Hilarious Halloween Costume Fails That Are The Wrong Kind Of Scary

Let’s hope there were no little ones at the party this motley crew attended while dressed up as Sesame Street’s finest. You could say that Count Von Count and Grover are at least passable. But Bert and Ernie look possessed. And the guy cosplaying as Big Bird could scar kids for life!

We will let the disgruntled woman on the left, who’s clearly made a little bit more effort for Halloween, explain what exactly is going on in this mismatched couples’ outfit. Alongside the offending Twitter snap, she wrote the caption, “Well, we were supposed to be Cleopatra and Caesar. Classic case of miscommunication.”

Okay, so the three kids in this picture taken at a French vacation resort look delighted to be in the company of Toy Story’s number one spaceman. But you can’t ignore the fact that Buzz Lightyear looks a little worse for wear. For one thing he appears to be cross-eyed and who knows what’s happened to his helmet?

Moby’s Coffee and Tea Company obviously wanted a piece of the Halloween action back in 2019. The business introduced a Pumpkin Spice Whipped Cream into their menu, after all. But their promotional approach — essentially an employee wearing a trash bag with hastily scribbled eyes — leaves a lot to be desired.

We can’t even give this truly nightmarish Cookie Monster marks for effort. The person behind those disturbing googly eyes hasn’t even bothered to cover his hands in blue paint. And the towel and mop suggests they’ve simply grabbed whatever was on the bathroom floor. Still, at least the cookies look convincing.

You can’t fault this dad attending his child’s costume parade for effort. Unfortunately, he didn’t actually need to put any in. Yep, the man dressed as green monster Slimer from 1980s classic Ghostbusters obviously didn’t get the memo that only those appearing in the parade had to wear fancy dress.

There’s always one person who ruins things. No doubt the man on the left had food on the brain when his colleagues came up with the idea for their collective fancy dress outfit. Instead of coming to work sporting a domino block he arrived wearing a slice of inedible pizza.

If you’re a fan of Japanese manga franchise Dragon Ball, you may well recognize that this green-faced man is meant to be the villainous Piccolo. While we admire his commitment to the part his costume skills leave a little to be desired. See the cape which appears to be little more than a crumpled-up bedsheet.

At least the man responsible for buying this all-consuming outfit admits that he made a grave mistake. “I got this costume for fun and it was a MAJOR fail,” he wrote on Twitter. No doubt that the kid who can’t see a single thing in the super-sized inflatable would agree.

In 2021 this TikToker was invited to a fancy dress party. Unfortunately, he wildly misunderstood the brief. Holed up in the bathroom, the toga-wearing guy in question tells his followers, “I have made a grave mistake. I was told the theme was Greece.” Of course, as the following shot of Dannys and Sandys show, the theme was the film Grease.

We’re not sure who’s most to blame for this couples’ costume fail. Is it the woman on the right, for failing to explicitly state that the biker theme was of the leather-clad, mean, and moody variety? Or is it the man on the right, for failing to realize the Tour de France look obviously wasn’t what she meant?

Jack Sparrow, parrots, “shiver me timbers.” These are just a few of the things that automatically come to mind with the word “pirate.” Not with the schmuck on the right-hand side of this picture, though. While his teammates certainly came dressed appropriately for the occasion, the Pittsburgh Pirates fan took another less obvious approach.

So, the woman on the right could easily pass for the heroine in animated Disney classic Beauty and the Beast. The poor costumed guy on the right, on the other hand, looks more like an overgrown melted gopher. Props to the Belle lookalike for putting on a brave, smiley face!

Aww. Is there anything more adorable than dogs wearing a costume for the Halloween holiday? Well, yes: there are those dogs whose owners make them wear a Halloween costume that blatantly doesn’t fit. This cute French bulldog has been temporarily left without any vision thanks to his overgrown Yoda hat.

According to its owner, cuddly Colby was desperate to pay homage to Star Wars favorite BB-8 for Halloween 2016. The pooch’s face, on the other hand, tells a different story. Yes, while the woman responsible for uploading the snap was “super bummed” it didn’t fit, Colby looks “super bummed” she had to wear such a thing in the first place.

You don’t necessarily need to be afraid of all clowns to be scared of Pennywise. This particular one from Stephen King’s It is undoubtedly one of the most terrifying villains in the horror genre! But this homage makes the clown look as threatening as Ronald McDonald. That stretched face mask, in particular, is truly the stuff of nightmares!

We’re not sure what’s more terrifying about this cheap attempt to replicate the masked baddies of slashers such as Michael Myers in Halloween and Jason in Friday the 13th. Could it be the wild-eyed stare? The maniacal grin? Or, most likely, the piece of hacked plastic draped over the face?

At first glance it looks as though the human in the picture is dressed as the kind of cone that dogs have to wear around their neck after an operation. But she’s actually meant to be a Martini glass. And the canine looking distinctly unimpressed is supposed to resemble an olive.

It’s fair to say that the man attempting to recreate the look of his Nickelodeon favorite looks more Kim Impossible than Kim Possible. The heroine’s clothes — black top and shoes and green cargo pants — may have been easy to replicate. But that cardboard box substitute for her flame hair isn’t fooling anyone.

As he admitted on Twitter, the man on the right is supposed to resemble Fenway Park’s right field landmark Pesky’s Pole. Hence the baseball. But with his bright yellow jacket and facial hair, the Boston Red Sox fan looks more like everyone’s favorite chemistry teacher-turned-drug kingpin, Breaking Bad’s Walter White.

