Two of the best parts of Halloween are the creepy costumes and the spooky shows and movies, and sometimes, these two elements combine for greatness. Yes, over the years, Halloween has been celebrated within fictional stories, causing popular characters to dress up while celebrating the holiday.
There have been some super memorable ensembles seen in these Halloween episodes and films, but the 10 that are on this list may be the most iconic of all time. And things can get really meta for fans when they dress up as characters dressed up as celebrities, vegetables, monsters, animals and so on.
Leslie As Rosie The Riveter (Parks & Rec)
Parks and Recreation was on the air between 2009 and 2015, starring Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, who ran the Pawnee Parks Department with a whole lot of enthusiasm and care.
In the fifth episode of Season 5, “Halloween Surprise," Leslie dressed up as the famous World War II icon Rosie the Riveter. The blue utilitarian outfit and the red bandanna are both so recognizable, and Leslie wore it well.
Ross As Spud-Nik (Friends)
As perhaps the most popular and beloved television series of all time, Friends also gave the world a notable costume. The episode “The One With The Halloween Party” happened during Season 8 and featured Monica and Chandler throwing a costume party.
There was Monica as Catwoman, Phoebe as Supergirl, and Chandler as a pink bunny but the best costume award obviously goes to Ross as Spud-nik, a play on the Russian satellite and a potato. The costume was so effective that Joey thought Ross came dressed as a "doodie."
Dani As A Witch (Hocus Pocus)
Hocus Pocus is a must-watch every year, and the Sanderson sisters came back on Halloween. Therefore, the mom and dad, Dave and Jenny Dennison, went to a party as a vampire and Madonna, respectively. Max was wearing a baseball cap, so his sister said he was a little leaguer.
Meanwhile, cute little Dani (as portrayed by Thora Birch) was a witch. How fitting.
Jim As Three Hole Punch Jim (The Office)
The Office, which was on from 2005 to 2013, showed off an array of Halloween costumes over the course of many Halloween episodes. Some examples include Meredith as Black Widow, Kelly as Carrie Bradshaw, Andy as a cat from the musical Cats and Creed, Kevin and Dwight as The Joker.
While his officemates all came in as famous pop culture icons, Jim’s getups were always very simple yet clever. One year, he showed up as Three Hole Punch Jim. Since then, these three basic circles have surely popped up at real-life costume parties around the world.
The Whole Cast On Halloween (New Girl)
Another comedy series that really delivered in this department was New Girl. “Halloween" was episode six of Season 2, and it featured the following costumes: Jess was the zombie of Christina Barcelona (or was it the zombie of Woody Allen?), Schmidt was Abraham Lincoln then Matthew McConaughey in Magic Mike, Winston was a cop, Cece was an angel, Robby was a Ninja Turtle and Sam was a clown.
Some of the most creative ideas were Nick as Bea Arthur (which was basically a bee antenna and a shirt that said “Arthur”) and Shelby as “reigning” cats and dogs (which included stuffed animals and a crown). Talk about witty!
E.T. As A Ghost (E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial)
Directed by Steven Spielberg, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial came out in 1982, starring Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore and Dee Wallace, and it also had a scene that took place during this holiday.
E.T. sort of already looked like he was dressed in a creepy outfit, but the kids had to take it a step further; they snuck him out of the house and past their mother by putting a sheet over him and calling him a ghost. Needless to say, it worked.
The Hanging Chad & The Slutty Pumpkin (How I Met Your Mother)
Every year on Halloween on How I Met Your Mother, Ted wore a hanging chad and waited for the Slutty Pumpkin to show up.
Yes, he was wearing this costume when he met a woman in that costume — a woman who made a drink called a Tootsie Roll and who gave Ted her phone number on a Kit Kat wrapper.
Roseanne & Dan As A Ventriloquist & A Puppet (Roseanne)
When it comes to TV shows, Roseanne was the queen on Halloween and each year, the themed episodes were full of even more and even better pranks and ensembles. While Roseanne and Dan showed up in so many great looks in this series, there best may have been a ventriloquist and a puppet.
It looked like they were dead, it looked like Roseanne was sitting on Dan’s knee. At the end, after he took a drink of water, it looked like said water was coming out of the holes in her, caused by the worms that ate her after being buried!
Becky As A Half-Dead Prom Queen, Darlene’s Demon Puppet & D.J. As The Alfalfanator (Roseanne)
The love of the holiday was passed down to the Conner children on Roseanne, too, and three costumes really seem to stand out, even after all this time.
Becky was once shown in a pretty prom dress, but when she turned around, one half of her body was made to look like she was dead. Darlene once said she had a stomachache, and then a demon baby tore its way out of her sweatshirt. And D.J. once dressed up as Alfalfa, but he wanted to be The Terminator, resulting in a new look: The Alfalfanator.
The Plastics' Halloween Party Get-Up (Mean Girls)
And, of course, there was Chris Eisel's Halloween party from Mean Girls. Given that the movie is set in high school, it shouldn't be surprising that the cast went to a Halloween party in goofy costumes.
Regina George, the leader of The Plastics, was a bunny. Gretchen Wieners was Catwoman. Karen Smith was a mouse, duh. And Cady Heron came in a wedding dress, with fake teeth and with fake blood all over her. Though she looked like The Bride of Frankenstein, she was actually dressed as someone relatively more realistic: an ex-wife.