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Tony Hoffmann and Ben Miller are two gentlemen who, after inspired by a past Urlesque party, recently threw a meme party in the Midwest. And they're not stopping there! In fact, they're headed to New York to attend our HallowMEME extravaganza on Friday in NYC. We asked them to share a little bit about their journey, and offer a quick how-to on developing the perfect internet meme costume.


Hi! Tony and Ben here. We recently took part in a Midwestern Interwebz Meme Birfday Party to celebrate Tony's birthday. This weekend, we're headed to NYC to rock out at another awesome meme costume party.

Since Tony was planning and hosting his own birthday party, he was left without
a proper costume, having spent most of his prep time ordering an intentionally incorrect cake -- waaaaaay more difficult than you would imagine, trust us -- finding a bar that would let a bunch of nerds have an internet costume party, and making sure those nerds actually came to the party. Luckily, one Milwaukee costume shop stocked a last-minute man-eating shark costume that was easily converted into a regular ol' Internet Shark costume (a Diplomatic Shark, to be precise).

Now that we're heading for the big leagues of the HallowMEME Party, Tony figured he needed an honest-to-goodness clever meme costume. We've learned that the costumes people chose for Tony's party offer a pretty good primer on what and what not to do when you're planning a meme party costume.

  • Get recognizable, baby!
If you want to avoid explaining your costume all night, why not go as something that everyone will understand immediately? Bonus: our very own Rick Roll stepped it up a notch with brilliant touches like a mini speaker rigged to play the necessary Astley tune and a back-mounted sign that informed clueless victims of their folly. FTW!

  • Don't be afraid to take a risk.

Like a heated forum discussion, a risky meme costume can go bad in the blink of an eye. Unlike an ill-advised counterargument, a risky meme costume can actually WIN. An angry Godwin's Law lost points on meme-ness but gained them back with endless opportunities for a Downfall reenactment. FTW!

  • Above all, commit to the role.

Sure, your giant foam banana outfit is pretty snazzy but you're only halfway there, pal. This Peanut Butter Jelly Time-er replaced the maracas with handy caption jars and performed the classic song and dance at every request. You just can't buy that level of meme party intensity. FTW!

  • Make sure you can pull it off.
Choose the Rageguy costume and expect to own the Rageguy persona all night long. No one wants to humor a strangely cheerful Rageguy for several hours. Our Rageguy is filled with all kinds of rage in real life so he actually pulled it off FTW. We just gave him a FAIL to make sure he stayed angry.

  • Wear a costume.
When is a costume FAIL not a FAIL? When your lack of costume qualifies as a meme! Basically, I FAIL, therefore, I FTW! On second thought, if you have to get all philosophical to explain why you didn't wear a costume: FAIL.


So, with all this in mind, Tony is hoping he picked the perfect new costume. Want to see what he decided on? Look for him at the HallowMEME Party this Friday!

[ED: Actually, Tony confided to us that he's actually attempting to outsource his HallowMEME costume -- do you have an idea for him?

This Friday, come meet Ben & Tony at our HallowMEME Party!]