Ah, the pressure of finding the perfect costume. No time of year creates more costume-related stress than Autumn, and with Halloween just days away, the need to find an original/witty/attractive ensemble is increasing exponentially. However, this year, the App Store’s Halloween section makes costume planning a little less ghastly. Halloween Costume Generator is a treat I picked from the App Store goodie bag, and adds some much needed humor (and good ideas) to the dreaded and time-constrained costume hunt.

Ah, the pressure of finding the perfect costume. No time of year creates more costume-related stress than Autumn, and with Halloween just days away, the need to find an original/witty/attractive ensemble is increasing exponentially. However, this year, the App Store’s Halloween section makes costume planning a little less ghastly. Halloween Costume Generator is a treat I picked from the App Store goodie bag, and adds some much needed humor (and good ideas) to the dreaded and time-constrained costume hunt.

Right off the bat, Halloween Costume Generator gets you in the mood with it’s Halloween inspired graphics and background music. From there, you designate a gender (couple themes are also an option), the type of party you are attending (between bar hopping, work party, or kids’ party), and the mood you are feeling for the costume (ranging from frisky to bold to conservative). Once you have made all of these selections, you press Get My Costume! and your work is cut out for you.

Though some of the costume generations are pretty obvious or typical choices, it does provide some definite gems (ex. Youtube). At the very least, the ideas presented are enough to get your creative wheels turning, and give you some good laughs while you’re at it. Logistically speaking, the costume generation is accompanied by an image and tag line, the materials needed to create it, how to rock it, interesting tidbits about the costume so you can get more into character (for example, did you know there was a Bollywood version of “Thriller”?), group costume options (where applicable), and a theme song. There are also options to search Google Images for more visual inspirations, to e-mail the costume to yourself, or to add the idea to favorites so you can return to it after some internal debate.

There are only a few things that could be added to this devilishly smart app to make it absolutely wicked. I was expecting more event and mood options to choose from initially (however, don’t fret, there are costume ideas aplenty) — you’d think options like college parties, trick-or-treating, haunted houses, pretty, shocking, hilarious etc. would make it to the assortment. I also think the app would benefit from a link to buy the costumes online (when possible). Let’s face it, just because we have a costume idea does not mean we have the materials, drive, time, and/or creative juice to put it together from scratch (although props to the developers for encouraging scrappiness). Also, it could be a business deal in the making for the app developers.

Those minor details aside, Halloween Costume Generator is an app to have. At the very worst it  provides you with some chuckles, a way to kill time, and some good Halloween cheer, and at the very best it makes you the life of the Halloween party (or any costume party, for that matter). Do yourself a favor this Halloween, give yourself a creative break and let Halloween Costume Generator take care of the nitty-gritty.