5 Family Halloween Costumes Inspired by Classic ‘80s Movies

For our first official Halloween shoot as a family, I knew we had to come up with some epic costumes. We couldn’t go 2017 trendy. We had to go back to where we came from: the ‘80s. Both my husband David and I were born in 1983, and while we identify more strongly with the ‘90s grunge vibe, our childhood memories are firmly rooted in this throwback era. Mystical bear-like creatures in forests, goblin kings, and R.O.U.S.’s were all fair game in our long lost neon decade. Scroll on for five family Halloween costume ideas perfect for children of the ‘80s who now find themselves with kiddos of their own.

Beetlejuice: If you haven’t seen Tim Burton’s ‘80s classic film, it’s time to add that ‘ish to your Halloween movie playlist. In this costume, we’re the parents, Turkey is Beetlejuice, and Anokhi is Lydia. Easily my favorite costume *and* the most effortless one to put together thanks to our Halloween BFF, Amazon.

The first step is to open up your laptop. Head to Amazon and add all of these goodies to your cart: Beetlejuice Pet Costume; the Dad (Adam) Mask; the Mom (Martha) Mask; Handbook for the Recently Deceased; and this Red Baby Girls’ Pageant Dress. For the parents’ outfits, we found these pieces at Goodwill, but you can probably dig up something similar in your closet.

The icing on the cake is Anokhi’s “veil.” We cut out a spiky piece of black foam and hot glued it to a piece of red tulle and tied it around her little noggin.

Peekaboo!

Top Gun: Maverick? Check. Iceman? Yep. Goose? Obvs our little goose makes the perfect Anthony Edwards! Grab your aviators and get ready to teach your mini me to fly.

Shop around for army green, khaki, or navy jumpsuits or a dress like the one we found. You can order a batch of movie-inspired patches on, you guessed it, Amazon! Once you’ve got those, you can turn basically anything into a Top Gun costume. For the babe, we found a pilot onesie and hat set.

Anokhi girl, you take my breath away ;)

Return of the Jedi Ewoks: I have legitimately always wanted to be an Ewok. And I can sense that our dog Turkey is a total Ewok-in-disguise too. So now that I’ve written the word Ewok way more times in one paragraph than is journalistically acceptable, let’s move on to how to make your own Ewok (!!) family.

Head to a local thrift shop to find brown pants and long-sleeve tops for the grown ups, and a brown onesie for the little one. You can get faux suede for the little hoods and faux fur for the furry details at any fabric store. Fold a ½ yard of suede in half, then cut out a hole in one side for your face. Cut two small holes at the top and use hot glue to attach furry ears that pop out. Use a black marker to create the design at the top that mimics the stitching on the Ewoks’ hoods.

I mean, WHAT? Anokhi is feeling her inner Ewok.

Three little bears... errr, Ewoks ;)

Here's lookin' at you, kid.

The Princess Bride: Next up, one of our favorite ‘80s love stories, The Princess Bride. David kind of IS Westley, right? As you wiiiiiiish!

For Westley’s costume, hit up Amazon or a costume store to find a lace-up shirt like the one David’s rocking. Pair it with black pants, black pleather boot covers, a black mask, and a black piece of fabric as the bandana. For Princess Buttercup, find a red or orange dress and tie a rope around your waist. Top it off with a blond wig, styled in that perfectly tousled, braided Robin Wright-Penn way. We found a cute little mouse costume for Anokhi’s rodent role to complete our trio.

We considered casting Anokhi into the part of Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin’s vengeance-seeking swordsman), Fezzik (played by Andre the Giant), or Vizzini (one of Wallace Shawn’s greatest performances), but settled on an R.O.U.S. — rodent of unusual size.

Labyrinth: ICYMI, David Bowie was in a fantastical movie in the ‘80s and you need to see it ASAP. It’s creepy, strange, and beautiful all at the same time. In this costume, I play the role of Sarah, Anokhi is the babe, and my husband David is the legendary Goblin King.

“You remind of the babe. What babe? The babe with the power. What power? The power of Voo Doo. Who do? You do. Do what? Remind me of the babe!”

To create your own Labyrinthian ensemble, we’ll start with Sarah. We found this wedding dress in a thrift shop (obvs!) and the rest was easy! Tease your hair and add silver and white pipe cleaners and ribbons to it to mimic her crown.

For the Goblin King, David is wearing gray leggings, black pleather boot covers, a black vest, a blousy off-white shirt, and a teased-up blond wig. This is definitely the simplest take on the Goblin King, but you can take it to the next level with a long black leather jacket/cape hybrid and, of course, extensive makeup. For the babe, all you need is a red and white striped onesie.

I have to admit, it was pretty fun to wear a wedding dress again!

Love this little babe so dang much.

Thanks, as always, to Misty Spinney for making our family’s Halloween costume dreams come true! Hair, Makeup, and Styling: Misty Spinney Photography: Chris Andre Modeling: Anjelika Temple, David Temple, Anokhi Temple, and Turkey Temple