“Mundane Halloween” Is Back With Hilariously Boring Costumes, Here Are 35 Of The Best Ones
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While every year, it’s becoming harder and harder to come up with a standout Halloween costume (I mean, Heidi Klum just dressed as a giant worm!), some people take a more down-to-earth approach.
In fact, there’s a whole trend known as “Mundane Halloween” where people dress up as super ordinary things and embody very day-to-day situations. The tradition was started in 2014 by a group at Daily Portal Z who “kind of wanted to participate in the festivities of Halloween, but were too embarrassed to go all out in witch or zombie costumes,” and became particularly popular in Japan.
The idea is simple – instead of putting up a flashy and flamboyant costume that may earn everyone’s hearts but make you feel awkward and out of place, you don’t need anything special, really. The more mundane your look is, the better it is!
So scroll down for this year’s best Mundane Halloween costumes, and be sure to check out the best ones from previous years here, here and here.
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Person Whose Face Is Blurred Out On Google Street View
The Mundane Halloween trend, also known as Jimi Halloween (地味ハロウィン), started back in 2014 and earned the hearts of people who were not willing to go bananas with their spooky costumes. In fact, the main idea of a mundane costume is to dress as casually as you can and incarnate into something super ordinary on purpose. Costumes also come with boring, everyday backgrounds and stories like spilling coffee or standing in a queue.
Person Who Accidentally Shook Their Carbonated Beverage Before Opening It
One time for crazy hair day in 3rd grade, i had pretty long hair, so we attached an empty coke bottle to a headband, cut a hole in the bottom, and we did a ponytail at the top of my head, then ran it thru the coke bottle and into the red solo cup also attached to the headband. I got a lottttt of weird looks on the bus.
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To find out more about this whimsical Mundane Halloween trend, Bored Panda reached out to Johnny Waldman, artist, writer and founder of Spoon & Tamago, an international blog that is based out of New York City and Tokyo, Japan. Using his unique background and international perspective, Spoon & Tamago attempts to comprehensively cover all aspects of Japanese design from fine art and architecture to product and graphic design with an emphasis on authentically communicating Japanese arts & crafts to the world.
Waldman, who was born in Brooklyn but moved to Tokyo a year later, spent the first 18 years of his life growing up in Tokyo. He is currently based in Brooklyn but travels frequently to Tokyo and happily shared some insights into Japan’s Jimi ‘Mundane’ Halloween.
Waldman explained that although Japan does have its own subculture of dressing up in costumes known as “cosplay,” the idea of Halloween is a relatively new concept. “In America, Halloween is often seen as a way to be bold and expressive but generally speaking, Japan tends to be more restrained and subdued,” the founder of Spoon & Tamago explained.
A Person Who Has To Leave At The Same Time As Their Neighbor And Tries To Avoid Them
A Person Who Was Planning To Buy Only Bread On The Way Home From Work
Soy Sauce
“So Jimi ‘Mundane’ Halloween was sort of this perfect middle ground for people who felt uncomfortable going all out in zombie costumes but still wanted to participate in the festivities,” Waldman added.
“I think the point of dressing up as something super ordinary is to poke fun at ourselves by highlighting the awkward or silly, yet ultimately relatable situations we find ourselves in every day,” he concluded.
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Twitter Engineer Just Fired By Elon Musk
TV Newscaster Reporting On A Typhoon
Daily Portal Z, an online website, is responsible for initiating the Mundane Halloween trend. Their main goal was to have fun and celebrate Halloween in a way that doesn’t require people to wear awkward and uncomfortable looks.
In a previous interview with Bored Panda, Yuji Hayashi, the webmaster of Daily Portal Z, said that he was surprised to see so many people around the world picking up on the trend. “I thought it was just a Japanese domestic joke, so I was surprised that people in the US and UK were talking about it on Twitter.”
The Only Person At The Event Whose Name-Tag String Is Super Long For Some Reason
This one is my favorite for some reason. It's just so random and quirky. It took a lot of thought to come up with an idea that looks like it took no thought at all.
A Person Whose Bicycle Was Stolen
A Person Who Sits On The Floor After Having His Chair Stolen By His Cat
“All the participants struggle with ideas for costumes every year. But I think they enjoy thinking about it. Stores, train stations, and people working in the city all become role models for the costumes,” Hayashi said.
Now that the Mundane Halloween seems to be overtaking Twitter and other social media platforms, Hayashi loves that the phenomenon is such a success. “We don't have any claim to any rights regarding Jimi Halloween. We want people to hold it at work or school or with their neighbors. It is also held in Taiwan. We'd love to have it in the US too!”
A Person Who Helps A Spot-Billed Duck And Ducklings Cross The Road
Next In Line To Offer Incense At The Funeral But Unsure Of The Custom So Trying To Peek At The Person In Front
This was me at my grandma's funeral, trying to remember how to recieve communion. The priest yelled at me for forgetting. Right in front of my grans casket 😩😅
An Elementary Schooler On The Last Day Of School
A Person Who Tried To Cut Their Own Bangs, Failed, And Now Claims It's The Latest Fashion
Isn't that how most trends start?!? Thinking of Mean Girls scene with the holes cut out
Family Tree In A Beginner’s English Language Textbook
Uncle Watching Baseball At The Kawasaki Stadium
Random Character Who Appears In The Early Stages Of The TV Series In Order To Show That If You Get Bitten, You Become A Zombie
Shop Attendant Trying Really Hard To Look Away As You Enter Your Pin Number
Didn’t Really Want Anything From IKEA But My Friend Insisted On Driving Us There
People Who Are Interested In The Events Held On The First Floor Of The Shopping Mall
Woman With A Filter That Looks Like Scales
Foreign Tourist Who Can't Find Any Public Garbage Cans In Japan
I'd like to see him without the mask... That's an interesting face structure
The Person Who Bothers You At The Museum
They have a good point with the art or life question but they don't need to throw soup on a painting they just look stupid. But they're trying to get publicity, which is working I guess. Edit: I'm not defending them, I promise, just trying to understand like most of my comments on here.
Person Laid Off From Their Job In The Opening Scene Of A Film
A Scene Between Women In A Korean Drama
People Who Go Back To Pick Up Their Smartphones After Putting On Their Shoes
Program Staff Who Bring Food For Morning Variety Shows
A Person In A Remote Meeting
At least she's wearing pants. I recently did a job interview in a neat t-shirt but with nothing else on than underpants. Nothing wrong with that, but mid-interview I had a coughing fit, apologised, said I was going to go get a glass of water and...yep. Hard to know what the recruiter saw, but haven't heard from her since. Kudos to myself.
Two People Who Wore The Exact Same Outfit And Now It's Super Awkward
Is it awkward? I'd be like "yooo!" Unless I hated them. Then I would change or put on a coat or something.
Person Who Wants To Use Up Every Bit Of Toothpaste In The Tube
Person In Line At A Convenience Store
You can tell by his eyes that he is smiling even when his mouth is covered up with a mask.
Left The Apartment Right At The Same Time As The Next Door Neighbor And Ran Back Inside To Wait Until They Leave
Note: this post originally had 55 images. It’s been shortened to the top 35 images based on user votes.
