Lauren Thomann is a jewelry and antiques expert, sharing over 15 years of hands-on experience with DIY jewelry, gemstones, heirlooms, as well as home renovation projects. Her businesses, Ageless Heirlooms and Heirlooms at Home, focus on antiques. Lauren has also studied at the Gemological Institute of America.
Halloween is a fun time for the entire family to play dress-up. In fact, there are myriad ways to coordinate family Halloween costumes. Some ideas require time and effort while others you can throw together at the last minute. But all of them will get you in the mood to go trick-or-treating with your family.
Here are 27 options for coordinated family Halloween costumes.
It's easy to put together a "Wizard of Oz" family costume set by incorporating many articles of clothing from your current wardrobe. All you need to add are the classic touches, such as the tin man's hat using a painted funnel, the scarecrow's body using straw, and sparkly red Dorothy shoes using red fabric and glitter glue.
If you've ever enjoyed paper mache crafts, you'll love creating this family of three bears and Goldilocks. Make the bear heads out of paper mache sized to each wearer's head. Then have someone wear a bright yellow wig to play Goldilocks.
Sometimes dressing your family as a group of clowns is as simple as painting your face white and adding red lips and a rosy nose. However, you can also opt to alter the theme, such as using makeup to create sad or scary clowns. For finishing touches, sew a clown collar and cuffs as well as a clown hat.
Popular movies always make for good family-themed Halloween costumes. Take your family back to the "Jurassic Park" era by dressing up as Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, and your favorite dinosaurs. The children in your family also can dress as Tim or Lex.
Is your family obsessed with Pokemon and catching them all? If so, create a team of your favorite Pokemon, along with characters such as Ash and Misty. The costumes can be easily sewn using templates or bought online.
This family Halloween costume idea is especially easy if you have ever taken a trip to Disney before. Chances are the entire family has a ton of memorabilia to make for a quick costume. Just be sure to add accessories, such as fanny packs and mouse ears.
Have you ever looked at a Halloween costume and weren't sure what it was at first? These puns are clever, and people will be having "a-ha" moments once they figure it out. Instead of dressing your family as the cast of "Stranger Things," dress as Dr. Seuss characters (Thing 1 and Thing 2) and then add elements from the TV show like this family did with the string of lights.
This Lisa Frank-inspired Halloween idea is both fun and creative. The pregnant mom is a gumball machine based on a work by Lisa Frank. The two daughters are a rainbow unicorn and white tiger. And while the dad's costume isn't based on a Lisa Frank work, it is equally creative as he's the coin for the gumball machine.
Sometimes you can dress your family in entirely different costumes but still be coordinated. This family opted to stick to simple Halloween classic costumes all in a black-and-white color palette. While you might not necessarily think of ghosts coordinating with cats, in this instance they do.
You can't go wrong going out trick-or-treating dressed as your favorite superheroes. These family costumes are easy to put together, even if you don't have great craft skills. Start with red shirts, pants, or tights, and then add the details with black, yellow, white, and orange felt.
These adorable costumes are inspired by the book "Where the Wild Things Are." And they are relatively simple to DIY. Fashion some wigs with horns, and you're well on your way to recreating this theme.
A Care Bear family makes for cozy and cute Halloween costumes. The entire ensemble is easy to make by using appliques on matching sweatpants and hoodies. As a bonus, these costumes will be comfortable for cool fall weather.
Rag dolls are a timeless and easily crafted costume idea. To get started, find some vintage clothes at a thrift shop in fun colors. Then, make some wigs out of red yarn, and paint some red cheeks and eyelashes on your face.
To achieve the "Harry Potter" look, fashion some simple black robes, and pair them with striped ties or scarves in the Hogwarts house colors of your choice. Adults in the family can dress as their favorite Hogwarts professors or other characters in the series.
"Scooby Doo" makes for fun retro Halloween costumes. Shaggy, Freddy, Daphne, and Velma looks can be recreated using thrift shop clothes and perhaps the right wig and glasses. And don't forget to make a dog costume for someone to be Scooby Doo.
Channel your inner troglodyte by dressing your family as some cavemen. To do this, get some animal print fabric for costumes that wrap simply around you. As far as accessories go, craft some paper mache clubs, wigs, and a few bones to use in your hairdo.
One fun way to dress your family as the cast of "Willy Wonka" is to have the kids be the adults and the adults be the kids. For instance, one child can be Willy Wonka, and another can be an Oompa Loompa. Adults can dress as Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, Augustus Gloop, or Charlie Bucket.
For very simple Halloween family costumes that are quick to throw together, consider this one inspired by "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." Bring the book characters to life with printable masks, white shirts, and black pants. You probably have everything you need for these costumes already.
Have fun dressing the whole family as characters from the movie "Toy Story." Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Andy, Mr. Potato Head, Mrs. Potato Head, Little Bo Peep, Slinky Dog, Rex, Hamm the Piggy Bank, and other characters provide lots of opportunities to be creative. And this theme is perfect if you have a large family or want to coordinate costumes with friends.
Dressing up as "Star Wars" characters doesn't have to cost a lot of money for store-bought costumes. Simply use bathrobes, and only spring for store-bought lightsabers and blasters to get the classic looks. You can use cardboard, felt, and other craft supplies to create the more complex costumes, such as R2-D2.
"Peter Pan" can easily inspire costumes for the whole family. There's Peter himself, Wendy Darling, Tinker Bell, Captain Hook, Smee, and the Lost Boys to name some options. These characters can suit family members of all ages and make you feel like you never want to grow up.
Get a little corny with these farm-inspired costumes. Some options include ears of corn, other crops, farm animals, and farmers. Clothing in the appropriate colors, along with felt to add the details, can easily make these costumes come to life.
Creating your own little beehive makes for a fun and adorable family Halloween costume. The kids can dress as the bees, and the adults can be the beekeepers. In this family, the mother was pregnant and dressed as the hive itself.
This idea is great if you need to put costumes together quickly. Simply find red-and-white striped shirts, red beanie hats, and black glasses to turn your family into a group of Waldos. You'll get to enjoy comfortable everyday clothes while having a clear costume theme.
Halloween is a time to bring on the sweets—including doughnuts. For this family costume, adults can dress in an apron and a baker's hat. And kids can dress as actual doughnuts. You can even let them choose their favorite flavor.
"Mary Poppins" has many classic characters with fun vintage style. From a candy-striped suit to chimney-sweep makeup, you can have a lot of fun putting together these costumes. And don't forget the quintessential black umbrella.
It'll be all fun and games when your family dresses as Pacman characters. Dress the adults in cardboard Pacman costumes, and make the kids the ghosts. Once everyone's in costume, you can act out the game by having the kids chase the adults.