A theme party sounds like a fun evening, until the group has to agree on a theme that everyone can pull off without spending days hunting for a costume. The following eight themes solve exactly that problem: each one works with two or three clothing items that are easy to borrow or find in your own closet, plus a tattoo style that completes the look where the costume ends. At the end of each section, there’s a short line you can copy straight into the group chat so everyone looks the part on the night.
- Each of the eight themes needs only two or three items, most of which you can usually find in your closet or borrow from friends.
- A matching tattoo design fills in the places where a costume ends, such as the forearm, shoulder, or neck.
- A short line for each theme is enough for the invitation; no one needs a detailed packing list.
- If you want to wear the tattoo on the night of the party, it’s best to apply it the night before, because the ink takes around 24 hours to reach its full depth of color.
1920s Gangster Look: Suit, Cigarette Holder, and a Tattoo with Attitude
For men, a short suit jacket works best with wide-leg trousers, along with a soft shirt collar rather than a stiff stand-up collar and a fedora, bowler, or trilby hat (source: 1920s in fashion). Women can get very close to the historical look with a straight-cut flapper dress, a close-fitting cloche hat, a bob or short wig, and a long strand of imitation pearls, without having anything specially made. A bold, graphic tattoo design like The Price of Success, showing tattooed hands holding a bundle of cash, suits the era’s confident visual style and is still easy to make out from a few meters away.
For the group chat, this is enough: suit or straight-cut dress, one statement hat, done.
Pirate Theme: Coat, Sash, and a Tattoo Instead of an Eyeliner Eyepatch
Historically, pirates mainly wore a long, often worn-looking coat, a loose collarless shirt, and a sash around the chest or waist where small items could be tucked away (source: Pirate Clothing in the Golden Age of Piracy). Gold earrings, eyepatches, and tricorne hats, which constantly appear in movies, were rarely worn and are more costume clichés than historical details. If you include one anyway, at least you’ll know it’s a stylized touch rather than a historical detail. A tattoo design with a weathered look, such as a skull, an anchor, or a snake, works better for the evening than a printed cartoon symbol with crossed bones.
The group chat message can simply say: dark coat or jacket, one sash, that’s all you need.
Biker Look: Leather, Denim, and a Tattoo That Looks the Part
A leather or denim jacket, dark jeans, sturdy shoes, and sunglasses—even worn indoors—add up to a look that most guests already have in their closets. For this theme, one bold tattoo design on the forearm or shoulder works better than several small, scattered designs, because one continuous image looks more like a real tattoo than a collection of individual stickers.
This is enough to tell the group: a jacket plus sturdy shoes covers the whole theme; no one needs to buy anything.
Viking Theme: Tunic, Belt, and a Knotwork Tattoo
Men wore a knee-length tunic over their trousers, fastened with a belt to which a small pouch could be attached. Women’s outer garments traditionally hung from two brooches at chest height, often joined by a beaded chain (source: Viking Hygiene, Clothing, & Jewelry). One large brooch on a cloak creates the same effect without any sewing. An interlaced knotwork pattern or a rune-like design fits the theme better than a horned helmet, which comes more from comics than from history.
In short, for the group: tunic or long dress, a belt or a brooch—that’s the whole dress code.
Punk Theme: Leather Jacket, Safety Pins, and a Tattoo That Makes a Statement
A leather jacket or a reworked blazer, deliberately torn fabric held together with safety pins, and bold eyeliner for everyone form the core of the look (source: Punk fashion). For hair, both a short, deliberately messy style and hair gelled into spikes work; face paint or temporary color spray does the same job for one night as bleached streaks. A bold, high-contrast tattoo design on the forearm or nape reads as punk faster than any single accessory.
The group chat message can stay short: one torn or safety-pinned item plus eyeliner is enough to make the theme recognizable.
Rock ’n’ Roll Theme: Pompadour, Leather Jacket, and a Tattoo for the Sleeve
Men can pair jeans cuffed over their boots with a plain T-shirt under a motorcycle-style denim or leather jacket, and comb their hair into a pompadour. Women can wear a leather jacket over fitted trousers or a full skirt, with their hair teased or slicked back (source: Greaser (subculture)). A classic sailor tattoo design such as an anchor, swallow, or rose on the forearm suits the era better than a modern fine-line design.
Here’s what to send the group: jeans or a skirt, a jacket, slicked-back hair; most of it is probably already in your closet.
Gothic Theme: Black, Velvet, and a Tattoo with Symbolic Power
Black clothing that mixes different materials such as velvet, lace, fishnet, and leather forms the foundation (source: Goth subculture). Dark eyeliner that anyone can wear, silver jewelry, and an accessory with an occult- or religious-looking symbol complete the look. One striking symbolic tattoo, such as a snake, a cross, or ornate lettering, looks more cohesive than several small, scattered designs.
Keep the message short: black outfit, dark eyeliner, one piece of silver jewelry.
Mythology Theme: Toga Draping and a Tattoo with a Story
This theme is the most open to interpretation: a draped piece of fabric or a simple toga-style garment, along with gold-colored accessories, gives every guest the chance to choose their own character—a god, a hero, or a mythological creature—without everyone having to wear the same costume. A neoclassical design like Vice, showing a snake winding through a shattered Greek bust, makes a strong visual anchor and gives the evening a specific story instead of a generic toga look.
That’s all you need to say: a draped garment and a character you’ve chosen for the evening.
How to Choose a Design and Placement for the Evening
The same basic rule applies to all eight themes: decide on the size of the design to suit the theme before choosing other details. A large, clear design is easy to make out from across a party, while an overcrowded design starts to blur after just a few steps. Applying it takes only a few minutes: briefly prepare the skin, press on the design, moisten it, then peel off the backing; a detailed step-by-step guide can help if you’re doing it for the first time.
The ink in both designs shown here, The Price of Success and Vice, continues to deepen over the first 24 hours or so, and the tattoo is water-resistant only after that; during this time, the area should also stay completely dry for the first six hours. So if you want to wear the tattoo to the party, it’s best to apply it the night before rather than at the last minute before heading out. Both designs last up to 15 days with normal wear, so the look will still be in place for photos the next morning.
For more background on tattoos at parties in general, see the article about temporary tattoos for parties and events. If you’re heading to a festival or a girls’ night out instead, take a look at the related articles on tattoos for festivals and summer, festival makeup and body looks, or planning your own girls’ night out with temporary tattoos, if that format suits your group better than a mixed-gender theme party.
If you’ve chosen one of the eight themes, you can find matching designs in the Temporary Gangster Tattoos collection and try out the design at your leisure before the party.
