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  12 viral Halloween costumes that are so 2026

  Show up as a broken AI image, six fingers and the tell-tale extra hand. Or what about a World Cup jersey (or the duck who never got in). Of course, there's always the Storrowed truck, which you know everyone gets. Beacon Hill is where a bad costume goes to die. Last year the city shut Mount Vernon, Pinckney, and a pile of other streets from 4 to 7:30 p.m. so the trick-or-treat crowd could take them over. The Beacon Hill Times ran the list. Brick, cobblestones, and someone asking what you are. Miranda has already rejected your costume. Silver hair, huge sunglasses, a coat that looks like rent. Andy is tall boots and a good coat. Emily is allowed to insult both of you, and someone has to carry the coats all night. The Devil Wears Prada 2 put Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci back together, and it is on Hulu and Disney+. It made about $693 million, so people will know who you are. A cape on the Green Line. Matt Damon is Odysseus, Anne Hathaway is Penelope, Zendaya is Athena, and Charlize Theron is Calypso. Circe is Samantha Morton. Do not show up as Circe and then argue. Linen, leather, gold, and sandals you can walk in. Odysseus gets the sword. Athena gets the helmet. Calypso gets to look dangerous. Couples can be Odysseus and Penelope. Ten years apart is optional. The movie has already passed $1.7 billion. Extra hand. Six fingers. A shirt with letters that almost spell words. A name tag that says Regenerate. The worse it looks, the clearer it is. One shoe should be a different size. An arm can come out of the wrong place. Bring a framed photo of yourself that does not look like you. You can start this at 6 p.m. and still be right. Diamond bones down to your fingers, a feathered coat, and a crown that will not survive the bar. Beyoncé wore it to the Met Gala in May, her first time back in a decade. Vogue has the arrival, Olivier Rousteing dress included. A black or nude bodysuit and silver bones will get you there. Rhinestones if you are patient. The coat is what keeps it from looking like last October. A hockey jersey will not get a second look in Boston. The name on it has to. Briar University, from Prime Video’s Off Campus. Jersey, stick, athletic shorts. The specific versions are better. Allie’s Shakespeare look is a blue corset, a satin dress, and fairy wings. The couple is Hannah’s bunny and Garrett’s magician, not Allie’s. Teen Vogue laid those out. Cowboy boots, flared jeans, big hair, a western shirt, and something that says Choosin’ Texas. Without the words, you are dressed for a country bar. Ella Langley’s song spent 23 weeks at No. 1, the longest run in Hot 100 history. A couple can split it. One person chooses Texas. The other one looks left. The costume people will understand is a national team jersey, a scarf, and a tiny trophy. Gillette hosted seven World Cup matches, including a quarterfinal, under the name Boston Stadium. CBS Boston has the list. Couples wear rival teams. The costume people will stop for is Merlín, the duck in a miniature Mexico jersey. Reuters followed him to a meeting with the president. He was still a duck. He did not get into the stadium. Stage clothes, the hair, the weapons. One of them works. All three work better. KPop Demon Hunters was already Netflix’s biggest movie, and Netflix ordered a sequel. Official HUNTR/X costumes exist, which beats building the whole thing out of metallic fabric after midnight. Woody, Jessie, and Buzz are the easy version. Lilypad is the one that dates it. She is the tablet in Toy Story 5, voiced by Greta Lee. Build a frame, put your face in it, and spend the night interrupting people. Disney said the opening was the biggest global debut of the year. Moana needs the necklace. Maui needs the hook, the skirt, the wig, and tattoos that were printed. A friend with a marker, after drinks, is not a plan. Catherine Lagaʻaia plays Moana. Dwayne Johnson is Maui again. The live-action movie opened July 10. It is a duo. Moana still does most of the work. Peach’s skirt has to be a problem on the T. Pink dress, crown, white gloves. Mario is overalls, a red cap, and a mustache. Rosalina makes it a group. A cardboard pipe makes every doorway a fight. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie put them back in theaters this year, so the closet version looks current again. Build a moving truck out of cardboard, crush the roof, and write Storrow Drive on the side. It reads as Boston from across the street, and it will take up a Beacon Hill sidewalk. Trucks keep hitting the low bridges on Storrow Drive, Soldiers Field Road, and Memorial Drive. The state calls it Storrowing.

