Best Christmas Costumes 2026: Picks for the Office Party, Family Photos and the Bar Crawl

The best Christmas costume is the one that suits the party you are actually going to, and December usually hands you three of those: a desk-bound office afternoon, a family day that ends in a photo by the tree, and a bar crawl where half the street is dressed as Santa. Santa outfits have been our best-selling Christmas character costumes in the US store since April 2026, so Santa appears twice below, once as a family set and once inflated for the crawl.

Every costume goes through over 30 measurement checks, and the eight picks below each carry their own size ladder rather than one blanket answer: S to 3XL on the elf and the reindeer onesie, inch ranges on the deluxe Santa, letter sizes small to XX-large on the womens Santa, and genuinely one size on the inflatable and the mankini. Where a pack has six pieces in it, all six are listed.

If you already know you want to be an elf and only need the right elf, our Christmas characters costumes guide works character by character, and our Santa costume guide does nothing but Santa and Mrs Claus. This page sorts the same costumes by where you are wearing them, and the full Christmas costumes range sits behind all of it.

Table of Contents

• Best Christmas costumes for the office party
• Best Christmas costumes for family gatherings
• Best Christmas costumes for SantaCon and bar crawls
• Looking for a specific character?
• Frequently asked questions

Best Christmas costumes for the office party

The office party costume has a harder brief than the loud ones. It has to hold up through a buffet line, a client walking past, and whatever stretch of the working day comes before the party starts. Comfort beats volume here. In Challenger, Gray & Christmas's 2024 survey of US employers, 64 percent of companies planned a holiday celebration that year, so this is a mainstream December problem rather than a niche one.

Elf costume, for the person who wants to be seasonal without changing at lunch

Our Mens Christmas Elf Costume is a green fleece jacket, yellow stretch leggings, a cone hat, and foot covers, sized S through 3XL. The leggings have a flexible waistband, which is the detail that decides whether a costume is still on you at 4pm or folded over the back of your chair.

Snowman sweater dress, for one step past an ugly sweater

Our Womens Snowman Jumper Dress Costume is a printed sweater dress with a scarf belt and a top-hat headband, available in six sizes. a CivicScience survey from December 2022, published by Statista, found 13 percent of US adults were very likely and 18 percent somewhat likely to wear an ugly holiday sweater that season; this is the version that arrives as a whole outfit instead of a sweater you have to build a look around, and over tights it wears like a dress.

Neither one asks you to supply the rest of it. The cone hat comes with the elf and the top-hat headband comes with the snowman dress, so the piece that makes the costume read is in the same bag as the costume.

Best Christmas costumes for family gatherings

A family Christmas costume is on for hours: dinner, the kids' event, and whenever the group shot by the tree finally happens. CivicScience polling found 21 percent of Americans say their families wear matching pajamas for the holidays or on vacations, so putting a Santa, a Mrs Claus, and a reindeer or two in the same living room is an ordinary December rather than an eccentric one.

Deluxe Santa, the full six-piece set

Our Santa Claus Costume Deluxe Mens includes a red faux fur jacket, matching pants, hat, beard, belt, and boot covers, in Standard (41-44in) or Plus (44-48in). Six pieces, so the beard and the belt are not two separate errands in the third week of December.

Womens Santa, the matching half

Our Womens Santa Costume pairs a red dress, a white-trimmed cape, a buckled belt, and a Santa hat, sized small through XX-large. Put it next to the deluxe mens Santa and both halves arrive as full sets, cape and belt included, rather than one real costume plus a hat for the other person.

Reindeer onesie, the one the kids will recognize

Our Mens Reindeer Onesie Costume is a brown jumpsuit with a white belly panel, an attached antler hood with a red nose, and hoof-style shoe covers, sized S through 3XL. It goes on in one zip, which is the whole argument for a onesie on a morning when you are also getting somebody smaller dressed.

For a child rather than an adult, our kids Christmas costumes range is sized by age instead of by chest.

Kids Elf, sized by age instead of by chest

The Kids Christmas Elf Costume covers 4 to 14 years across four sizes. All of our kids' products are safety tested by accredited labs.

Every costume on this page is a hand wash, cool water and air dry, never a machine, faux fur trim and printed panels included. The inflatable Santa in the next section takes the same hand wash, with one extra step: the battery pack comes out first.

Best Christmas costumes for SantaCon and bar crawls

Being subtle works against you on this one. SantaCon events were scheduled in some 300 cities in 2013 alone, and the event has spread to 44 countries, with New York's, the largest, drawing an estimated 30,000 people in 2012, so the crowd you are trying to be visible in is wearing the same red suit you are. Scale and silhouette do the work here, and whatever you pick is on your feet for the whole route.

Inflatable Santa, sized to stand out in a crowd

Our Inflatable Santa Costume Giant Pick Me Up is the answer to the crowd problem: a built-in fan inflates the suit in under a minute, and elastic seals plus a zip hold that shape for 4 or more hours. There is a hidden internal pocket for your phone or cards, which counts for something on a route where the costume you are wearing has no pockets of its own. It runs on 4 AA batteries, not in the box, and comes in one size that fits most adults. Care is a hand wash with the battery pack removed first, then a full air dry before you fold it away.

Christmas mankini, for the one going all in

Our Christmas Mankini comes with a red and white Santa mankini and a matching Santa hat, made from a stretch 95% polyester, 5% elastane blend, in one size that fits most adults. Two pieces, both of them small, which leads to the honest note: bring a coat for the walk between venues, because there is nothing else here to put on over it.

One thing worth settling before the group books anything: how far everyone is going. A friend in a novelty hat standing beside a fully inflated giant Santa is not a group photo, it is one person in a costume.

Looking for a specific character?

Some people pick the party first, which is what this page is for. Others already know they are going as a reindeer. Christmas characters costumes lines up elves, reindeer, snowmen, and the rest side by side, and our Santa costume guide is the long version of the Santa and Mrs Claus question, from the simpler suits up to the six-piece deluxe set above.

Frequently asked questions

Whichever party you are dressing for, pick the one you can actually spend the evening in. We make your best times better with costumes.