What to Wear on Halloween if You're Not Dressing Up

Halloween is only a few weeks away believe it or not, and that means probably buying your kids new costumes because they’ve now changed their mind about what they want to be, trying not to eat the Halloween candy that you’ve stockpiled and hid from your family, and the Halloween parties and activities are starting. Maybe it’s just my town but there are so many Halloween activities this year. It feels like there’s something almost every day leading up to the actual day — a Halloween parade, class Halloween parties, Halloween-themed movie night, spooky festivals, Halloween-themed bashes, the list goes on. I feel like it may also be the results of a post-Covid world or just having multiple children who now get invited to things (well, maybe not Brooks but he’s along for the ride). In any event, they go big on Halloween around here, and that means needing lots of things to wear. I always thought I’d have a big family and we’d all dress up in matching family costumes. But now that I have my own family, I realize how hard that actually is to pull off. James and Charlotte never want to be even close to the same thing, Dakota will chew off any costume we deign to put on her, Brooks will pull his off, and then by the time I have everyone else figured out, I’m too worn down and exhausted to choose my own, so I just can’t put together something for every single Halloween event. Also, for a lot of them, most parents don’t dress up, so it doesn’t feel all Scrooge-esque to just forgo the costume or throw on some cat ears. But that begs the question, what to wear on Halloween if you’re not dressing up or to any Halloween festivity.

I do think that throwing on an all-black outfit and cat ears or leopard print or some bunny ears even or some wig you find can work, but sometimes you just aren’t feeling it or just want to throw on some clothes you can then wear to a sporting event or the grocery store or wherever. I get it. I really wanted to be fun mom, but I’m so tired, it doesn’t really seem like the case. So here are my ideas for what to wear on Halloween if you’re not dressing up that work just as well for any Halloween party.