Knicks in 5, Dolly Parton, and More Pop-Culture Halloween-Costume Ideas

There are two types of people in the world: those who start thinking about their Halloween costume in early September and those who wait until the evening of October 30. Strategist writers and editors tend to fall in the first category, giving us plenty of time to find the perfect clothing, wigs, and other accessories to bring our annual list of the most timely Halloween-costume ideas to life. Last year, we brought you instructions for dressing up as a DIY Labubu, Katy Perry in Space, and the cast of The Pitt. This year, our list of the best 2026 ideas celebrates cultural icons like the late Dolly Parton, fictional characters like Odysseus and Paul Baker from Adults, and champions like the New York Knicks and Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu.

And while we like to plan ahead for Halloween, we also have plenty of respect for last-minute shoppers. With that in mind, all of the costumes below can be created with as much or as little detail as you choose and most everything can be bought at Amazon or other online retailers with fast shipping. As we get closer to Halloween, we will be updating this list with additional costume ideas and checking to make sure everything is still available.

One could write a dissertation on why one of the top toys of 2026 has been a giant squishy stick of butter and how that might relate to Harling Ross-Anton’s 2018 decision to dress like a stick of butter. Either way, it’s a fun costume idea that bridges the gap between fashion and kid trends. So your adult friends will think you look chic and your kids will think you are funny.

It’s been inspiring to watch Ms. Rachel this year, whose activism supporting children all around the world has made her famous with a whole new set of non-preschool-related people. Dressing like her is easy; just pull on a pair of overalls and a pink headband.

New York City’s First Couple have had a big year, and they’ve looked really good in the process. While Zohran Mamdani wears a suit (from Suit Supply) most of the time, during the World Cup this summer, he was often seen wearing soccer jerseys made by Brooklyn-based Mazzi Sports. One of those jerseys was made to celebrate NYC’s hosting of the World Cup. The limited quantities were sold on a first-come, first-served basis and are still highly sought after. Then he wore one of the jerseys alongside his wife, Rama Duwaji, at the Brazil-Morocco game. To complete the look, layer a white button-down and a tie under your NYC jersey and add a version of the mayor’s favorite Casio digital watch. (His exact Casio is currently out of stock.)

This summer, after waiting 53 years, the New York Knicks won the 2026 NBA championship, defeating the San Antonio Spurs in five games. During those five games, the whole city became obsessed with Knicks merch and everyone from toddlers to grandpas draped themselves in orange and blue. There were watch parties in the street with the games projected on the sides of buildings, and everyone seemed friendlier for a while. So to recapture some of the wildly joyful energy, all you have to do is pull out your championship Knicks gear and buy a fake trophy.

If you want to dress like one fan in particular, you can do no better than Jordyn Woods (now Jordyn Woods-Towns) whose orange ostrich-leather purse became a good-luck charm at every game. All you need is an orange clutch bag, a Towns jersey, and a Knicks hat.

The Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics were a wild ride for Team USA in figure skating. Low: Ilia Malinin, or the Quad God, placed eighth in the men’s singles event (Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan won gold). High: Alysa Liu came back from retirement to be first on the podium with a winning 226.79 points. Liu’s routine was giddy and energetic — timed to Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park Suite.” Be the real-life Ice Princess with ice skates and a patriotically striped medal. If you want to go fully method, dye your hair blonde-brunette and fake a frenulum piercing (she did it herself — though we wouldn’t recommend doing so).

Bad Bunny turned the Levi’s Stadium field for the Super Bowl LX halftime show into a Puerto Rico sugar plantation with “bodegas, weddings, barbershops, fieldwork, prizefights, and perreos [that] offered a window into joy and pain in the unincorporated U.S. territory,” writes Vulture music critic Craig Jenkins. To be the first headliner to perform nearly entirely in Spanish, you can DIY most of his custom Zara outfit with a “64” with chenille patches, pleated trousers, and a version of the Adidas BadBo 1.0 he performed in himself. And consider having a plant back-up dancer with you who could be covered in grass stems.

