If you are anything like me, costume season has snuck up on you! But that doesn’t mean that you can’t come up with something awesome. I refuse to ever buy a packaged costume from the store because I am hipster like that. If you also believe that homemade costumes are better, here are 20 last-minute geek costume ideas that you can whip up in just a few seconds from items you probably already own.
Happy costuming!
50 Shades of Grey
Wear all grey. Either print varying squares of grey and attach them to your body with safety pins, or use paint chips. Done.
Bookworm
Show the world your bookish side by dressing as a book worm. Wear green pants and a green shirt. Wear a green baseball cap and glue big, round eyes to the hat. Carry a book around under your arm.
Semicolon
This is probably one of my favorite costume ideas of all time. Wear a white shirt. Cut out a large version of your punctuation of choice from black paper or felt and pin it to your shirt. I am partial to the semicolon, but you could also be a comma, colon, exclamation point, or whatever you wanted! Maybe an ellipses…
Carrie
Carrie is super-iconic and super easy. Most women have an old formal dress lying around that you can’t bring yourself to get rid of. Make new use of it for your Carrie costume. Simply put on the dress, then dump fake blood over your head and down the front of your dress. Costume complete.
The Doppler Effect
I have to give credit to The Big Bang Theory for this costume, but I still think it is one of the best costumes I’ve ever seen. Wear black pants and a black shirt. Paint a white dot in the center of your chest, then draw vertical white lines that gradually get bigger the farther away they are from the dot. Fabric paint would work best, but you could also use white strips of paper if you are extremely crunched for time.
Arthur Dent
Arthur Dent is one of my all-time favorite book characters. He is so boring and English, I want to put him in my pocket. All you need for this costume are pajama bottoms, a bathrobe, and a towel. If you still think people won’t get the costume, you could try carrying around a teacup.
Ring Wraith or Dementor
All you need for this costume is a giant piece of black fabric. Drape it around your body and head in an ominous way. You get to pick which character you are. Add a scythe and this costume also works for Death (my favorite rendition is the Discworld DEATH).
Kaylee from Firefly
The men’s costumes aren’t so easy from Firefly, but Kaylee’s costume is easy to make. Find a jumpsuit and a floral shirt. Wear them with sturdy boots.
Original Star Trek Cast
The original Star Trek costumes are easy to re-create. Wear a blue, gold, or red long-sleeve shirt with black pants. Make the Star Trek logo out of paper and pin it to your chest. Add a circle of black felt around your neck if you really feel like going all out. I advise skipping the ridiculously short skirt if you are a woman.
Black Widow
Wear a black shirt and tight black pants. Creep around in a crouched position all the time.
Katniss from The Hunger Games
Wear black pants and a black shirt. Fix your hair in a braid and carry a bow.
Tris from Divergent
Wear black pants and a black shirt. Draw a tattoo of birds on your neck.
Thomas from The Maze Runner
Wear black pants, a grey shirt, and running shoes. Talk about how you have no memories of your past.
The Grapes of Wrath
Cut out some purple circles from felt or paper and pin them to a plain shirt in the shape of a bunch of grapes. Draw angry eyebrows on the grapes.
Nick from Gone Girl
Wear jeans, a plaid shirt and country-boy work boots. Ask party guests if they have seen your wife while making eyes at younger, pretty women. Brag about how you own The Bar.
The TARDIS
Cut out a hole in a large cardboard box for your head. Paint it blue and add details to resemble a police box. Disappear at all the wrong moments.
Dr. Who
Wear a nerdy sports coat, suspenders, and a bow tie or fez. Double points if you can convince a friend to be the TARDIS.
The Square Root
Cut out a large square root sign from paper or felt. Pin it to a plain shirt. You can also do this with a variety of other math symbols.
The Elements
Cut out the abbreviations from your favorite element onto paper or felt and pin it to a plain shirt. You are now an element.
Adult Harry Potter
Wear glasses and draw a lightening bolt on your head. Talk about the “good old days” and how Albus is such a good name for a kid.
What other last-minute geek costume ideas can you come up with? I’ll add them to the list!
Arthur Dent’s costume would be so comfortable too! And Kaylee’s costume would be so easy. I love it!
Yes! I would totally dress up as Arthur if I wasn’t committed to dressing up in a related costume to my children. 🙂 Maybe I can convince my daughter to dress up as Marvin next year…
Very cute. I like the bookworm one 🙂
Thanks Anna! What are you dressing as this year?
These are great last minute ideas, I love the Tardis one. 🙂
Thanks Vikki! I was thinking about trying to convince my 2 year-old to dress up as the Tardis next year. 🙂
haha…i love the 50 shades of gray and anything Dr. Who 🙂
I think 50 shades would make a cute costume.
I can just go as myself tonight I am certainly nerdy/geeky enough for it. I love Dr, Who and I am still shedding tears about Matt Smiths departure.!
He made a great doctor.
Oh! If I wasn’t trick or treating with my kids– I would so go as Carrie! I loved that movie, what a great idea!
Kids: they ruin all the fun. 🙂
These are such fun ideas! I think it would be interesting to be Carrie! So creepy. I also love Firefly!
We really need to hang out more. 🙂
You’re so creative! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because you can dress up and be creative! Happy Halloween!
I love costumes. I would wear one once a month if I could.
These are all super awesome! You’re so creative!
Marissa // http://www.makinitwithmarissa.com
Thanks Marissa!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this post! Go geek or go home! Thanks for sharing!
Yes mam, always!