  By Michelle McCormack

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  Haunted places in Boston

  Boston has been accumulating dead people since 1630, so the ghost stories had time to pile up. The places are real, ghosts, possibly. Harvey D. Parker opened the hotel in 1855. The hotel has published the ghost stories. In a 1992 Boston Globe interview quoted by the hotel, bellman John Brehm said he first heard about Parker’s ghost when he started work in 1941. The story then was that Parker roamed the 10th-floor annex. Around 1950, a guest said she saw a heavyset man with a black mustache in that hall. Security went up and found nobody. Other reports from that floor are a rocking chair in a room that does not have one, and lights moving down the corridor. In a separate story, a mother and daughter in room 1012 said a man in old clothes stood at the foot of the bed and then vanished. At breakfast, his portrait was hanging in the dining room. The granite building beside Massachusetts General Hospital was the Charles Street Jail, finished in 1851. In 1973, after prisoners revolted over the conditions, a court found the jail in violation of the inmates’ constitutional rights. The last prisoners left on Memorial Day weekend in 1990. It reopened as The Liberty Hotel in 2007. The rotunda, the catwalks, and some of the cells are still there. CLINK. serves dinner in the old cells. Alibi is in the former drunk tank. Ghost tours describe footsteps and former prisoners. The hotel’s own history does not. The theater opened in 1903. The stories that get repeated are a well-dressed couple in the balcony, a little girl who supposedly takes gifts left for her, and a former mayor who died in his seat during a performance. There is no record of a Boston mayor dying at the Majestic. People who have worked in the building still describe a man in a suit in the balcony lobby, and a child’s voice in the house. The restaurant opened in 1826, in a building that was already old. During the Revolution the second floor was headquarters for Ebenezer Hancock, paymaster of the Continental Army, and soldiers were paid where people now eat. Staff have talked about flickering lights, electronics that quit, footsteps, and a man in colonial clothes bent over a desk. Tour guides say that man is Hancock. A separate story involves a chef named Henry, seen by a coworker around the time Henry died. John F. Kennedy’s booth is upstairs, with a plaque. Ghost tours add a Kennedy haunting. The restaurant’s history page mentions the booth and stops there. Photo by Robert Linsdell King’s Chapel Burying Ground opened in 1630. It is the oldest burying ground in Boston proper. It filled up, and in 1660 the town opened the Granary Burying Ground nearby. Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and the Boston Massacre victims are there, along with thousands of people who no longer have a stone. Both grounds are regular stops on ghost tours. Visitors report footsteps, cold spots, and someone in colonial clothes who is not leading a tour. The sightings are not verified. Fort Warren is on Georges Island in Boston Harbor. Construction ran from 1833 to 1861, and during the Civil War the fort held Confederate prisoners. The ghost story is the Lady in Black. In the version Boston Harbor Islands tells, she is Melanie Lanier, who rowed to the island to free her husband Andrew, a Confederate prisoner, and was hanged in black. Historians have not found a record of her. Edward Rowe Snow is the one who spread the tale. Georges Island is a ferry ride. Check whether the boats are running before you go.

  By Michelle McCormack

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  5 apple-picking trips near Boston made for adults

