Raccoons at the ready! 20 Halloween costumes for 2026 – from Erling Haaland to Kate in Widow’s Bay

Why not go as Man City’s most likable player, Erling Haaland? Specifically him emerging from a plane in Oslo with a taxidermied raccoon holding an empty bottle of Greenall’s wild berry gin, and a Dolce & Gabbana tote slung over one shoulder, after Norway’s 2026 World Cup run. Why did he have a taxidermied raccoon holding an empty bottle of booze, you might ask? It was a keepsake, of course, bought at Wild Bill’s Western Store in Dallas, Texas. For those wanting to recreate the look on a budget: a blond ponytail wig, black hoodie, LL Bean tote, raccoon plushie and empty bottle of something would do the job nicely.

Count Binface

An easy one to start with: take a traditional lightweight plastic bin, cut a slit for your eyes and a square for your mouth, add a Batman costume, cape, purple sash and some heavy-duty boots. Nigel Farage may be the real villain, but Count Binface has been a key political talking point this year – and wearing a bin on your head is never not funny.

Tim Curry

We lost some great artists this year, but the man who launched a thousand coulrophobes is surely up there as horror’s greatest character actor. There are plenty of Curry roles to choose from, but for clarity it’s best to go with either The Rocky Horror Show’s Frank-N-Furter (stockings, pearls, wig and a fake tattoo), or Pennywise, the shape-shifting murderous clown with the Bronx accent. You just need some face paint, a clown costume and a copy of Georgie’s paper boat.

A Manchester City shirt

It’s always useful when a Halloween costume doubles up as an icebreaker, especially when said costume is a football club recently found guilty of more than 100 charges of rule-breaking in what is the biggest financial scandal in football history! It’s perfectly achievable: just wear a Man City shirt.

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time show

You could go as Bad Bunny himself in a cream Zara suit complete with a football jersey with the name Ocasio and number 64, but do you really want to give the Spanish brand any more publicity? A better option perhaps is one of the sugarcane “bush people” who formed the backdrop of the singer’s Super Bowl half-time show performance. Start with a green tracksuit, add some synthetic raffia grass, or perhaps a plastic hula skirt and, if possible, add green goggles. One for the crafters.

A wall from Backrooms

Haven’t seen Backrooms, the cult psychological horror film about a disillusioned furniture store owner who discovers a secret door in his basement? No matter. If you’ve been to any large centre of commerce – an Ikea or Big Yellow storage perhaps – you can well imagine how easy it might be to pass through solid walls, out of reality and into a maze of rooms with no clear exit. It’s fairly easy to pull off this look: cut a piece of cardboard, paint it yellow and strap it to your back. Bonus points if you bring your own chair to suggest an eerie human presence in an otherwise uninhabited world.

Katie Zacharia

It wouldn’t be Halloween without some kind of Trump-adjacent costume. If you’re feeling a bit lazy and happen to be blond, going as the former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia is an easy win. Lots to work with here: Zacharia stepping down from her role after five days, Zacharia referring to herself as a lawyer, Zacharia answering a question about where she passed her bar exam with: “When I moved to China.” (She later said she misheard the question; in fact she never passed any bar exam.) Keep it simple: navy business suit, mobile podium and a sign with “I did it in China” would probably do it.

Nikki from Obsession

Obsession is a horror film about what happens when an “incel” gets their one true wish – the reciprocal love of his hot best friend without her consent! Already a frontrunner for most popular costume of 2026 is Nikki, said victim, from the now infamous party scene in which she smashes a bottle into her own face for reasons unclear. This is partly because the scene involves lots of blood, and partly because a replica of her red zebra bandeau top seems to be widely available online. On a separate note, it feels like a pertinent costume choice anyway, given the film’s message that non-consensual love is more terrifying than any bogeyman. Do bring a foam brick to fake-murder your rival love interest if you can source one.

Kelly Clarkson and her bird

A little recap: earlier this month, the singer Kelly Clarkson got into a public quarrel with a shop in Brooklyn who she claimed treated her as though she couldn’t afford its merchandise, which was Molly, a clockwork bird. The store claimed it wasn’t for sale, and that it offered her another singing bird for about $2,000 (£1,500). Clarkson apparently left and the whole dispute played out on social media. Did anyone care? Not a jot. Which is why this is the perfect costume for Halloween 2026: tongue in cheek, topical and symbolic of the vapidity of celebrity. It’s also perfect for couples. One of you can dress as Clarkson as per the CCTV footage in a baseball hat and yellow T-shirt, and the other can dress as a giant mockingbird with a price tag around your neck.

