It's a Costume Party, I Swear/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A character is invited to a party being told it is a costume party and shows up wearing an elaborate costume only to find out the party wasn't a costume party.

  • Played Straight: Alice invites Sarah to a party at her house and says the theme is pirates. Sarah shows up dressed as a Pirate Ship only to be embarrassed and find everyone else in normal clothes.
  • Exaggerrated: Alice pulls this trick on every girl regularly. And they always fall for it.
  • Justified: Alice and Sarah constantly pull pranks on each other and this is one of Alice's favourites.
  • Inverted: The party is a costume party but Sarah shows up wearing a normal outfit.
  • Subverted: Sarah doesn't fall for the trick and wears normal clothes to the party.
    • It actually is a costume party and Sarah and the rest of the guests wear costumes.
    • It isn't a costume party, but Sarah's costume looks cool/sexy enough that no one cares.
  • Double Subverted: The rest of the guests then change into costumes so Sarah is still the odd one out.
  • Parodied: Alice has a checklist of all the girls she has pulled this trick on.
    • Sarah calls Alice out and makes her Walk the Plank into the swimming pool.
  • Deconstructed: When she is invited to the party, Sarah checks with a few people to see if it is a costume party, and when this is confirmed, she goes in costume.
  • Reconstructed: The people she asked lied to her, but Sarah wears a neutral costume that helps her to blend in.
    • Or, Sarah routinely dresses in clothes that most people would think looked more like a costume, so she's wearing what she would have normally worn anyway.
  • Zig Zagged: The party starts out as a costume party, but Alice keeps changing her mind about it and eventually decides to make it a normal party. Nobody tells Sarah.
  • Averted: It's a costume party and everyone shows up in costume.
  • Enforced: "We need an excuse for Sarah to wear that Pirate Ship thing"
  • Lampshaded: "Come on, Sarah, when is it actually a costume party? It's just the sort of prank Alice would pull."
  • Invoked: Alice's BFF Amy suggests that she throw a party and then tell Sarah it's a costume party.
  • Defied: Sarah decides not to go the party just in case she's being tricked.
    • Like the Reconstruction above, Sarah wears an outfit that could pass as both a costume and normal clothes.
  • Discussed: "Alice just invited me to a costume party. You think anyone else will wear costumes?"
  • Conversed: "Why did Sarah fall for that trick? It's so common"
  • Played For Laughs: Sarah sees the funny side of the trick and works with it.
  • Played For Drama: Sarah is a bully victim and this is the final straw that pushes her over the edge.

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