05 Oct Halloween Olympics 2024

Happy Halloween month!

This year, we’re taking the Olympics very seriously. As you know, there were so many viral meme moments from the Olympics, and they became the perfect inspiration for our family Halloween costumes this year! Below are the five athletes we dressed up as—and why I chose each one!

Kim Ye-ji – South Korean professional shooter

I’ll admit it—I had zero knowledge about sport shooting or how the competition works. I learned about Kim Ye-ji purely from scrolling Instagram and seeing all the memes. My first thought was: wow, she is SO cool. She honestly looks like an assassin. Her intense focus, paired with those very specific (and fascinating) shooting glasses, gave her such a powerful presence.

What really melted my heart, though, was the stuffed elephant she carried. I read somewhere that it belongs to her daughter and that she brings it for good luck—cue my mommy heartstrings.

I had a lot of fun recreating this costume, and the hardest (and priciest-looking) part was the glasses. The real ones go for around $600, and there was no way I was paying that—so crafting it was! Of course, I made sure to include the elephant too.

Yusuf Dikeç – Turkish sport shooter

Speaking of viral shooters, Yusuf Dikeç absolutely owned the internet. He might be the most famous sport shooter online to date. He went viral because he looked like a totally average guy—no fancy gear, no special shooting glasses—yet performed incredibly well.

People joked that he was secretly a hitman purposely finishing second so no one would suspect him. The memes were endless, and you could easily fall down a rabbit hole scrolling through them.

This costume was also perfect for Erik—simple and easy, so he couldn’t say no. I found Turkish Shooting Team–style T-shirts on Amazon, and honestly, the quality was great. You could tell they knew this was going to be a popular Halloween costume this year. I even sprayed Erik’s hair gray, and I was shocked he agreed—apparently, anything gun-related gets a pass lol.

Raygun (Rachael Gunn) – Australian breakdancer

Oh, Raygun. Where do I even begin? This queen of breakdance is actually where the whole Olympic theme started. I don’t even need to explain how viral her Paris Olympics performance was—or the, um, questionable skill level that somehow qualified her for the Games.

This professor-turned-breakdancer was truly iconic, and I knew Katya could pull it off perfectly. I found the outfit on Etsy, and while it was pricey, it was absolutely worth it. I didn’t want to half-do it—Raygun is a real gem and deserved full commitment.

Honestly, I hope breakdancing stays in the Olympics because at this rate, Katya might have a shot at becoming an Olympian herself. Once she drops her dance moves, Raygun might go real quiet haha.

Sha’Carri Richardson – American track and field athlete

We had featured several non-American athletes, so I wanted to include an iconic American one as well. When I thought about who I wanted to dress up as, Sha’Carri immediately came to mind—mainly because of her bold hairstyle and signature long nails.

I always keep my nails short, so channeling long-nail energy was surprisingly fun. I used American flag stickers, cut them up, and made DIY nail designs—that ended up being the most creative part of the outfit!

Simone Biles – American gymnast

If I was including American athletes, I had to include this legend. I can’t even describe how adorable the Katya’s gymnastics leotard was. I also loved adding tiny medals to represent the exact number of medals Simone Biles has won. This one was definitely one of the most heartwarming costumes. She showed me some of the cool floor routine too (like rolling on the floor haha.)

Anthony Ammirati – French pole vaulter

I don’t have photos of this costume because Erik refused to participate … Anthony Ammirati went viral after a certain body part knocked down the crossbar during competition.

I was planning to stuff Erik’s underwear and position the bar strategically to recreate the moment… but that idea was immediately shut down (understandably). Still, I’ll never stop trying to recreate iconic viral moments for a good laugh!

Last but not least, here’s a little behind-the-scenes look at how I planned everything. I printed out a few reference photos of each athlete from the Olympics and made a checklist of what items I needed for each costume. From there, I ordered everything mostly from Amazon and Etsy.

Since none of these came as a one-piece costume, I ended up ordering about 20 separate items to make everything work—but honestly, I loved the planning process and seeing it all come together.

What are you planning to dress up as this Halloween? Let me know—I’d love to hear!

Happy Halloween,

Fatima