to any party-goers who refuse to buy you a drink. 💰🚗

Coach Muschamp | Put on your best black Carolina polo, a “Boom” visor (we know they’re sold at Brittons) + a pair of headphones for that gameday headset look. You can also carry around a football or a clipboard and do your best angry-Muschamp impression for those Instagram pics. 🏉🗣

Congaree National Park | Grab some earth-toned, neutral-colored clothes + a flower crown and do your best to look like a Bald Cypress Tree. 🌳

Congaree Riverkeeper | Grab a beer glass from his signature “Save Our Water” events and a fly fisherman’s hat + pants. You can add depth to your costume by grabbing a water-testing kit, kayak paddle from River Runner + a “Save our rivers” t-shirt. 🐟🛶

Gamecock Jesus | Grab your fake (or real) beard and throw on a sweatband. Rock some basketball shorts, and maybe even carry around a basketball. You can DIY his iconic BELIEVE shirt with a red shirt + white fabric paint. Learn some Gamecock Basketball cheers to yell when people wonder who you are. 🏀🤙 | Shoutout to Michelle for the suggestion

Yellow Shirt | Wear a yellow polo, black slacks and a black cap. Keep a smile on your face and offer to walk people through Five Points or Main St. all night. 😄👕 | Shoutout to Kelly for the suggestion

Riverbanks Zoo Party Animal | Dress up like an animal (zebra, lion, elephant, etc.) – but add some party flare to your attire like a party hat and solo cup. 🐘🐻🐯🐷👠🎩

Village Idiot | Wear a dunce cap and carry around a pizza box. Munch on some pizza all night. You’re a walking pizza pun. 🍕

French Drinking Ticket | There are many ways to accomplish this look, but we suggest writing ticket on your shirt, grabbing a beret, a baguette and only drink red wine all night. Bonus points if you live tweet your party in a French accent. Honhonhon. 🥖🇫🇷 | Shoutout Regan for the suggestion

Zesto’s ice cream cone | Don some khaki bottoms, a white top (ft. glued-on sprinkles) + a brown hat. Memorize the Zesto’s slogan for effect.🍦| Shoutout to Margaret for the suggestion

Couples’ + group costumes

Famously Hot | Create flames with some red + orange poster board to attach to yourself. Don your designer sunglasses + handbag. // Your S.O. or friend can wear a camera and take photos of you like paparazzi. 🔥📸

Five Points | Take a plain t-shirt, add five printed cutouts of the pointing fingers emojis – and voilà, you’ve got an easy costume à la three-hole-punch-Jim. // You can also be the Five Points Fountain. Get a group of five friends, dress them in blue + give everyone a super soaker. 👈👉👆👇☝ 💦⛲| Shoutout to Sadie for the suggestion

Harris and Patricia Pastides | The ultimate UofSC couples costume. Just wear your fanciest garnet + black attire and have everyone address you as “president” + “first lady” all night. 👫

Local breweries | Be a local brewery for the night by wearing merch from River Rat, Conquest, etc. and only drinking their beer all night. 🍻 | Shoutout to Kelly for the suggestion

Train + conductor | This DIY train conductor costume can be achieved by wearing striped overalls and a conductor hat with a red bandana around your neck or a pocket watch for extra flare. On the flip side, get a little more creative and be the actual train. Just stop in your tracks in front of people at your Halloween party and don’t move. 🚂💨 | Shoutout to Jessica + Kate for the suggestion

An honorable mention costume idea that didn’t make the official list is the infamous, mythical S.C. Lizard Man. The Lizard Man – said to have first been sighted coming out of Scape Ore Swamp in 1988 near Bishopville – is supposedly seven-feet tall with a short, alligator-like nose + scales. In 2015, a woman took a photo of what she believed to be the Lizard Man. And during the solar eclipse of 2017, the Lizard Man (per the S.C. emergency management Twitter) emerged yet again. Legend has it that he now lives in the catacombs under Columbia.

If you think of an epic Columbia costume idea that we missed, add it to the threads on Soda City Connectors or our posts on Facebook or Instagram.

– Beth + Shayla, COLAtoday Fall intern