Next to Christmas and New Year’s, my third favorite holiday is Halloween. Among of the many reasons I enjoy Halloween is the opportunity to publicly dress up in funny costumes and act like a kid all over again. Believe it or not, I spend the rest of the year– 364 days of my life– planning that single, funny Halloween costume. I’m really picky with what I wear on Halloween, after all, it comes but once a year.

My ideal costume must meet two criteria: first, it must stand out and it be relevant to recent trends, and second, it must also be affordable to buy, make, or put together.

That rules out the classics (and sometimes cop-outs) of witch, warlock, ghost or the Paperbag-head guy.

While going through the latest trends for this year, I stumbled upon 5 costume ideas inspired by popular games, shows, and memes of the year. If you want to dress up as a popular yet unusual character this year, here are 5 unusual Halloween costume ideas you should consider.

Do-it-yourself Halloween Costumes

I always take a DIY stance during Halloween. I know how costly buying brand new costumes, especially as a college student, can be so I’ve decided to compile five unusual costume and tips on how to recreate your own.

1. Angry Birds

Who doesn’t love Angry Birds? The moment this game hit the iTunes store, I knew it would be a hit. Making your own Angry Birds costume is possible, provided you know how to sew (or can find someone who can). To make your homemade Angry Birds costume you need to purchase a few yards of fabric and know how to use a sewing machine.

2. Plants VS. Zombies

Since 2009, Plants VS Zombies has been a good source for Halloween and Cosplay costume ideas. Recreating Plants VS Zombies’ inspired costumes are really easy and affordable to do, as well.

Make your own: All in all there are 26 kinds of zombies in Plants VS Zombies so you have quite the selection of zombie personalities to impersonate.

Can’t decide which zombie to dress up as? If you played football player in high school try the football zombie. Put your old uniform on, complete with helmet and footwear and make sure to smear colorful face paint to finish the look.

The conehead and buckethead zombies are also interesting options. To dress up as the conehead zombie, you need to make sure you have an orange traffic cone on your head. Same goes with the buckethead zombie– secure a pail and wear it as a hat.

3. Muammar Gadhafi

Although the struggles of Libya are no laughing matter, dressing up as the comical version of the ousted Libyan leader is surely going to be hit this Halloween. Just ask Jeffrey Ross, comedian and Roastmaster extraordinaire. He clearly didn’t wait for Halloween to wear his Muammar Gadhafi costume.

Make your own: You will need to dress up like as an overly, well-decorated general, complete with sash and Muammar’s baton. To capture the look though, you need to make sure you have a dark, puffy haired wig.

If you can’t get your hand on a military-like suit, you could dress up as Gadhafi in his signature robes.

4. Apple Products (iPhone, iPad or iPod)

With Steve Jobs’ passing, this Halloween is a good time to commemorate the legacy of one of the world’s greatest modern inventors. If you are an  Apple fan, you could dress up as your favorite Apple device. You could be the walking iPod, the human iPhone, or the life-sized iPad!

Make your own: You will need to secure a few things first. You will need a paper cutter, glue and tape to hold your costume together and a print-out of the classic Apple icon.

This costume takes a lot of boxes and cutting to recreate the perfect iPod, iPhone, and iPad; however, if you use your real-life device as guide, it should be easy enough to find out how to put everything together.

5. Doctor Who

The longest running British television series definitely deserves a spot in this list. No doubt about it, someone will be dressing up as the Doctor or even, as the TARDIS.

Make your own: Creating the TARDIS costume will be challenging and you will need lots of cardboard, paper cutter, blue paint, glue and tape to hold everything together. If you want to express your Doctor Who fandom, you should go as the Doctor himself.

The costume of the Eleventh Doctor is pretty easy to imitate; take note that his signature piece is his burgundy/brown bow-tie. Here is an image of the Doctor in his trademark gear.

Happy Halloween! Stay out of too much trouble and rock your costume, whatever you decide on. I know I will!