So you don’t have a Halloween costume yet? Don’t just lamely don a Mao cap for a night on the town--unless you’re Zombie Mao, of course. There’s plenty of time to create a masterpiece for Halloween (look at our ideas from last year) that’ll wow your friends and confuse Chinese people.

Market Monster

Yashow and Hongqiao markets are both convenient places to begin prowling for ideas. They’ve got all kinds of shoes, masks, make-up and wigs to get you started on Project: Halloween. For plastic swords, brightly colored bits and bobs, Halloween props or a slutty fill-in-the-blank type get-up, head to Alien Street near the Russian Embassy. The area also has lots of furry things (being, well, in the Russian district), so if you’ve ever wanted to channel that woman in Ghostbusters, here’s your chance.

Near Alien Street Market is a rocking wig shop in Yaobao center (behind Chocolate) at M162. Also, if you can actually sew, the Jing Du Textile Market has cloth for any costume idea—and you can always browse and pay someone else to make what you want. Another good source of costumes to a creative (or desperate) mind is the Wukesong Wedding Dress Market. Because who doesn’t love an undead bride?

Costumes

If you don’t have time to cobble together a Halloween costume, consider rentals.Huan Ruan Costume Rental has the full gamut of costumes, from Chinese traditional clothing, European military outfits to shaggy monster costumes. Average rental price is RMB200.

Huan Ruan's Monster Chuan'r

You can also buy a costume outright on Taobao for pretty much the same price as a rental. Just typing in “cosplay” will net you pages-worth of costumes—although mostly of the sexy, anime-style variety. Boring traditionalists should stick with 万圣节服装.

Just for Kids

While other markets mentioned above will all have costumes for kids, places like Tot to Teen, Kids Plus, or BabyGro will have better quality threads for the kids.

One adorable number from BabyGro

Tian Le Toy Market also has a decent amount of costume choices for the chillins, and is right next to Hongqiao Market. It's a key place to score lots of cool stuff to make your apartment even scarier than it already is.

And the Dog

Let’s not forgot one of Beijing’s most prized traditions: doggie costumes! On Gulou (on the West side of the Drum Tower about 50 meters) is a doggy clothing shop with plenty of cute costumes, and Taobao is a veritable treasure trove for turning your puppy into bat dog or dino doggy for the evening.