People  gripe about how Halloween is like New Year’s Eve — all hype and build-up.  The big difference is that a Halloween costume is an expression of your innermost self: your imagination, your creativity, your perception of how good you look in spandex.  On New Year’s Eve you just have to show up and be willing to chug champagne, which you can’t really screw up.  But you can definitely have a BAD Halloween costume.

Let these harrowing ghosts of Halloweens past, found on Flickr (creative commons), be a warning.  Here are 10 costumes to avoid in 2009:

10) Cheer Captain:

9) Your dad at a key party with someone who isn’t your mom:

8 ) Outdated “topical” costumes.  This year,  Terry Shivo is a good bet. Here, Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan:

7) Humanimal.  What’s more frightening than a live deer dressed up as your grandpa?

6) No more Bush jokes this year:

5) Irritated sexy girls:

4) Insane grandma in a spiderlady costume in a swimming pool:

3) A French maid, ironically in desperate need of a maid:

2) Always a classic,  the Pervy Coworker:

1) Least sexy female costume ever is….

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