The Office Halloween Costumes Ranked From Worst To Best

Even if every season of "The Office" did not include a Halloween episode, it was still a staple of the show. In all, five of the nine seasons have an official, episode-long nod to the spooky holiday, and if you count Andy's "Sweeney Todd" play and the deleted Halloween cold open from the Season 6 episode "Koi Pond," there is plenty of trick or treating fun to go around — including costumes, lots of costumes. The Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch really goes in for a good costume contest, and the quality of their attire steps up as the show progresses.

Here are the top 10 Halloween costumes worn on the show throughout its run. We've ranked them from worst to first based on an amalgamation of their overall quality and cleverness, relevance to each character, and timing in the storyline. Enjoy!

Cats (and kittens) are a strong theme throughout the show's Halloween episodes. Pam, Phyllis, and Angela all dress as our feline friends in Season 2. Angela suits up as a cat again in Season 5 and Season 8. But Andy (Ed Helms) takes the cake here for his kitty impersonation in the Season 5 episode "Employee Transfer."

His costume (which, for the record, is a kitten, not a cat) is the most elaborate of the bunch. It feels like he walked right off the set of "Cats." It's also a stark indictment of the depths of his unhealthy relationship with the cat-loving Angela, as it comes half a dozen episodes before his epic breakup with his betrothed.

The Season 7 episode "Costume Contest" has a ton of excellent attire, but one of the more disturbing selections from the bunch is Gabe's (Zach Woods) unsettling impersonation of Lady Gaga. He struts around, making half-hearted references, like his "My-my-my poker face" line, as he further erodes what little respect his coworkers have left for him. 

As with most of these costumes, the actual outfit is great, but it also makes the list because of its wearer. The selection jibes with the awkward Gabe's antics. Watching the lanky, insecure man from Tallahassee try to impersonate a strong female pop star is a vintage Gabe experience and one that is befittingly uncomfortable for the unsettling holiday theme.

Sometimes, simpler is better. Jim's (John Krasinski) deliberate lack of participation in the Halloween festivities is a hallmark element of "The Office." He always puts in just enough effort to show that he doesn't care, but he doesn't want to be left out, either.

This is how we get three-hole-punch Jim in Season 2 and "Book Face" Jim in Season 6. But the most on-brand costume Jim ever dons is no bigger than a post-it note. When he shows up with the name tag "Dave" in the Season 5 episode "Employee Transfer," it represents the nadir of his efforts — and conceptually, one of the greatest costumes in the entire show.

Oscar Martinez's (Óscar Núñez) Halloween brand is clear throughout all nine seasons of "The Office" — and it manifests as a polarizing political statement almost every time. He dresses up as Uncle Sam in Season 5, Sarah Palin in Season 6, Anthony Weiner in Season 8, and a dinosaur/Electoral College mash-up in Season 9.

In the same vein as Jim's lackadaisical but clever approach to Halloween, though, Oscar's best moment comes in "Costume Contest," when he ditches his more elaborate get-up to steal the runways as "the Rational Consumer." The attempt at sarcasm (and his clear Edward James Olmos vibes) ultimately turns in his favor, helping him win the competition.

Creed's (Credd Bratton) approach to Halloween is pretty spectacular, and we'll circle back around to one of his other costumes later in the list. (Yes, that one.) At various points, the elder of the office comes to work on October 31st as Dracula, a mummy, and Osama Bin Laden.

However, one of his best moments is in Season 9, when Halloween is clearly the last thing on his mind. In the episode "Here Comes Treble," he arrives at the Halloween party in normal work clothes bespattered with blood. As new guy Pete (Jake Lacy) points out that he didn't realize people dress up in the office on Halloween, Creed agrees. The scene cuts to a talking head scene with Creed, where he says thoughtfully, "It's Halloween. That is really, really good timing." Creepy, disturbing, and right on brand.

While there is often a deeper reason that a costume on "The Office" hits home, sometimes it's hard to get around the fact that, well, it's just a great get-up. That's the case in the Season 8 episode "Spooked," where Erin (Ellie Kemper) shows up as the iconic Wendy from the fast food chain of the same name.

The costume is perfect, with the stand-out feature being her upturned pigtails. Erin nails the classic look, making it one of the better costumes anyone ever wears to the Scranton office. While we're at it, we should also give an honorary nod to Kevin (Brian Baumgartner), who wears a simpler but similarly well-executed Charlie Brown costume in the following season. Sometimes, you just have to give flowers where flowers are due.

Season 7's "Costume Contest" episode is full of elaborate outfits and subversive winners. This makes it easy to miss one of the more basic costumes, which hits home due to its spine-chilling in-universe relevance: Dwight (Rainn Wilson) as the Scranton Strangler.

When the beet farmer arrives as the famed killer, it couldn't be more relevant or disturbing. For context, the Scranton Strangler is a recurring off-screen serial killer who is captured by police just two short episodes after the Costume Contest bonanza. Even more bothersome? There are legitimate, game-changing theories that Andy Bernard is the Strangler, while others posit Toby Flenderson as the short-breathed villain. Some go so far as to say the Strangler was top dog David Wallace. Regardless, it's a typical Dwight move to dress up as the sinister Scranton icon before he's even behind bars.

Sometimes, costumes aren't great due to their ingenious quality or the effort their wearer put into the ensemble. They're simply the best because they lead to the best storylines. Dwight's Jack-o'-Lantern fiasco in the Season 9 episode "Here Comes Treble" is the perfect example of this phenomenon in action.

In the episode, Dwight greases up his head and dons a Jack-o'-Lantern to scare people. While it works, he quickly discovers that he can't get the oversized squash off his noggin. Jim initially works with him to create an exit strategy. However, his knife-wielding, baseball-bat-smashing suggestions are quickly shot down, only for Dwight to accept the reality that the unwanted headpiece will rot off his head in a month or two.

One of the best outfits in "Employee Transfer" expertly brings together the ideas of quality costumes and entertaining storylines — and it isn't even featured in the Scranton office. When Pam picks up some extra work at the Dunder Mifflin New York headquarters while she's at art school, she comes to work dressed to the nines for Halloween. She arrives in a spot-on Charlie Chaplin impersonation, only to discover that no one else dresses up in the more reserved corporate workspace.

Adding insult to injury, she discovers that she can't remove her grease paint mustache, and if she takes off her bowler hat, well, she looks like Hitler.

Creed's Joker impersonation in "Employee Transfer" inevitably takes the top spot for this list. We saw it coming from a mile away, and yet, we still couldn't come up with a better option. Nothing beats the quality of the gear and make-up and, of course, the intensity of the characterization as the old man stalks through the office, offering to "put a smile on the face" of his coworkers. (Also, is he serious? You can never tell with that guy.)

Making the scene even better, of course, is Kevin's despondent and frustrated expression as he stands by in a lower-quality iteration of the same character. We also see a semi-decent version of the costume on Dwight in the elevator. The triple nod to the iconic Batman villain played by Heath Ledger — which changed the late actor himself for good — is hilariously and perfectly executed. Nuff said.