  Stay for hard cider, beer, or a meal once the bag is full. Apple picking is better when filling the bag is only the first part of the plan. These farms pair the usual fall activity with hard cider, beer, wine, good food, or somewhere worth staying after you have gathered far more apples than any household needs. None of these orchards is adults-only. Children will still be present. The difference is that each place gives adults something to do besides supervise a bag of Honeycrisps and pretend the corn maze was their idea. Belkin Family Lookout Farm has its own brewery, cidery, and year-round taproom, and it sits only 17 miles from Boston. That makes it the easiest option when you want apple picking near Boston without handing the whole day to Route 2. The South Natick farm grows apples and Asian pears and produces its own hard cider and beer. After picking, go to the Taproom for drinks and farm barbecue, or eat outside at The Lookout while it is open for the season. The current menu runs burgers, barbecue, shareable plates, and an apple cider donut ice cream sandwich that undoes the orchard walk fairly quickly. U-pick admission is required to enter the orchard, and outside food and drinks are not allowed. Check the current picking schedule and Taproom hours before you leave. The orchard and dining areas keep different schedules. Carlson Orchards pours cider beside the trees that produced it. The 100-acre farm in Harvard grows more than 20 apple varieties and runs a Cider Barn serving drinks made from its own fruit. Pick-your-own runs daily during apple season, but the Cider Barn opens Friday through Sunday. Plan for that. Going on a Tuesday and finding the cider half of the trip closed would be a needlessly wholesome outcome. The Cider Barn serves several house-made hard ciders, including bottles made with heirloom American and European cider apples. The retail store has sweet cider, baked goods, and fruit for anyone who wants apples without removing them from a tree. Carlson asks visitors to check daily updates before coming because available varieties change through the season. Pets are not allowed in the orchard. Nashoba Valley Winery turns apple picking into lunch and drinks. The Bolton property stacks an orchard, winery, brewery, distillery, tasting room, outdoor dining, and restaurant on one hill. It is less a quick pick stop than a full schedule. Start in the orchard and buy bags before you pick. Once the apples are handled, the tasting room offers wine, beer, cider, and spirits produced on the farm. The outdoor Knoll serves lunch and drinks. J’s Restaurant covers the more formal version of the day with dinner and Sunday brunch. Weekend winery tours include tastings for guests 21 and older; reservations help. Restaurant service, tastings, tours, and orchard access have separate hours, so decide which parts matter before you go. Otherwise you can finish picking just as the thing you actually drove to Bolton for stops serving. Cider Hill Farm in Amesbury is strongest on a Friday afternoon. The farm has apple picking, a bakery, a farm store, hard cider, food trucks, and cider donuts that often become the point of the trip. The smartest adult move is one of the farm’s Fall Fridays. The 2026 series runs Friday afternoons through October 23, with apple picking, hard cider, guest food trucks, and live music. It is a better use of Friday than sitting in traffic at 5:15 while insisting you left work early. Picking tickets are sold by bag size, and the orchard has moderate inclines and uneven ground. Tickets may be available on arrival, but buying them before the trip removes one possible disappointment. Leave the dog home. Pets are not allowed on the farm. Red Apple Farm in Phillipston is the farthest trip on this list, and it also gives you the most reasons not to turn around right after picking. The farm grows more than the standard supermarket lineup, with varieties ripening from late July through October. September brings McIntosh, Honeycrisp, Macoun, Cortland, Empire, and several harder-to-find apples. The exact selection depends on the harvest, so call before driving if you have one particular apple in mind. After the orchard, the farm has its own Cidery and the Brew Barn, a restaurant and taproom serving local beer, Red Apple Farm hard cider, and barbecue. Live music is part of the schedule. That is enough to make the long drive a fall day trip instead of a grocery errand with better scenery. Picking conditions can change quickly. The farm recommends calling to confirm what is available that day. Check three things before leaving: what apples are available, when the orchard stops admitting pickers, and when alcohol service begins. Those hours are rarely identical. Pick first. Most orchards close their fields before their bars, restaurants, or taprooms stop serving, and nobody has improved an apple-picking trip by arriving after the orchard gate shuts.

  By Michelle McCormack

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  5 Boston bars for a hot toddy crawl

