Leber: Happy Halloween costume ideas for couples

I don't have an especially strong attachment to Halloween, but for the record, Halloween being on a Wednesday is lame. We should just petition to have Halloween always be the last Saturday of October. Most of you will likely be celebrating tomorrow, correct?

If so, you probably have your costume all set. However, for those last-minute kind of folks, here are some ideas for couples costumes.

1. Food. Apparently, when you ask your co-workers to help you think of quirky couples costumes ideas at 6:30 in the evening, you will get a lot of food-related suggestions. Peanut butter and jelly was mentioned more than once, as was salt and pepper. Once upon the 1980s, my parents were a hit as plain and peanut M&M's. My mother is still proud of this achievement. If you have two couples, you can go as parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. (Anyone who doesn't get that reference is fired).

2. Straight from the polls. Bring a little bit of levity to politics, and choose costumes based on the upcoming election. Try Romney and his binder full of women, Romney and Big Bird, Joe Biden and his dentist, Clint Eastwood and a chair, or to avoid showing favoritism, Romney and Obama. Extra points if you break out into a choreographed dance number at some point in the evening.

3. Plays on words. So ... I thought I was clever with my quick-fix idea: Get a couple of those "Hello, my name is" badges and write "Sam" on one and "Ella" on the other. Get it? Sam and Ella, salmonella. Yeah, I know. Womp. Womp. Well, TFP reader Robbie Moore put me to shame: "The year our daughter was in law school," she wrote, "her husband made a large cylinder (and) wrapped it in an Eveready label. She was a salt shaker." The couple's costume? Assault and battery. Love. It.

4. Fictional characters. Superman and Lois Lane, Bonnie and Clyde, Minnie and Mickey, Danny and Sandy, Edward and Bella ... all kind of tired, eh? Two people I know suggested Beetlejuice and Lydia. Other suggestions include Bill and Ted, Mario and Luigi, Lucy and Ethel, and Garfield and his lasagna. No, the Times Free Press does not endorse the notion that lasagna is fictional. Of course, you could go both simple and trendy by dressing up as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, but the costumes would probably be incomplete without some behavior better suited for a private party.

5. Miscellaneous. A pair of dice, yin and yang, Coca Cola and a polar bear, an apple and worm ... I suggested Jack the Ripper and Ginger Rogers as a play on Jack (Daniel's) and ginger (ale), but my good friend, TFP entertainment reporter Casey Phillips admonished that said costume might only be funny to "your AA friends." Hmmm.

Other suggestions included some costumes related to recent news headlines, but a number of those were in rather poor taste, so imagine and exercise at your own discretion.

Trick or treat.

Contact Holly Leber at hleber@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6391. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/hollyleber. Subscribe to her on Facebook at facebook.com/holly.j.leber.

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