Some Halloween costumes work best solo, but there are times when working with a collaborator more than doubles your impact. The key to a good couple costume? Choose classic over cutesy.
Vintage: Lucy and Desi
Think classic shirtdress with circle skirt and petticoat, with red poodle hair and false eyelashes. For Desi, a ’50s-style tweed jacket with a bright tie and a white handkerchief. Then add plenty of Brylcreem.
For guys: Tintin and Captain Haddock
Tintin needs a white shirt collar and a blue pullover, with loose brown pants tucked into socks. Throw on a beige overcoat if possible, and be sure to hairspray your forelock vertical. Haddock requires a black coat, captain’s hat, pipe, beard and perhaps a bottle. Come prepared to cuss creatively.
For ladies: Grady twins from The Shining
Wear blue, cap-sleeved dresses with Peter Pan collars and pink sashes tied in bows. Part your hair on the side and clip it in place with white barrettes. Knee-high white socks and black Mary Janes complete the look. For maximum effect, spend the evening standing side-by-side, holding hands in a corridor.
Gender-neutral: Daft Punk
Wear lots of black. Black suits with white shirts and skinny ties, plus black leather gloves. Then add big, shiny helmets.
Objects
Go as a classic pairing: Bacon and eggs, arsenic and old lace, salt and pepper, fish and chips, knife and fork, toast and jam. Such costumes will almost certainly require creativity and an investment in cardboard and hot glue (which could themselves make a good pairing).
Pop cultural but slightly esoteric: Lucille Bluth and Gene Parmesan
If you and your companion don’t mind doing a bit all night, one of you can dress in a Chanel-like suit and carry a martini glass. The other can dress as anything at all, revealing your true identity at intervals while your partner screams and flaps her hands.
Sure to be incredibly overdone: Walter White and Jesse
The bad news is that, given the immense popularity of Breaking Bad, almost everyone else at the party will also be wearing a yellow hazmat suit and blue gloves. The good news is that if you and your partner are separated by the crowd, you’re almost certain to end up next to another match.