--- title: Last Minute Halloween Costumes: Comebacks for Not Dressing Up description: You'll be asked what you are so many times, you can test them all! canonical: https://time.com/3550999/halloween-costumes/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-31T16:41:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:14:15.228Z og:title: 11 Ways to Trick People Into Thinking Your Regular Clothes Are a Halloween Costume og:description: You'll be asked what you are so many times, you can test them all! og:url: https://time.com/3550999/halloween-costumes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 11 Ways to Trick People Into Thinking Your Regular Clothes Are a Halloween Costume twitter:description: You'll be asked what you are so many times, you can test them all! twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 11 Ways to Trick People Into Thinking Your Regular Clothes Are a Halloween Costume by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Oct 31, 2014 4:41 PM UTC by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Oct 31, 2014 4:41 PM UTC So you don’t like dressing up for Halloween. And while you’re completely comfortable with your decision to abstain — be it due to time, money or just general ennui — you probably aren’t excited for the inevitable person in a sexy Frida Kahlo costume stopping you in a bar, raising her one eyebrow and pointedly asking: “So what are _you_ supposed to be?” Rather than running across the room screaming, “Damn you, costume-[sugar](http://time.com/3541173/john-oliver-sugar-industry-takedown/) industrial complex!,” here are some retorts you can use to trick people into thinking your regular clothes are actually a Halloween costume. When someone asks what you’re dressed up as, you can say: 1. I’m a conscientious objector 2. I’m the bass player from \[insert pretentious sounding, fake band name here\] 3. I’m an undercover cop 4. I’m covering this for _The Times_ \[scribble notes furiously\] 5. I’m a fashion blogger \[take picture of them with iPhone, glare\] 6. I’m hungover 7. I’m a secular humanist 8. \[Shout\] This is what a feminist looks like! 9. I’m [normcore](http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/02/normcore-fashion-trend.html) 10. I’m #blessed/#flawless 11. I’m sexy \[insert your full name here, un-do top button, raise your two eyebrows back at sexy Frida\] And there you have it. Considering how many times you’ll get asked what you are for Halloween, you’ll probably get the opportunity to test all of our comebacks. (Maybe multiple times). **See More:** [The Definitive History of Sexy Halloween Costumes](http://time.com/3547024/sexy-halloween-costumes-history/) [Inside the Weird World of Sexy Halloween Costumes for Dogs](http://time.com/3513988/sexy-halloween-costumes-dogs/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3550999/halloween-costumes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3550999/halloween-costumes/"},"headline":"11 Ways to Trick People Into Thinking Your Regular Clothes Are a Halloween Costume","datePublished":"2014-10-31T16:41:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:14:15.228Z","description":"You'll be asked what you are so many times, you can test them all!","url":"https://time.com/3550999/halloween-costumes/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Living","society","photography","halloween"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3550999/halloween-costumes/","name":"11 Ways to Trick People Into Thinking Your Regular Clothes Are a Halloween Costume"}}]}] ```