Winning Costume Ideas for Dan’s Haunted Hamptons Bash

Get your ghoul on and don your favorite costume at Dan’s Haunted Hamptons Bash, the largest, hottest and most anticipated Halloween party in the Hamptons. On Saturday, November 2 at Southampton Arts Center, you’re invited to come party with hundreds of your new best friends, and it’s your night—couples, singles, big groups…all are invited! Admission includes incredible food from Union Burger Bar, Southampton Social Club and Union Cantina; flowing beer, wine and cocktails; music and dancing all night with everyone’s favorite, DJ Phresh—that’s right, the man who had you on your feet all night at Dan’s Taste of Two Forks; and a costume contest with cash prizes!

This is the night to be anything you want to be—excessive, extraordinary and fantastic—so we do not want to limit you with a theme. That said, there is plenty of fun inspiration to be found right here on the East End. You could go as…

Montauk Monster
No monstrosity is more associated with the East End than our region’s most famous cryptid—the Montauk Monster. Discovered on Ditch Plains Beach in July 2008, this bloated, hairless and sunbaked creature captured the world’s collective imagination, though most agree it was probably just a dead raccoon. Still, rumors of Plum Island experiments persisted and the story became the stuff of legend. This costume would require some work, but the result could be a winner. Focus on the pink and brown colors, the beast’s unmistakable boney beak, sharp teeth, little ears, claws and pointy tail.

Lake Agawam Blue-Green Algae Victim
Sadly, our beautiful Lake Agawam in Southampton was discovered to have the worst blooms of toxic blue-green algae ever recorded in Long Island waters. Awful as that may be, this stuff is perfect for Halloween horror. All you have to do is slap on some disgusting rot makeup, and maybe some oozing sores and pustules, and then add some (safe) plant life and other grisly, green accouterments. Take it to the next level with some white or red contact lenses and you’re the Creature from Lake Agawam!

Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump (or Donald Trump as Alec Baldwin)
Amagansett actor Alec Baldwin has earned high praise for his impersonation of Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, and a big part of that is his exceptional re-creation of the President’s look. It’s all about the deep, hotdog-like tan (with a nice orange twinge), pale, white skin around the eyes, bushy blonde eyebrows and, of course, his one-of-a-kind blonde hairdo, swept forward and then back to defy the laws of physics. To get into the role, Baldwin has said he tries to “sound as miserable as possible.” Once you get the hair and makeup, just slip into a slightly oversized black suit, add a long red tie, and you’re ready to go!

If you really want to get creative, you could try dressing as a vengeful President Trump doing his best impersonation of Alec Baldwin. This would require some thought, and a very active Twitter account, but maybe show some of the President’s legendary locks peaking out from beneath a Baldwin-esque wig, and perhaps some orange skin revealed beneath the makeup he’d have to apply to cover it?

Off the Menu
An ode to Hamptons and North Fork bounty might go a long way toward winning over any foodies among our judges. Remember, not just any food or wine costume will do—it should ideally represent the region. Try dressing as a Tate’s cookie, a lobster roll or even a lobster sans roll. Come as an East End spud, a bottle of local rosé (re-creating the label would likely win you bonus points), a striped bass or any other farm-to-table favorite. Plenty of factory-ready food costumes exist, so it may just be a matter of purchasing something pre-made and expanding on it. A hot dog costume, for example, would be the perfect start to that lobster roll getup. Whether you slather yourself in mayo or warm butter is entirely your choice. Of course you could also go as our favorite MonTaco Man, complete with “MonTaco or Bust” sign, if you want to really impress the Dan’s Papers judges!

Inanimate Icons
The Twin Forks are full of icons that could translate well into Halloween costume magic for this party. Be the Big Duck. Make the Montauk Lighthouse. Use makeup to live as Roy Lichtenstein’s “Tokyo Brushstrokes” (as seen at the Parrish Art Museum). Walk around as Montauk’s Walking Dunes. Mill about as a Hamptons windmill. A group of you could transform into the Greenport carousel. Of course, the North Fork’s famed Witch’s Hat would be inspired (don’t worry, we won’t tell that we are the inspiration).

Dan Rattiner
The illustrious Dan’s Papers founder is certainly a Hamptons classic, and re-creating his iconic look would be the perfect costume, especially geared for locals and summer visitors who’d get it. Everyone else will think you’re supposed to be Jurassic Park founder John Hammond, Richard Attenborough’s character in the original 1993 Jurassic Park film. (Dan did it first, by the way, and Hammond doesn’t wear exactly the same hat.) Your costume would require a white beard, glasses, white button-down shirt with matching pants and Dan’s signature white or straw Panama hat—well, “roughly” a Panama hat, according to the man himself—with a black band.

Get spooked at Dan’s Haunted Hamptons Bash on Saturday, November 2 from 7 to 11 p.m. at Southampton Arts Center, 25 Jobs Lane, Southampton. Tickets are only $60 and include nonstop food and drink all night long!

For rules on costumes and to purchase your tickets now, visit HamptonsHalloween.com.