Costumes: Sometimes They Miss The Boat

There are three ways a costume can go. There's the way we hope for:

"Oh! You're such-and-such! How clever, smart, witty, and generally all-around-perfect you are!"

And there's two ways we hope to avoid:

1 "You're what, again?"
2 "No - no no. I see what you're going for. I really do. Everyone else is just dumb."

It's those last two I'm going to talk about today.

Because you and your friends might know you were going for a zombie look, but the rest of us don't.
So to us, you look like you passed out and someone let a Sharpie loose. Is it just me, or does the one on the right look like he attempted Peter Criss? The other two at least have poorly imitated stitches and black eyes. So they must be zombies right?

If you're making your own costume for the first time, you should maybe show it to a close friend before making your debut. Because a friend will tell you that you don't look like a flashlight (or whatever this guy or girl was going for).
But that you actually look like a personal massager. (Seriously, IS that a guy or a girl?)

A trusted friend will also tell the five (or six) of you that you need to spend more than $17 on costumes for your group.
Because I get that this is a Star Wars reference, but take away the garbage can with the R2D2 sign and the C3PO sign and frankly, I'm lost. So unless you plan on standing together at all times, you're really doing a disservice to everyone that's going to see you.

Be careful to not go for something too obscure.
Is that a Shrek reference? A Star Trek reference? Or a combination of the two? Frankly, you just look odd. And the sexy face you're going for? I'd skip that. No one's going to want to take you home with green body paint.

You don't have to listen to me though. You can dress just like this guy:

And your picture can get leaked onto the internet. And people everywhere will wonder what you were thinking and just what in the hell is that guy supposed to be?

Then, you'll wish you had listened to me.