Of course, we want to create positive school culture when we plan Homecoming or any Spirit Week. However, many popular dress-up themes that seem benign can have the opposite effect on students, especially those who are on the margins. And those students are the ones we most hope to reach!
Before brainstorming with your Student Council or Leadership class dress-up theme day ideas for your school’s spirit week, be sure to make the task clear—to pick themes that every student can and wants to participate in.
If you need help streamlining all the logistics of planning the week, including dress-up theme days, you’ll want my Project Planning Kit. It’s all the forms and templates your student leaders need to independently take the week from brainstorming to executing to reflecting.
Let’s start with five very common spirit day themes that might inadvertently exclude students. Some just need a tweak, but others need to be retired. I hope you consider these when you brainstorm your next Homecoming or spirit week theme days.
Also, scroll down to the bottom for a list of 75 better spirit day ideas perfect for high school that avoid these pitfalls.
5 Spirit Day Themes to Avoid
1. Twin, Dynamic Duo, or Group Costume Day
This is probably the most common offender. Even worse, both teachers and students seem to like it more (and post it the most on social media) because of its inherent problem.
We, as humans, crave the feeling of belonging. Being part of a pair or group shows others we belong. But it also can make those who already feel like they don’t belong worse.
Ask your students to think of the new student, the one in a fight with their best friends, or who already feels isolated. Or simply the student who’s the odd friend out of a mustard-ketchup-relish threesome. How many classmates at your school might that be?
This is a great lesson in perspective since your student council leaders likely aren’t these students.
Try Instead: have a day with each grade be a different aspect of a broad theme, like seasons of the year or different decades. That way belonging to the group is automatic for everyone.
2. Crazy Hat Day
There’s nothing wrong with this spirit dress-up day idea, per se, but it requires students to go all out or… not participate. It’s tough to get a lot of participation, so I encourage my student leaders to pick something with a lower entry for participation.
Try Instead: have just Hat Day with a prize for who has the craziest one (grandpa’s pith helmet or mom’s Kentucky Derby-sized fascinator) would be a great fix.
Some super accessible theme ideas: Flannel Day, PJ Day, and Color War Day, where each grade wears an assigned color.
3. Hawaiian Day
Or any other theme that involves dressing as a cultural or ethnic group or any stereotype of a group of people. Nerd Day, Fiesta Day, and Around the World Day are other common examples.
It’s a no-brainer to not do certain similar themes—we wouldn’t dream of having a Cowboys and Indians day, for example. But for some reason, others slip by us. Hawaiian Day likely does because people think of beach attire and Hawaiian shirts. However, plastic hula skirts and leis have the same effect as construction paper feather headpieces of making throwaway costumes out of culturally important objects.
While probably no student wears their Hawaiian outfit with the intention of disrespect, let’s set the standard that no cultural group should be subject to theme day costuming.
Try Instead: simply changing the dress-up theme’s name to Tacky Tourist or Beach Vacation Day. This subtle difference should eliminate the unintended cultural appropriation and students probably won’t even notice.
4. Toga Day
Actually, this a great spirit dress-up day to do, same with Tie Dye Day or Reuse Day (mentioned below), but it needs a small tweak. We do Senior Toga Day every Homecoming week, but we always include a workshop with it.
Seniors stop by my room before school to learn how to properly tie a toga with their bed sheet or one from my stash. Since this is an annual thing, I keep a tub of sheets, from plain to silly prints, for students to borrow. Again, we want to eliminate any barriers to participating.
The seniors look so good once they’re tied right. And best of all, they are properly covered without constantly adjusting themselves throughout the day. Win-win!
Try Instead: if any of your theme need prep work (like Tie Dye Day or Duct Tape Day), get some supplies and hold a workshop the day before or the morning of. Let your officers lead the making of tie-dyed socks or duct tape accessories, also creating a fun social event—exactly what the week is all about!
5. Pirate Day
This includes any spirit day theme that likely requires students to buy something for this one-day thing. We try to avoid these to be more environmentally friendly and not create barriers to participation.
Try Instead: pick a theme that encourages using what you already own. Mismatch Day would inherently do this. Or, literally, Back of the Closet Day, where you wear the weirdest thing you own. Another idea is Reuse Day, where students create clothing from the garbage, like making a scarf from a plastic grocery bag or a hat out of cardboard.
75 Awesome Dress-Up Ideas for Your Next Spirit Week
Now as promised, here are a bunch of dress-up spirit days for school to help you and your student plan a great week! This is my go-to list to kick off our brainstorming session. At the end are theme ideas specific to winter and spring spirit weeks.
A great spirit week formula is to aim to include one that’s super easy for anyone to do, one that allows for a bit more creativity (usually we hold a workshop for this one), one connected directly to the Homecoming theme or season, one that’s a brand-new idea, and, of course, a school color day on Friday!
10 Wear-What-You-Have Theme Ideas
Include at least one of these days during the week that’s easy for students to do.
- Back of the closet
- College colors
- Denim
- Flannel
- Hat
- Monochromatic
- Pajama
- School or class colors
- Sports team or jersey
- Throwback to middle or elementary school
10 Workshop Theme Ideas
Hold a workshop the afternoon before or before school on the morning of to help students create their costumes. Provide basic supplies for the theme with a few samples and directions ready to go. Snacks are always a bonus!
- Duct tape
- Emoji
- Gift wrapped
- Idioms
- Masterpiece
- Reuse
- Super hero
- Tie dye
- Toga
- Ugly sweater
35 Dress Like A… Days
- Album cover
- American
- Athlete
- Beach vacation
- Book (or movie) character
- Board game
- Cartoon character
- Camo
- Celebrity
- Country
- Decades
- Fandom (movie trilogy, music band, video game, etc.)
- Favorite subject (scientist, artist, writer, etc.)
- Fire & ice
- Food
- Formal attire
- Future Career
- Game (video, board)
- Goals (career or personal)
- Historical figure
- Ice cream flavor
- Jungle
- Music genre
- Neon
- Out of this world
- Out in the woods (forest animals, lumberjack, etc.)
- Preppy
- Rainbow
- Safari
- Seasons
- Senior citizen
- Teacher
- Tourist
- Under the sea
- Weather
10 Winter Spirit Days
- Bundle up (stocking hats, scarves, etc.)
- Candy cane (red and white)
- Holiday character
- Holiday colors (red and green; blue and silver; red, green, and black)
- Holiday pajama
- Jingle bells
- Tree topper (Santa hat, antler or elf ears, etc.)
- Ugly holiday sweater
- Under the tree (bows, gift wrap, ornaments)
- Winter sport
10 Spring Spirit Days
- Armed services or patriot
- Earth day
- College t-shirt
- Country club
- Ice cream flavor
- Gone camping
- Music festival
- Pool party
- Spring break or beach vacation
- Spring or Summer sport
Hopefully, this list gives you and your student council leaders more than enough Homecoming or spirit week dress-up theme ideas for school. To make planning everything for the week a snap, be sure to grab my Project Planning Kit, which is a lifesaver by allowing your student to take the lead in brainstorming, planning, and executing all their ideas for the week. The best part is that their collection of forms become a how-to guide for next year’s group!
Image credits: Felipe Bustillo
