In Praise of Celebrities’ Lazy Halloween Costumes in 2023

Smile, you’re on camera: if you’re in the public eye, Halloween might increasingly feel like one big photo shoot. Social feeds are filled with celebrity costume posts featuring glossy retouching, multiple expensive ensembles, and over-the-top edits. And while that creativity definitely deserves to be celebrated, so do the lazy, perhaps last-minute costumes keeping the holiday humble.

Demi Lovato had a particularly refreshing take, skipping down the street in an inflatable pickle outfit without a care in the world. Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade also went the simple route with their couples’ costume, dressing up as two halves of a PB&J sandwich, and snapping a few candid photos in the backyard with their daughter, Kaavia. The internet doesn’t always give this toned-down style its flowers, but let’s not forget you don’t need a rockstar budget and professional photographer to have a standout Halloween costume.

Before Halloween developed such a significant online presence, costumes felt like a creative challenge: the last-minute DIY was part of the fun — something even celebrities seemed to understand. The execution wasn’t always perfect, but the concepts were unique and the spirit was unparalleled.

Fast forward to today, and Halloween feels different. Spectators demand to be entertained, so celebrities hire entire glam teams, videographers, even Cirque Du Soleil performers just to reach the bar they set for themselves. If you don’t go all out, you’re called lazy, unoriginal, or sloppy, but truthfully, we loved seeing so many celebs going back to basics.

Read on to see some of our favorite “lazy” celebrity Halloween costumes, and remember that Halloween is so much more than just a picture-perfect outfit.