Preparation can be key when it comes to the Halloween costume. And this poor dad learned the hard way. The man no doubt headed to Florida’s Disney World with his family believing he had the perfect outfit. You can’t go wrong with Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, after all. But he soon learned he should have tried it on for size before heading off.

We’re not sure whether to call this effort a dog ghost or a ghost dog? Either way, Mila’s owner has at least acknowledged that the idea wasn’t exactly executed to perfection. They wrote on Instagram, “The first few attempts of Mila’s Halloween were a spooky fail to say the least. 10/10 for effort though Mila.”

You can always rely on Star Wars fans to bring a few horror shows each Halloween. You get three for the price of one in this hall-of-shame-worthy pic. The R2-D2 appears to have just stuck a bin on their head. C-3PO has, at least, made a little more effort, even if that involves wrapping themselves in foil. But who knows what’s going on with Princess Leia’s famous hairstyle?

Back in the early 1990s every little boy wanted nothing more than to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. This youngster has undoubtedly got the crime-fighting pose down to a tee. Unfortunately, his hastily applied green make-up has him looking more like a watermelon than a hero in a half-shell.

You might think it’s impossible to get dressing up like a Smurf wrong. Surely all you have to do is slather some blue body and face paint all over? Well, perhaps this trio of friends ran out of the stuff. That would certainly explain why they all look less Papa Smurf and more like they’ve got a patchy skin condition.

There’s no better way to sum up this horrifying attempt to replicate Homer Simpson than “D’oh.” First there’s the yellow body paint, which appears to have been mixed with umpteen different colors. Then there’s the hairline, which looks like a giant tarantula. And then there’s the bulbous nose and bulging eyes, which would traumatize any of The Simpsons’ younger viewers for eternity.

It’s probably a good job that we’re only seeing this blatantly homemade R2-D2 outfit from the front. Who knows what is — or, more likely, what isn’t — lurking at the back? Yes, this particular Star Wars fan appears to have run out of cheap material, meaning he’s now half-robot, half-pasty human.

The Dipsy on the left is a cutesy, happy-go-lucky character that’s been entertaining children for 25 years. The Dipsy on the right looks like he’s seen some very very bad things. With his bulging eyes, expressionless face, and potatoes for ears — not to mention copious amounts of sticky tape — the Teletubby is enough to give even watching parents nightmares for years.

We’re not exactly sure what this cosplayer is supposed to be. Most of their homemade effort looks like something you’d find in the Power Rangers. But the tail and paws bring to mind those mocked CGI creations in the movie version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats. The individual’s pained expression, though, doesn’t exactly suggest they’re about to burst into song.

Even the guy wearing this colorful fancy dress seems unimpressed with his creation. Although perhaps he’s just trying to replicate Barney Rubble’s famous squint. The torn-off sleeves certainly evoke Fred Flintstone’s pre-historic BFF. But the out of control flamed hair suggests he’s supposed to actually be Lion-O from Thundercats!

Think that My Little Pony is just for young girls? There’s a whole army of teenage and 20-something male admirers who belong to the group known as Bronies. And it’s no doubt a member of this fanbase, who you can see here, turning the cuddly creature into an anthropomorphic horror show!

You have to admire the sheer effort this cosplayer has made for his colorful ensemble. But while the papier-mâché black spiky hair is pretty impressive, the rest of his outfit looks like it could fall apart at any minute. The white ears, in particular, appear to have been assembled from the polystyrene you find in a delivery package.

If The Avengers had been made on a budget of about $220 instead of $220 million, then this is what its main characters would have looked like. Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man are all about as cheap and cheerful as each other. The green body-suited and googly-eyed Hulk, on the other hand, looks downright haunted.

Remember all the hoo-ha over the first big screen incarnation of Sonic the Hedgehog that eventually inspired its creators to go back to the drawing board? Well, it could have been a lot, lot worse. After all, this ode to Sega’s ultimate speedy mammal is wearing a pair of denim jeans!

The man at this superhero convention certainly looks like he’s enjoying himself. But he appears to have mashed up two very different characters with his cosplay. The colorful cape, shorts, and stockings combo suggests he’s aiming for Superman. Yet the blue-painted face brings to mind Papa Smurf. Who knows what the green hair is about, too?

Okay, so at least the group of friends playing cartoon tots Chuckie, Tommy, and Angelica were pretty on point with their costumes. But does anyone really want to see a young man wearing a nappy? And we don’t remember the trio of Rugrats characters ever looking so mean and moody.

We get the feeling this lanyard-wearing man simply forgot that he had to wear a costume to whichever event he’s attending. But proving his resourcefulness, the guy headed for the nearest KFC to order a 12-piece bucket. Let’s just hope he washed it out before placing it over his head.

Who knew that a fairground favorite could inspire something so truly nightmarish. Yes, the poor kid in this picture asked his mom to hand-make a costume that would resemble the sweet stuff known as cotton candy. What she created, though, was a deeply twisted version of pink Nintendo icon Kirby.

The man who’s paying homage to his favorite Transformers character seems happy enough with his creation. But we can’t imagine that he spent much time on recreating the heroic Optimus Prime. His helmet and the protruding truck-trailer arms have blatantly been assembled from some old cardboard packaging.

You know what they say, the family that cosplays Star Wars together stays together. This clan look like they’re having a whale of a time impersonating everyone from Princess Leia to Darth Vader in their back garden. Let’s just hope there’s no one actually in that garbage can substitute for R2-D2.