  The first cold night in Boston is a reminder that pumpkin beer is not a winter strategy. Order something hot, strong, and made by someone who cares. These five stops, four with booze and one without, split into two walkable legs. Do both in one night if you like, or treat them as separate evenings and skip the long gap between Kendall and Fort Point. Start in Davis Square, then cross into Kendall. The walks are short. The drinks get less classic as you go. Batifol is where you should eat something before the toddies add up. Foundry on Elm is the purist stop. Their Hot Toddy is a clean, balanced classic of bourbon, lemon, honey, and clove. Nothing clever. Just done right. If someone in your group wants mulled wine or an adult hot chocolate instead, Foundry carries those too, including non-alcoholic versions. Start here at 255 Elm Street in Somerville, then head toward Kendall on the Red Line or a short rideshare. State Park sits downstairs in One Kendall Square, in the Alexandria Plaza lower level. It is the dive bar with the toddy nobody expects. The Hot Hibiscus Toddy mixes apple brandy and Bénédictine with pomegranate, hibiscus, ginger, and lemon, served steaming. Tart, bright, and stronger than it looks. This is the drink that turns the crawl from classic to interesting. Five minutes away at 291 Third Street, Batifol is full Paris brasserie mood. Order La Folie Douce, a hot drink of whiskey and Drambuie with maple syrup, lemon, and orange juice. It is a toddy in everything but name. Stay for the onion soup. If you want a second winter warmer, Batifol also pours L’Après Ski, a hot red-wine drink with brandy, citrus, apple, and spice. Five toddies is not a dinner. Eat here before you keep going. The second leg sits on the other side of the river. Uber the gap, or save it for another night. Matria is the pause for anyone skipping alcohol. The Envoy rooftop is the finale once the winter igloos are up. Matria, inside the InterContinental Boston at 510 Atlantic Avenue, is the non-alcoholic pick. The Twilight Toddy has no booze at all. It is built on lemon and honey with chamomile and cinnamon. Bring the friend who is not drinking, or take a break mid-crawl. The room looks out over the waterfront, which helps when the first leg has already done its work. No hangover from this round. From here, the walk to the Seaport is short. Rooftop at The Envoy is the finale, but time it for winter, when the heated igloos go up seven floors above the harbor at 70 Sleeper Street. Igloo seats are reserved, usually for small groups of about four to eight, and they go quickly on weekends. The toddy changes with the season’s gin sponsor. Last winter it was the Gin-gle Bell Hot Toddy made with Empress 1908 Gin. Book an igloo if you can. If not, the rooftop bar still runs walk-up seating when it is open. End the night here. Two legs, two nights works cleanly. One night works if you Uber between Kendall and Fort Point. Go on a weeknight. Igloos and prime seats disappear on weekends. Eat at Batifol. Confirm the current toddy names before you go. Seasonal menus move around, and the Envoy drink in particular changes with the sponsor. If the fire, the igloo, or a specific drink is the whole point, call ahead the day you go.

  By Michelle McCormack

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  8 Boston bars with cozy fireplaces

  Historic taverns and hotel bars, if you get there before the seats go. Boston winter is coming whether anyone wants it to or not. The useful response is to know which bars have an actual fireplace, then get there before every nearby seat is taken by someone nursing one drink for three hours. A few of these are restaurants with very good bars. We included them because ruling out food would also rule out some of the best fireplaces in the city, which seems unnecessarily strict. Warren Tavern opened in Charlestown in 1780, and very little about the place suggests anyone has been in a hurry to modernize it. That is exactly why it works. The low ceilings, old wood, pub food, and fireplace make it the stop on this list that most closely resembles the Boston winter fantasy people have before the wind hits them in the face. Go for a pint and a burger, then stay because it is warmer inside. Near the State House, 21st Amendment is dark, compact, and refreshingly uncomplicated. There is a fireplace, a full bar, and the kind of pub menu that understands nobody came in from the cold looking for a deconstructed salad. This is a good choice when you want the fire without turning the night into an occasion. Just know that the seats near it are limited, and Beacon Hill has also heard about fireplaces. The large stone fireplace toward the back of Capo looks like it belongs in a lodge that somehow ended up serving pasta. Capo says the wood-burning fireplace runs about 18 feet, and it sits beside the open kitchen in the rear dining room. Capo is louder and busier than the historic taverns on this list, which makes it better for a group dinner or a night when sitting silently beside a fire is not the plan. Order drinks, split some Italian food, and try not to resent whoever got the table closest to the flames. OAK Long Bar + Kitchen sits inside the Fairmont Copley Plaza and is anchored by an 83-foot copper bar. Beside the open kitchen, a fireplace and wood hearth oven do most of the atmospheric work. It is polished without requiring you to whisper, and the long bar gives you a reasonable chance of finding somewhere to sit. Come here when you want a martini near a fire and are willing to wear something slightly nicer than the coat you use to shovel. Across from the Public Garden at The Newbury Boston, The Street Bar has wood paneling, classic cocktails, serious bar food, and crackling fireplaces. It feels like an old Boston hotel bar because that is exactly what it is. The Street Bar takes walk-ins. Reservations are for Afternoon Tea only. Hotel guests get priority seating, so you may get the fireplace, a window, both, or the chance to stand politely near the entrance. Walk past the main bar at Yvonne’s and into the Library, where the hand-cut mahogany bar and Locke-Ober’s original gilded fireplace have survived into the building’s current life as a supper club. This is the dramatic option. The room is dark, the drinks are elaborate, and the fireplace looks like it has witnessed at least one inheritance dispute. Make a reservation if you plan to eat. The Banks Seafood and Steak has two floors, two bars, and multiple fireplaces in Back Bay. On the first floor, a fireplace sits in the dining area with high tops and booths, so you can enjoy it without fighting for the single most competitive seat in the room. Upstairs adds another bar, more fireplaces, and windows that look onto Trinity Church. This is where to order oysters, a steak, or a martini and briefly pretend you have always understood hotel-adjacent seafood restaurants. Bistro du Midi has a casual bar and bistro downstairs, then a more formal dining room upstairs with a second bar, a fireplace, and views across to the Public Garden. Go upstairs when you want dinner to be the main event. The fireplace is not beside every table, so request a nearby seat when booking and accept that several other people will have had the same very original idea. Fireplaces are seasonal and may not be lit every night. If the fire is the entire reason you are going, call ahead or mention it when making a reservation. Also, “has a fireplace” does not mean “will personally reserve the best chair beside it for you at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.” Boston remains Boston.

