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In my Halloween opinion, men tend to fall into one of two categories—either they’ve been planning their costume for months and it involves elaborate structures and pyrotechnics, or they’ll slap together a makeshift costume right before you leave the house. If your guy is one of the latter, then don’t worry! Here are five last-minute literary costumes for the last-minute man in your life:

Huckleberry Finn

Halloween - Huckleberry Finn

Help your fellow get his vagabond on in this simple river-traveling outfit, complete with fishing pole and straw hat. Anyone will have the basics in their closet, though you might need to splurge on some suspenders and rope to make a belt.

Holden Caulfield

Halloween - Holden

This is the perfect costume for a cold Halloween night—just wrap up in a warm red hat, a plaid scarf, and a tailored jacket. The vintage suitcase might be the hardest item to find, but just go raid your grandmother’s closet and you’re in business.

Edward Cullen

Halloween - Edward

Toss some glitter on his skin, throw him into a pea-coat, pomade that hair, and you’ve got a perfect Edward Cullen. This costume will probably be a hard sell, but just promise that you won’t make him watch Twilight ever again if he agrees.

Sherlock Holmes

Halloween - Sherlock

If you’re dating a dapper guy, he might already have a deerstalker hat, a bowtie, and a pipe. The rest of us will just have to scour some thrift stores. But still, this costume is a great way to stay warm, easy to put together, and it makes us think of Benedict Cumberbatch, which is always a good thing.

Hunter S. Thompson

Halloween - Hunter S. Thompson

Finally—an excuse for him to wear that Hawaiian shirt his uncle bought him five years ago for no reason. Add a cheap fly swatter, some aviators and a white bucket hat and he’s the perfect drug-crazed author.

Genre: Potpourri
Rachel Carter

Rachel Carter grew up surrounded by trees and snow and mountains. She graduated from the University of Vermont and Columbia University, where she received her MFA in nonfiction writing. She is the author of the So Close to You series with Harperteen. These days you can find her working on her next novel in the woods of Vermont.

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