Group and Family Halloween Costumes: 30 Themes for Everyone

Group and family Halloween costumes

Group costumes work when everyone can do their own bit without a rehearsal. Pick a theme with unlimited slots so latecomers can still join in.

We don't sell costumes - we make cards, pin badges, prints and party bits in house, printed in the UK - so nothing below is a sales pitch for an outfit.

Agree the theme in a message thread at least a fortnight out, with one person owning the list.

We don't sell costumes - but we do the rest

Banners, cake toppers, pin badges and cards for the party itself, designed in house and printed in the UK.

Shop party supplies

Group themes with unlimited slots

  • Skeletons - one each, different colours of trim.
  • Ghosts, from classic sheets to full grey makeup.
  • Vampires, with each person choosing their own era.
  • Zombies by profession: zombie nurse, chef, builder, teacher.
  • Witches and wizards, one colour per person.
  • Black cats in varying levels of effort.
  • Scarecrows, all checked shirts and straw.
  • Everyone as the same character, one of them slightly wrong.

Groups of three or four

  • Three witches around a cauldron, cauldron optional.
  • Doctor, patient and the very bad news.
  • A haunted house: ghost, cobwebs, and the estate agent.
  • Three blind mice with sunglasses and tails.
  • A vampire, their victim and the dentist.
  • Cluedo characters, one colour each.

Family costumes with young children

  • Family of skeletons - printed suits for all sizes.
  • Pumpkin patch: orange for the baby, green for the adults.
  • Bat family: black clothes and felt wings on each back.
  • Spider and web: baby as the spider, adults in white with drawn webs.
  • Farmyard: scarecrow parent, animal children.
  • Wizard family in different coloured scarves.
  • Ghosts in sheets - the only costume a toddler can't remove.

Cheap group costumes

  • All black plus one bought accessory each - agreed budget, no more.
  • Charity shop suits and black tape for a whole line of Beetlejuices.
  • Bin bag capes and paper stars for a set of wizards.
  • White sheets from a charity shop for the whole group.
  • One face paint palette shared across five people.

Keeping a group theme on track

  • One person keeps the list of who's being what.
  • Set a spend cap out loud, in the thread.
  • Pick a theme where doing nothing still works - all black, for example.
  • Take the group photo before people arrive in stages.
  • Have a spare accessory or two for whoever forgets.

Shop party supplies

How to write it so it lands

  • Confirm the theme a fortnight out, not the week of.
  • Choose outfits people can wear a coat over if you're walking between houses.
  • Award a prize for the best group effort rather than the best individual.

Where to shop next

Frequently asked questions

What is a good group Halloween costume?

One with unlimited slots - skeletons, zombies by profession or witches with one colour each - so latecomers can join without changing the theme.

What can a family of four dress as for Halloween?

A skeleton family, a pumpkin patch with the baby in orange, a bat family in black with felt wings, or a scarecrow parent with animal children.

How do you do a group costume cheaply?

Agree all black plus one bought accessory each, with a spend cap set out loud. Charity shop sheets and a shared face paint palette cover most of the rest.

What Halloween costume works for a baby?

Anything that's really a babygro - pumpkin, bat, spider - with no hood they can pull off and no face paint at all.

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