Plan a group Halloween costume that works for your headcount: matched themes, a role for every person, per-person costs and a group build schedule.
One square per person, in the order you will hand out roles. Repeat squares are the crowd roles.
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Start from the number of people, not the theme. A five-person idea that needs a sixth role is a worse plan than a theme with a crowd role that absorbs any headcount. The planner only shows themes that can seat your whole group, then fills the named roles first and repeats the crowd role for everyone left over.
The repeatable part of a theme: the dalmatians in a Cruella group, the zombies in a survivor group, the playing-card guards in Alice in Wonderland, the ghosts in a Pac-Man group. Crowd roles cost the least and take the least time, which is also what makes a big group affordable — six dalmatians is a spotty onesie each, not six bespoke costumes.
Each theme has a per-person cost assuming charity-shop finds and a few bought accessories. The group total multiplies that by your headcount, so a £12-per-person theme for twelve people is £144 — worth seeing before anyone commits. Effort filters the themes that need sewing or foam work.
Agree one visual rule — the same shade of black, everyone in a white shirt, all spots roughly the same size — and let the roles differ inside it. A group photo reads as a group when the palette matches, not when the costumes are identical. The "Make it work" list has the rest.
Because crowd roles repeat, losing one person just removes one square; losing a named lead means promoting a crowd member, so keep one spare accessory for each lead role. Themes with a crowd role survive a changing guest list far better than fixed-size groups.
Last reviewed: 2026-10-20. Costs are UK planning figures per person and exclude shoes and makeup you already own.