I get a surprising number of hits for my Heaven and Hell costumes still (Angels and Devils). And a high number of queries about male costumes for said parties. I briefly glossed over male outfits, but realized I probably should have gone into a bit more detail.
I will start off by saying that I am no expert on dressing men for costume parties, but in my experience, there are only three qualifications for men to dress up for these parties, in general.
1. Easy. If there was ever a theme party where my friends could just pull something out of their closet, they would dress to the nines for it. That’s why Pi Kapp’s Cancun party was their staple. Every guy could look in their closet and say “Well, I have swim trunks.” Done. Easy.
2. Comfortable. No masks. Nothing too cumbersome. Nothing too elaborate (usually). Comfort and ease were the two biggest determining factors in any costume my friends picked.
3. Hilarious. If they happened to come up with something more than the equivalent of throwing on a pair of swim trunks, it had to be hilarious. I was once told that Halloween is for girls to be sexy and guys to be funny. Theme parties follow the same principle.
The fourth factor was whether or not it was one of their staple parties. If this was the party the fraternity was generally known for, then a good number of the guys tended to go all out (generally a reason SAE conveniently scheduled their Pirate Party in late September). Heaven and Hell happened to be Sig Ep’s Fall staple party and it was usually held in late November.
Here are a few of the more “hilarious” costumes my friends came up with:
Hell’s Angels
Let’s examine the factors here. Is it easy? Find a leather jacket and throw on jeans. Anyone own a bandana? Yes. Is it comfortable? Until you get too hot in the basement, sure. Perfect excuse to invite girls upstairs for shots. Is it hilarious? The cleverness associated with picking this costume for the theme aside, you tell me… Perfect.
Jesus
No one should find this surprising at all. Easy, comfortable (one of my friends once told me he was free balling in his costume), hilarious. Done.
80’s Hairband named “Heaven’s Devils”
So this was the year some of my friends decided to dress up as a metal band for Halloween… I imagine you can guess where the costumes came from for the party then.
“Devil of a good time!”
I’m about to show my age, I think… So there was this song called “Dick in a Box” my freshman year… Having debuted after the party, one of my friends showed up the next year with a box inscribed “A Devil of a good time!” Pretty much like this with writing on it.
Those were my favorites, but I had a few friends dress up as Satan and one friend dress up as Gene Simmons once too.
So to all those guys that were scouring the internet for ideas, apparently I am the foremost expert on the subject. So from now on, just remember to stand by your principles of costuming (easy, comfortable, hilarious), and you’ll be fine.
If you’re really in doubt, I’m sure your closet has a white or red shirt in it that you can wear.
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