Once upon a time, it was acceptable – nay, even celebrated – to dress up as a sexy cat, witch, nurse or werewolf (among other things) for Halloween. These costumes were recognisable, sufficiently scary and easy enough to recreate if you had to come up with a costume at the last minute. However, in today’s irony-pilled climate, dressing up as a vampire or your favourite spooky character is simply not enough. Instead, you must don the most niche, confusing, and obscure meme to win Halloween.

From Moo Deng, the Olympic pole vaulter who bumped the pole with his bulge, to people dressing up as Gandalf with “big naturals”, the chronically online have seemingly taken over Halloween, as Kate Lindy reported in her piece for The Atlantic.

Lindy believes that obscure meme costumes are draining the joy from the holiday, writing, “Today, participating in Halloween can feel like being in a competition you did not enter – one that prioritises social media attention over genuine, person-to-person interactions.” Dazed political editor James Greig concurs with Lindy’s observation: “It feels like people are performing for the internet rather than trying to surprise and delight their own friends at the party they’re attending,” he explains. “I have seen some good ones, to be fair, but some of them are both way too niche and way too low effort.”

While these meme-inspired Halloween costumes may take us out of the moment and make us more online, they are undeniably funny. Here’s a round-up of our favourites from Hallo-weekend.

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The best of ‘Gay Halloween’

The best of ‘Gay Halloween’