  By Michelle McCormack

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  6 Boston bars more than half a century old

  Boston has no shortage of bars with old stories. The harder thing is finding places that have stayed open long enough to become part of everyday neighborhood life. These six bars all opened at least 50 years ago and are still operating in Boston. A note on the wording: “continuously” is difficult to prove literally because bars have had temporary closures, including during the pandemic. I’m using it here to mean long-running establishments that have kept the same identity and location, rather than newer businesses borrowing an old name. J.J. Foley’s has been family-owned and operated since 1909. It is still at 117 East Berkeley Street in the South End, making it one of Boston’s oldest Irish bars and one of the city’s most established family businesses. The bar has a pre-Prohibition feel without turning itself into a museum. There is a dining room, sports on television, Guinness, and a crowd that includes longtime regulars alongside people discovering the place for the first time. Foley’s history is tied to the city’s political and labor history, too. In 1919, Boston police officers voted to strike at Fay Hall above the bar. You do not need to arrive looking for a history lesson. Order a drink, find a table, and the room will do the rest. Sullivan’s Tap opened on December 5, 1933, the day after Prohibition ended. It became a gathering place for people heading to the Garden, and it has kept that role as the neighborhood around TD Garden has changed. Sully’s is Boston’s oldest sports bar by its own account. It is a straightforward place with a narrow room, cold beer, and a crowd that knows exactly what it is there to do. On game days, it fills up with Bruins and Celtics fans. On other days, it is simply a good place to sit near the Garden without dealing with a polished sports-bar production. The Tam first opened sometime in the 1940s and has remained a small downtown watering hole ever since. Even the bar’s own history page does not pin down a precise opening year, which feels right for a place that has never needed to explain itself too much. The Tam is small, cheap, and direct. It is useful before a show, after work, or whenever you want a drink without a reservation, a dress code, or a menu full of explanations. The crowd changes throughout the night, but the basic character does not. The Galway House has been a Centre Street fixture since 1960. It is a family-style restaurant and Irish pub with Italian and American food, a full bar, sports on television, and a steady Jamaica Plain crowd. This is the kind of place that feels like a neighborhood business first and a destination bar second. People come in for dinner, a drink, a game, or because they have been coming here for years and see no reason to stop. Some older coverage dates the business slightly differently, so 1960 is the safest version to use. Corrib Pub has been open on Market Street since 1969. It is the sort of Irish pub that works for a quick pint, a plate of bangers and mash, live music, or a long conversation with someone who has been coming in for years. The pub is named for Lough Corrib in County Galway. Its Irish identity is straightforward rather than theatrical: Guinness, sports, music, and a neighborhood crowd. Corrib has stayed part of Brighton’s daily life while plenty of other bars have come and gone. Cask ’n Flagon opened in 1969 beside Fenway Park. It has spent more than five decades serving baseball fans, sports writers, visiting bands, and people who came for the atmosphere even when there was no game. Cask is louder and busier than the other bars on this list, particularly around Red Sox games. That is part of the point. It is a Fenway landmark, a sports bar, and a reliable place to start or end a night around Lansdowne Street. The bar’s appeal has remained simple: a drink near the ballpark, baseball on the walls, and a room that expects to get crowded. These places do not offer the same kind of night. Foley’s is a South End institution. Sullivan’s belongs to the Garden. The Tam is a downtown dive. Galway House is a Jamaica Plain neighborhood restaurant and bar. Corrib is a Brighton pub. Cask ’n Flagon is Fenway at full volume. What they share is more useful than an old date on a sign. They stayed long enough to become part of the city’s routine.

  By Michelle McCormack