No one had a 2026 World Cup quite like Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, who played for the Norwegian national team. His Viking proportions and man bun (now a buzz cut) were all on display at the world’s biggest sporting event. To be the soccer player, you’ll need cleats, a jersey (Haaland had “Braut Haaland”on his Norwegian-team jersey, but he has “Haaland”on his Manchester City shirt; you can personalize a Manchester City replica jersey yourself), and a horned Viking helmet. Even if you don’t have his flowing hair, you could still get his Kknekki hair-ties.

We’ll always love national treasure Dolly Parton — and her role as country singer in Rhinestone,the 1984 musical with Sylvester Stallone. It might not be her most recognizable part, but it’s Dolly Parton at her most Dolly Parton. You can re-create it easily with a blonde curly wig, plaid shirt, and cowboy hat.

In a career spanning parts like Rooster Hannigan in Annie and the concierge in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, thelateTim Curry’s best-known role was undoubtedly Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. You won’t be mistaken for anyone else if you’re as corseted, fishnetted, and tattooed as Curry was. Maybe go to a midnight showing with the whole gang: Magenta, Brad Majors and Janet Weiss, and Riff Raff.

“Her great contribution to the Second Wave of feminism was communicative facility: She could make spiky, roiling, uncomfortable, often messy ideas around gender, race, class, equality, and liberation sound smooth and snappy, attractive and funny,” writes Rebecca Traister of Gloria Steinem’s legacy. Synonymous to the image of the trailblazing Ms. founder are her aviators and flare jeans.

Because it has such an incredible cast and it’s so long, The Odyssey makes for an excellent group costume, with each chapter or vignette serving as a new costume idea. You’ll need an Odysseus, of course, and an Athena. Both of these exist as costumes you can buy, but they’re simple enough that you could also make them out of beige and gray clothing that you have at home, plus some Greek sandals. Then for the other costumes you can pick from among the movie’s most notable moments. We suggest the cyclops and Circe turning Odysseus’s men into pigs. For the cyclops, you’ll need a bald cap and an extra large googly-eye sticker. For the pigs, a pair of pink ears, a snout, and a tail will do.

For anyone who likes dressing a little bit gory and a little bit horny for Halloween, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma provides the perfect excuse. Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder star in the self-referential slasher flick about an aging movie star and the young director sent to resurrect the Camp Miasma horror franchise. It’ll only read properly as a couple (or friend) costume, with one of you in a long pink satin robe and the other in a pink tee and underwear. Once you’ve decided who’s who, add some fake blood and you’re good to go.

A24’s recent psychological horror film, Backrooms (also butter yellow), takes place in a furniture store owned by Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who also plays the store’s pirate mascot in a TV commercial. As the story unfolds, the pirate turns into a giant pirate monster with a wooden leg. Whether you go as the former or the latter is up to you. You’ll need a pirate costume, a toy parrot, and a portable LED light to represent the deadening presence of fluorescent-tube lighting in the film.

Matthew Rhys — as Tom Loftis, mayor of Widow’s Bay — really wants you to come to Widow’s Bay. But the island that’s the next Martha’s Vineyard and definitely not cursed is definitely cursed. Should you be up for saving Widow’s Bay (at least for Halloween), the part’s easy, as Loftis dresses like a middle-aged classics professor. All you’ll need is a Widow’s Bay baseball cap, checkered sports coat, wool sweater, and an Oxford shirt. Maybe also carry around a briefcase (or portfolio) and have a panicked expression on your face.

The obsession with Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr. peaked this year with Ryan Murphy’s Love Story. Sarah Pigeon as CBK and Paul Anthony Kelly as John-John nearly perfectly re-created the look of the couple, and you can do the same. You’ll just want sunglasses (these Le Specs look a lot like the Selima Optique Aldo CBK actually wore and the Selima Optique Carolyn that Pigeon wore), fake cigarettes, and a black coat for Carolyn and headband and sweater vest and sweatband for John. (We have a definitive guide to what Bessette Kennedy wore if you’re looking for more ideas).

The first season of Adults brought us to tears from laughing so hard, and the show’s much-awaited second season was just released in late August. The press tour for season two cemented actor Jack Innanen and his character Paul Baker as 2026’s hottest Canadian. Get yourself a Paul Baker campaign T-shirt from season two, episode eight, when he runs for president of his neighborhood homeowners’ association. Then pair it with a white button-down shirt, pleated trousers, and a western belt.

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