Last-Minute Halloween Costumes: Order-By Dates and Pickup

How many days do you have?

Halloween 2026 is on Saturday 31 October, and the retailers below plan their last deliveries for Friday 30 October. What still works depends on the day you order:

• Up to Thursday 22 October: standard shipping still works: Spirit Halloween until Tuesday 20 October by our count, and HalloweenCostumes.com Standard until Thursday 22 October.
• Friday 23 October: the last day for HalloweenCostumes.com Priority and, by our count, Spirit express.
• 24 to 29 October: expedited shipping only. Party City Ground until Monday 26 October, HalloweenCostumes.com Express Saver until Tuesday 27 October, its Express and Party City 2-Day until Wednesday 28 October, and its Premium and Party City Next Day until Thursday 29 October.
• 30 and 31 October: HalloweenCostumes.com Saturday delivery for orders placed on Friday 30 October, store pickup or same-day delivery, all covered below.

Last order dates for delivery before Halloween

These dates come from each retailer's own pages, read on 15 October 2026. All three describe their delivery dates as estimates, not guarantees, so leave a day spare if the costume is for a party.

Party City's dates apply to orders placed before 11am CDT, but its general shipping page gives an earlier same-day processing time of 9:59am CT, so a morning order is the safer one. Alaska, Hawaii and APO/FPO addresses can take longer. HalloweenCostumes.com's dates are the ones its delivery page shows for US addresses; orders to other countries use different Parcel methods. Its help desk gives cut-offs of 12pm CST for Standard, Priority and Express Saver and 1pm CST for Express, Premium and Saturday, while the delivery page shows midnight, so check the promised delivery date at checkout. Spirit does not publish order-by dates; ours are counted from the delivery times it shows: 4 to 8 business days for standard, 3 to 5 for express, 3 for 2-Day and 2 for Overnight, with standard orders before 3pm EST and express orders before 12pm EST shipping the same business day.

Pick it up the same day

When shipping no longer fits, buying online and collecting in a store is the fastest route:

• Party City: pickup is free and usually ready in about 2 hours, but its store locator says buying online and picking up is currently offered only at select Party City franchise stores in Texas and New Jersey. Its other shops sit inside Staples stores and carry a smaller range of party supplies and balloons.
• Spirit Halloween: more than 1,500 seasonal stores in the US and Canada let you buy online and pick up in store, and the code 10PICKUP takes 10% off orders you collect. Store hours differ by location, so check your store's page before you go.

HalloweenCostumes.com lists no stores or pickup. Trick Or Treat Studios ships in-stock masks and props in 3 to 5 business days and does not ship on weekends, so it is not a last-minute option this close to Halloween.

Same-day delivery

• Party City delivers the same day through DoorDash where a DashMart warehouse covers your area. Orders under $50 pay a $4.99 delivery fee, and you can schedule the day and time at checkout. Its local delivery, where offered, is free on $50 or more and $4.99 below, in select ZIP codes and not from franchise stores.
• Spirit Halloween promises "Halloween items delivered in 1 hour" on its Instacart delivery page. Fees, minimums and availability appear only once you enter your ZIP code, so compare them with the pickup price before you order.

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year

Every retailer above plans its last delivery for Friday 30 October. HalloweenCostumes.com shows Saturday delivery on 31 October for orders placed on Friday 30 October; its help desk says the Saturday option is offered only from Thursday after 1pm to Friday 1pm CST, and the price shows at checkout. For a party on Friday evening or Saturday, treat Thursday 29 October as the real last day for anything shipped, and keep a pickup store in mind as the backup.

Codes and offers that still work on late orders

• Spirit Halloween (codes shown on its site on 14 October): TREAT26 gives free standard shipping or $5 express shipping on orders over $40, DELIVER5 gives $5 shipping under $40, and 10PICKUP takes 10% off store pickup orders. All three are on our Spirit Halloween coupons page.
• Party City takes 30% off Descendants, Spider-Man, Star Wars and Incredibles costumes, 20% off other Disney and Marvel costumes and 10% off all other costumes until 11:59pm EST on 19 October. The prices are already reduced, the offer covers shipped online orders only, and store pickup is excluded. Free ground shipping needs a $50 subtotal and does not cover sale or discounted items, 2-Day, Next Day or pickup.
• HalloweenCostumes.com gives 15% off a first order when you sign up for its emails or texts.

Before you pay: returns on a late costume

A costume that arrives in the wrong size this late is hard to swap, so know the return rules first:

• Spirit Halloween: store returns close on 16 October, exchanges with a receipt run from 17 to 22 October, and every store sale after 22 October is final. Wigs cannot be returned.
• HalloweenCostumes.com: returns postmarked within 30 days of the order date; refunds carry an 18% restocking fee, while site credit has none.
• Party City: online orders only, requested within 14 days of delivery with tags attached. Seasonal items such as Halloween products can be returned only up to 7 days before the holiday, and $8.99 is deducted when you use its return label.
• Trick Or Treat Studios: purchases are final sale unless the item arrives damaged or defective.

Try a costume on without removing the tags or opening sealed accessories, and keep the packaging until the party is over.

Too late for everything? Five costumes from your own wardrobe

• Chef: a white shirt, an apron and a wooden spoon, with a tall hat rolled from white paper.
• Referee: a black and white striped top, black trousers and a whistle; a yellow card cut from paper finishes it.
• Painter: old overalls or a shirt you no longer need, a few dabs of washable paint and a brush in the pocket.
• Weather forecaster: a blazer, a printed map of your area and a ruler as a pointer, plus a forecast rehearsed for the party.
• Lumberjack: a flannel shirt, jeans, boots and a knitted hat; a beard drawn with an eyebrow pencil is optional.

How we checked this page

The dates, offers and rules come from the retailers' own pages: HalloweenCostumes.com's delivery dates and shipping pages; Party City's Halloween shipping deadlines (dated 15 October 2026) and its delivery, shipping and offer pages; and Spirit Halloween's store and delivery pages, all read on 15 October 2026, plus Spirit's delivery times and codes copied from its site on 14 October. Spirit's dates in the table are our own count from its published delivery times. We update this page as the dates pass. More offers are on our Halloween deals page, the Spirit Halloween sale guide covers Spirit's clearance and return dates, and the rest of our guides are in the Halloween deals hub. This page is maintained by the SavingArena Editorial Team.