Rachel Cusk

The British-Canadian writer is on this year’s Halloween moodboard thanks to her new book, Life of M, which – according to rumours – is based on the actor Natalie Portman, and isn’t terribly flattering. Low effort, this one: long dark wig, natty suit, a copy of the book. Or go as Portman herself – as above, just adding something “thinly veiled” like a piece of gauze.

Zendaya in The Drama

It has been a solid year for fictional bourgeois couples squabbling in films (see also: The Invite), but my top pick would be Zendaya in The Drama, in which she and her husband, played by Robert Pattinson, end up in a diner on their wedding night. She – for reasons that would spoil the film – is bedraggled in a white wedding dress and orange puffer coat, an ideal look to copy.

Elizabeth Holmes and Nathan Fielder

Couples only here, and no, it doesn’t matter if you haven’t seen Nathan Fielder’s smash hit documentary about disgraced US entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes because good luck getting tickets when it comes out later next month in the UK. The most meme’d scene – therefore easiest to borrow from – is a shot of Fielder and Holmes eyeball-to-eyeball discussing integrity. He could wear a salt and pepper wig, earphones and a thin film of sweat. She just needs those fancy-dress glasses with the wide-open eyes.

Justin Trudeau at Coachella

This is the year Justin Trudeau became more famous for dating Katy Perry than for being the former prime minister of Canada. It’s a great costume if you can’t be bothered, as there are lots of easy-to-parse Instagram moments to choose from. Top choice has to be the faux candid, behind-the-scenes shot of Trudeau at Coachella wearing a plain white T-shirt and a backward baseball hat while eating regular takeaway noodles. We’re happy for them, but let’s not pretend this celebrity statesman didn’t know what he was doing here. Add a red cup for the full divorcee frat-boy look.

A Yung Lean dancer

Probably the easiest to cobble together if you have teenage sons, this costume takes inspiration from Swedish rapper Yung Lean’s seven-and-a-half-minute music video for his track Storm. Directed by Romain Gavras, it features an extraordinary 66 dancers dressed up like schoolboys dancing in fluid movements that have been compared to “dolphins”. It’s a particularly zeitgeisty choice since it became a cultural flashpoint after being described as the kind of music video AI could never create.

Aelfgyva

Didn’t get tickets for the Bayeux tapestry? Try dressing as the mysterious woman, Aelfgyva, depicted in the 11th-century wall hanging instead. You just need a green cloak, some sort of red hoodie underneath and (well, it is Halloween) a severed limb attached to your head.

Dolly Parton

The beloved late singer has been an evergreen presence at fancy dress parties, but given her death, you can expect to see multiple Partons on your doorstep or at parties this year. Don’t let that put you off: you just need a blond wig, a rhinestone jumpsuit with cape-like sleeves, acrylic nails and perhaps a guitar or a nine-to-five typewriter if you can be bothered to lug one around.

Heated Rivalry

Halloween loves a nod to the monoculture, which is why this steamy TV show about a pair of closeted hockey players is a winning costume par deux for any couples this year. Ideally you’d have different colour wigs and ice hockey costumes, and would carry a Gatorade bottle and a hockey stick each. Failing that, just go for the preppy-shorts-and-T-shirts look as above, and keep whipping out Ilya Rozanov’s Zippo lighter from your top pocket.

Punch the monkey

Punch the macaque became a sensation in February after he was abandoned at birth by his mother at Ichikawa city zoo, and given an Ikea orangutan toy for comfort by zookeepers. The good news is he’s now recovering well, so it’s not in poor taste to capture the spirit of the young primate by dragging around a £19 Djungelskog toy, which is now thankfully back in stock at the Swedish megastore.

Wicker husband

If you’re thinking the sentient but highly flammable “wicker husband” in this romantic fable starring Alexander Skarsgård and Olivia Colman might be hard to pull off without a full-body woven prosthesis, think again. You just need to wear head-to-toe brown, and pop a wicker paper basket (John Lewis do an affordable one in willow) over your head. You can reuse the bin, so it’s also the most eco choice.

Patricia from Widow’s Bay

Patricia is the breakout character from Widow’s Bay, the comedic horror series about a cursed coastal town in New England. Her most famous scene? Hosting a hellish “sunset cocktail” party in which she accidentally spikes her guests, hypnotising them into a trance and almost drowning them all while dressed in a crown of bloodied antlers. Think fever dream here: red floral dress, some sort of crown fashioned from bones, perhaps a taxidermied animal as its centrepiece. If you can’t get the above, just wear a tiara, which is what Patricia thinks she’s wearing.