The best places in Cardiff to find your Halloween outfit

Whether you’re having a big night out, an exclusive house party or even a fun night in with your housemates, we’re all starting to panic about our Halloween attire.

Let’s be real here, unless you were one of those people pre-planning their costume over the summer, you’re now likely spending half of your screen-time browsing the internet trying to find costumes under £20. Yeah, that’s not happening, but don’t panic.

We’ve compiled a list of vintage, charity and fancy dress shops all within walking distance – that Squid Game group costume is still on the cards.

Flamingo’s

How cute is that pumpkin bag?

Found on the ground floor of the Capitol Centre on Queen’s St, Flamingo’s Vintage UK is a spacious vintage shop with lots of clothing ideal for retro and sporting costumes. Their store covers a broader range of themes, however, if you’re looking for an American Football jersey, their collection is quite extensive.

With price being at the forefront of students’ minds when buying outfits, you’ll be glad to hear that much of their stock can be bought by the kilo, making it fairly cheap compared to similar vintage shops on this list. They also do some more specific costumes for those looking for a more traditional, witchy outfit.

Hobos & King Dicky Clothing

Obsessed with the hats

Hidden away in the High Street and Castle Quarter arcades, these vintage shops also have a great selection of clothes to suit your spooky needs.

Hobos is a Tardis of a shop, with a hidden basement filled with exciting statement pieces for your outfits. Having everything from glittery belts to flowery jumpsuits, this shop is well worth a visit, though you may wish to supplement your fancy new jacket with cheaper clothes from places such as Primark if you’re on a budget. We are students after all.

King Dicky Clothing is Cardiff’s newest vintage shop and has slightly more mainstream brands that look great but stick to the same rule of only getting the statement piece if you want to avoid only eating pot-noodles next month.

I C Fancy Dress

Krusty is COVID safe

You might be enjoying a lovely little stroll through the arcades, with its delightful cafes and sweet little coffee shops, when suddenly you’ll be confronted with I C Fancy Dress and the most terrifying mannequins in Cardiff.

Their current feature is an interesting looking Krusty the clown, is Krusty okay? However, try not to be too intimidated by the scary exterior, as within the shop lies a multitude of great Halloween outfits and accessories to pimp up your costume. It’s not the cheapest shop on the list by a long shot, but for full costumes, it’s on par with the Amazon costumes you’re considering, and you get to save on delivery costs.

Albany Road Charity Shops

There are so many individual charity shops along Albany road – such as Tenovus, BHF, Bobath and YMCA. If you browse these shops you’ll find many hidden gems, often a simple item to easily identify your costume, we’re told you can find great ranges of headpieces.

It’s worth mentioning that any money spent in these charity shops goes to great causes such as the British Red Cross and Cerebral Palsy Cymru. Check out our previous article at the bottom of this page to find out about all the fun costumes you can make out of these charity shops’ collections.

Jokeshop

Dibs on the shrek onesie

Hiding in plain sight opposite the castle, Jokeshop is your typical costume shop, with a wide variety of great outfits. However, this comes at a cost. Similar to I C Fancy Dress the benefit of receiving a fully constructed costume is balanced out by the price, but it is likely to have unique accessories that other vintage and charity shops may not, such as a Mike Myers mask or Baby Yoda headpiece, though a word of warning for any of you heading to the SU: your hat WILL get nicked, so is the pre-picture worth it? Almost 100 per cent.

It would be worth considering your online options in parallel to those found here before spending £40 on a Shrek bodysuit only to have your social sec change the theme.

Overall, it is worth browsing as many of these shops as you can, rather than panicking because all of the Among Us onesies on Amazon have sold out, since the answer could be a few minutes walk away. There are also many street vendors who have come out to sell their 10p Squid Game masks for a fiver, which may just end up saving your Halloween if you end up in a pinch for time. Perhaps you can even bring out the scissors and sewing kit getting artsy and making your own costumes.

If you can’t find a wizard’s wand in time then it’s worth a look through St. Davids too, who knows what accessories you might find there. When all else fails, just nick your flatmate’s spare bedsheet, cut some ghoulish eye sockets in it, and go as someone who didn’t read this article and left it too late to get a half-decent-looking costume.

Related articles recommended by this writer:

• We pretended Halloween wasn’t cancelled and charity shopped for costumes anyway

• We’ve rounded up Cardiff’s best Halloween costumes of 2020

• Here’s everything you need to know about the NHS Covid Pass required to get into venues in Wales