{"id":340424,"date":"2025-10-29T09:22:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T09:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/340424\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T09:22:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T09:22:25","slug":"diy-philly-halloween-costumes-guide-2025-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/340424\/","title":{"rendered":"DIY Philly Halloween costumes guide: 2025 edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s happened again. You\u2019ve procrastinated and now you need a spooky seasonal costume for the Halloween festivities. Amazon\u2019s quickest shipping estimate feels like a dice roll and you haven\u2019t tested your arts-and-crafts skills since third grade.<\/p>\n

It probably won\u2019t be pretty, but you can at least make your costume a recognizable nod to the local storylines that stood out this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As is our tradition, Billy Penn has pulled together our suggestions for very Philly costumes, inspired by the more memorable happenings from the past year. The designs have been kept as simple as possible, made from things you either already have sitting around your home or could buy\/make for a couple of bucks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Phillies Karen\u2019<\/p>\n

The most viral moment of the Phils baseball season happened in a September game against the Marlins in Miami. Harrison Bader\u2019s home run led to a dispute between the man who collected the ball for his son and a woman who felt it was taken from her, all in Phillies gear. The woman eventually got the ball, along with the collective ire of social media. The boy, Lincoln Feltwell, got a signed bat from Bader<\/a>, and we all hopefully learned a lesson about recklessly meting out justice through social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"BP trending news reporter Nick Kariuki as\u00a0\u201cPhillies Karen.\u201d (Kimberly Paynter\/WHYY)<\/p>\n

Apart from getting hold of a silver-grey wig from a costume store or online, this is a pretty easy costume to throw together if you\u2019re a Phillies fan, or know some. To create the look of the hoodie the woman was wearing, you can combine a Phils red hoodie with a white or cream jersey over it. Throw in blue jeans, glasses and whatever baseballs you can find, which you\u2019ll guard as fiercely as Gollum with that bauble in \u201cLord of the Rings.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This costume has already taken off in ballparks around the country<\/a>. It could also work as a family costume if you have a willing child to snatch the ball from.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A trash pile<\/p>\n

Probably the most memorable sight \u2014 and smell \u2014 of District Council 33\u2019s eight-day strike was the piles of uncollected trash building up all over the city<\/a>, while the city and the city\u2019s largest labor union worked out a new contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some called the collected trash \u201cParker Piles,\u201d to tie the strike to Mayor Parker. The sight of your disheveled mess of a costume should instantly remind locals of the standoffs at trash dumps, LL Cool J dropping out of the Wawa Welcome to America concert and the smelliest Fourth of July most can remember.<\/p>\n

\"\"BP investigative reporter Meir Rinde as a trash pile. (Kimberly Paynter\/WHYY)<\/p>\n

How to do it: Get a trash bag and cut it into four smaller bags. Add a few small plastic bags, fill each with crumpled newspaper, string them together and sling the strings over your neck. To top it off, investigative reporter Meir Rinde printed out a close-up photo of a fly and taped it onto a bag, helping to sell the smell aspect of the costume without needing to resort to actual stinky trash.<\/p>\n

A Philly Pope<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s Catholic population mourned the death of Pope Francis in April<\/a>, but his successor Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope, brought extra celebrations in the Philadelphia area for his ties to the city<\/a>.\u00a0 Robert Prevost, a Chicago native, graduated from Villanova University with a bachelor\u2019s degree in mathematics in 1977. While he\u2019s very likely the first pope to frequent Wawa, he has yet to divulge what his go-to order is<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"BP editor Kevin Donahue as the Philly Pope. (Kimberly Paynter\/WHYY)<\/p>\n

For the costume, go deep in your clothes drawer or find a rubber container in your basement that has clothes from a decade ago, when Villanova was an NCAA title contender, and grab that old T-shirt. (Alternate, find a Rally House or Dick\u2019s.) A white smock or old housecoat can be turned into the cassock, and a 5-foot-long piece of white fabric that\u2019s about a foot wide can serve as the fascia, which is the sash. The cassock and fascia need to be white. Editor Kevin Donahue used posterboard, a gold marker and tape to make the hat.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not much to the construction. Google can give you the shape of the hat; trace and cut with scissors, color with gold marker. Throw on the T-shirt, then the cassock (Donahue tore it so you can see the T-shirt) and finally the fascia. Put on your hat, pick up a Bible and maybe a red Wawa bag. After all, red is a papal color.<\/p>\n

Voila, Sua Santit\u00e0!<\/p>\n

A Philly Labubu<\/p>\n

The Asian toy trend of menacing-looking rabbit dolls has taken over the world, including Philly<\/a>, along with the multitude of clothes and accessories for adorning them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pretty easy to find Eagles, Sixers or Phillies apparel for your little nightmare, so why not turn yourself into the biggest, most Philly Labubu you can?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"BP general assignment reporter Violet Comber-Wilen as a Philly Labubu. (Kimberly Paynter\/WHYY)<\/p>\n

First you need a \u201cPhilly base\u201d of accents that link the costume to the city. Reporter Violet Comber-Wilen went with an Eagles shirt and a Phillies hat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Next, build up the iconic and recognizable look of a Labubu. Comber-Wilen wore a fuzzy white coat under the Eagles shirt, ordered ears (which you can also craft) and made a Labubu face using cardboard, a Sharpie, felt paper, glue, scissors and popsicle sticks. Remember, it needs to have nine triangle teeth, otherwise it\u2019s a Lafufu.<\/p>\n

One additional step she learned from the many online tutorials by \u201cmom influencers\u201d was cutting up the felt paper into \u201cclaws\u201d that you can attach to your sleeves and pants.<\/p>\n

A SEPTA Regional Rail train, on fire<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a rough year for SEPTA. Along with the funding cuts stemming from the impasse over the state budget, several Regional Rail trains have caught on fire, leading the feds to order safety audits of the entire railcar fleet and more SEPTA employee safety training<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While a literal train fire is understandably terrifying for all involved<\/a>, the visual serves as an apt metaphor for a transportation agency that itself said it was headed towards \u201cdoomsday<\/a>\u201d if it didn\u2019t receive more, and more dependable, funding, in the future.<\/p>\n

\"\"BP intern Ben Bennett as as SEPTA Regional Rail car, on fire. (Kimberly Paynter\/WHYY)<\/p>\n

Building your own regional railcar at home isn\u2019t as hard as you think, Billy Penn intern Ben Bennett<\/a> says. Grab any rectangular box big enough for you to fit inside, cut off the flaps, and paint the whole outside grey. Next, paint on the blue and red SEPTA stripes. Once that dried, he traced and cut out oval windows.<\/p>\n

Your car is now finished \u2014 it\u2019s time to add the fire. Take some orange construction paper and cut out flames to fill in the windows, securing them on the inside with tape. To finish it off, attach some kitchen twine to the inside of the car to create straps for the box to hang from your shoulders. Now you\u2019re all set to have the hottest costume this Halloween.<\/p>\n

Pa. state candy poll<\/p>\n

After a Pa. House bill was introduced to make Hershey Kisses Pennsylvania\u2019s official state candy, we asked the Billy Penn audience what candy they thought should represent the state. Harrisburg\u2019s pick came third and Reese\u2019s Peanut Butter Cups was surprisingly second, behind the humble Goldenberg\u2019s Peanut Chews.<\/p>\n