Halloweekend in Saratoga: A Review
SLAH's yearly roundup of the Spa City's best costumes.
If you did anything yesterday besides scroll through Instagram and Facebook looking at Halloween costume pictures, more power to you. I, however, did not. And while my iPhone screen time report will probably be some ghastly number next week, my maniacal scrolling did have a purpose: compiling this list of our favorite 2022 Saratoga Halloween costumes:
Pop Culture Couture
Barbie won’t be out until 2023, but actors Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are already getting a lot of Halloween love for their roles in the upcoming movie. In addition to this rollerblading Ken and Barbie, we also saw a couple of convincing cowgirl Barbies—sparkly pink bell bottoms and all.
Beyond the Barbie world, there were Ted Lassos galore, plus some fairly easy costumes for a group: Top Gun pilots (see: the NEWS10 ABC team) and Peaky Blinders (you may have caught a cohort of well-dressed mobsters holding court at the Tap & Barrel bar on Friday night).
Squad Up
Speaking of group costumes, this year, one Saratogian pointed out, she saw “an unprecedented amount of Scooby Doo characters”—specifically Velmas and Daphnes. Some workplaces got in on the Halloween fun, including Lucy’s Bar, whose staff ventured to a cemetery to film a Catholic Church–inspired Instagram reel; and the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, whose team dressed up for work as—yes—people who work from home.
Throwback Thursday
One thing I love about Halloween is the timelessness of some costumes. And Saratogians pulled out some throwbacks this year. Think: Vector from Despicable Me, Alfredo and Remy from Ratatouille, Ricky Bobby from Talladega Nights, Ryan Gosling’s character from A Place Beyond the Pines (portrayed, fittingly, by a Schenectadian), Captain Underpants and Melanie Daniels from The Birds.
Dynamic Duos
We’ve already mentioned Ken and Barbie and Alfredo and Remy, but there were plenty more two-person costumes where they came from. You can always count on Andrea Zappone to kill the couple costume (or family costume!) game, and a few of her friends did this year as well. Be sure to check out Taylor “The Buttonista” Rao’s Vanna White and Pat Sajak, the most terrifying The Shining twins you’ve ever seen, and Ashlee Rose Hartley’s rousing reenactment of the Legally Blonde “bend and snap” scene.
Fan Favorites
And by fan favorites, I mean my favorites. I could keep going forever, but I’ll leave you five—no, six—more Capital Region costumes that made me stop my scrolling:
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Saratoga Living After Hours to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.