It’s hard to land on a good Halloween costume as an adult. It’s easy for kids who want to be their favorite superhero, princess or monster, but for grownups, you probably want to be clever, or utilize whatever crafting skills you have. One really good way to do that is to make a Maine-themed costume and show off your bona fides as a resident of the Pine Tree State.
There are, of course, the obvious Maine choices: a lobster, a moose, a lumberjack. Those are all well and good, but they won’t earn you any applause for your cleverness and ingenuity. Anyone can go to Spirit Halloween and get a Pennywise costume and go as Stephen King’s most famous villain. It takes real smarts to dig deep and find something that’ll wow people.
Here are 11 Maine Halloween costume ideas, from the elaborate down to the extremely simple.
Joshua Chamberlain
Find the biggest, most glorious fake mustache you can. Find a blue coat or jacket — ideally one with the cool Civil War-style buttons down the front, but any plain-looking wool or cotton coat would work. Pair it with blue pants and tall boots, and see if you can find a sword or any medals or other fake insignia to become Chamberlain, native-born Mainer and hero of the Battle of Gettysburg. You could also buy a ready-made Civil War costume from various costume retailers, but make sure it’s of the Union boys in blue, and not the other guys that lost.
The Eastport fisherman statue
Blue shirt, white pants, tall waterproof boots and a blue knit cap — or a yellow rain jacket, if you’d prefer. Find the biggest, most glorious fake brown beard you can, and a big ol’ fake fish to carry, and be the iconic statue on Eastport’s waterfront. Alternately, you could just go as a crusty old Maine sailor and tell people that the sea, she’s a cruel mistress.
An electrocuted squirrel
Buy or make a squirrel costume. Use spray glue to make the fur stand straight on end. Get some yellow felt and cardboard and make little lightning bolts, and attach them to a headband. Paint a cardboard box green and label it as a Versant Power or Central Maine Power transformer, which you, the squirrel, have been electrocuted by and have knocked out power to an entire neighborhood.
A NIMBY
Wear your fanciest clothes and tell everyone to go somewhere else. Could double as a wealthy summer resident.
Tom Brandy
Wear a Tom Brady football jersey and drink Allen’s Coffee Brandy all night. Revel in the eye rolls and groans when you tell people what your costume is.
A black fly
Dress all in black. Find some white or clear wings online or in a costume shop, or make your own. Get some swim goggles and paint them black and red, and wear them on your forehead, like a black fly’s creepy little eyes. You could make fliers to give out telling people why bug spray is bad. Put a red-colored beverage in a clear vessel and label it blood or “human juice.” If you really want to commit to the bit, ask people to slap you.
The 2024 solar eclipse (couples costume)
One person goes as the sun. One person goes as the moon. The moon stands in front of the sun all night. It’s cute!
A red snapper
Hot dog costumes are ubiquitous in-person and online at stores like Target, Walmart, Party City and Spirit Halloween. Get some bright red fabric paint and touch your purchase up to be the distinctively unnatural crimson red of a Maine hot dog. Carry around a bag of Humpty Dumpty chips, a can of Moxie and a whoopie pie to complete the ensemble.
A tourist
Get hold of clothes from retailers like Patagonia, Cotopaxi or L.L. Bean. Ask a local restaurant if you can have a lobster bib to wear. Take selfies with everyone and ask them where to go see a moose. Mispronounce names like “Bangor” and “Saco” and “Calais.”
A fringe Stephen King character
There are plenty of other Stephen King characters to choose from besides Pennywise and Carrie White. You could be the cute little undead kitty cat Church from “Pet Sematary.” You could go as Jordy Verrill, the dim-witted character played by Stephen King himself in the camp classic “Creepshow.” Or, if you’re really ambitious, you could craft an extra dimensional monster costume from “The Mist.”
The Orrington trash fire
Cut holes for your arms and head into a heavy-duty trash bag. Draw flames on pieces of paper and artfully stick them on the trash bag. Bonus points if you can make or find an eagle mask or hat to represent Eagle Point Energy Center. If people from outside of eastern Maine don’t have any idea what happened in Orrington, you can just tell them you’re dressed as the current state of politics in this country.
Bangor Daily News assistant editorial page editor Matt Junker contributed to this story.
