If you are going to a costume or Halloween party as part of a group, you may want to consider a themed group costume for all the members of your group. For a group of people, a funny costume can be a nice idea.
One determining factor in selecting a costume idea can be how many people are in the group. Some costume ideas are based on actual groups, with a specific number of people or characters in them, whilst others can be more flexible
The first thing to consider is what would make a group of costumes funny. Just because something is a group does not necessarily make it funny.
The easiest and most basic group costume idea is to simply cross-dress; have men dress and women and vice versa. This does tend to work better with mixed groups.
Children’s Programmes
One possibility is for adults to go as a group of characters from a children’s programme.
The Teletubbies
This is a British children’s television programme that is about a the Teletubbies, brightly coloured creatures with televisions in their stomach and antennae on their heads. This is most suited for a group of four, as there are four Teletubbies: Tinky Winky, who is purple and has a triangular antenna, Dipsy, green with a straight antenna, Laa-Laa, yellow with a curly antenna and Po, who is red and has an antenna shaped like those things used for blowing soap bubbles.
Scooby-Doo and Friends
Scooby-Doo is a long running cartoon series that has even had live action films. It is a group of four teenagers, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Velma and of course Scooby-Doo, a Great Dane. Each member of the group is instantly recognisable to anyone who has seen the show.
This is suitable for groups of five, or possibly six, if Scrappy-Doo is included, although he is a bit small and would have to be either the same size as Scooby, or a child.
The Muppets
Originally created in 1955 by Jim Henson, the Muppets are puppet characters, which have featured in many different media. There are an awful lot of Muppets, dozens if not hundreds, and not just the most instantly recognisable such as Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog. This makes the Muppets suitable for groups of all sizes, although picking an obscure Muppet will make it less recognisable, and also harder to find a costume for. Some Muppets are human(ish) in appearance, whilst others are most definitely not. They can range from recognisable creatures such as frogs and pigs to those that don’t look like anything natural at all, such as Gonzo the Great.
The central Muppet characters are the best choices for costumes, as they are the most easily recognised.
The Smurfs
The Smurfs date back to 1958 and were created by Belgian comic artist Peyo (Pierre Culliford). Like the Muppets, the Smurfs are another group with multiple members and have also appeared in many different media.
Unlike the Muppets, the Smurfs are all fairly similar – blue humanoid creatures wearing Phrygian caps. Where the Smurfs differ from each other is in their costume and accessories, such as glasses for Brainy Smurf and red clothes and a white beard for Papa Smurf.
Bands
There are also many musical groups which might provide inspiration. Novelty groups are the best when looking for a funny costume idea, the more outrageous the better.
The Village People are an American group formed during the late 70s. They have had a number of recognisable disco and dance hits, the most well known of which are “Macho Man”, “Go West”, “In the Navy” and “Y.M.C.A.”
The group is camp and cheesy and notably consisted of six people in stereotypical American costumes; a construction worker, a Native American, a cowboy, a G.I./Sailor, a leather clad biker and a cop. The group has been parodied numerous times, and both their costumes and songs are definitely recognisable. Whilst best suited for a group of six, it is possible to get away with less members – five costumes were used in the film Wayne’s World.
Hopefully this should give you some ideas to use for a funny group costume.