Halloween’s fast approaching — and if you’re at a loss for costumes, you’ve come to the right place!
Here are 25 costume ideas for your kids, inspired by Cincinnati. Many of these costumes are very DIY-friendly; you can easily assemble using stuff you’ve got at home or tucked away in the basement. For additional costume essentials or accessories, consider a trip to Cincinnati’s very own costume consigner, Cappel’s.
- A Skyline Chili server (or La Rosa’s or Graeter’s)
- Flying Pig Marathoners
- Thane Maynard and a few zoo animals (great for a big family!)
- Carol Ann’s Carousel figures
- A Graeter’s ice cream cone (here’s a basic costume — be sure to replace the rainbow sprinkles with Graeter’s signature chocolate chunks!)
- The Reds (pick your favorite players — old or new! Pete Rose, Johnny Bench or Barry Larkin are favorite hometown heroes)
- A Kroger bagger or parking lot attendant (have your little one push a kid-sized cart full of Kroger bags!)
- Bengals or Cyclones
- Crosstown shootout players — a UC player and XU player
- Nutcracker dancers (ballerinas, the Rat King, Nutcrackers — there are lots of options!)
- Local boy band fave 98 Degrees
- 27th U.S. President William Howard Taft (famous for his large size and handlebar mustache. And getting stuck in his bathtub.)
- Famous author and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Reds commentators Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxall (go ’70s style with plaid blazers, wigs and microphones and/or headphones)
- Doris Day (glam up a little girl with a platinum blonde wig, red lips and ’50s dress)
- Big Boy of Frisch’s Big Boy (red overalls, black boots and that iconic Big Boy hair swoop!)
- Otis the Tractor (series by local author Loren Long)
- A cardinal (Ohio State’s bird)
- All Star players with giant, exaggerated moustaches
- Oktoberfest kids in lederhosen and boots!
- Chef Jean-Robert de Cavel (have your child carry chef’s utensils)
- The Genius of Water (the lady at the center of the Fountain Square statue)
- A riverboat captain (get a captain’s hat, whistle and white pants/top)
- Neil Armstrong (any standard astronaut costume will work!)
- Annie Oakley (a fun play on the typical cowgirl costume)
So consider a Cincinnati costume for your kids this year — we live in a great city, and there’s a lot for us to be proud of!
P.S. Any of the characters on this list would be great for the Enquirer’s annual Dress the Turkey Contest* (especially #4 and #19, which are timely as well as local).
*this is the link to last year’s contest; the Enquirer usually opens this contest mid-October, so check back frequently!