The gender gap in tech is pretty spooky: empowering costume ideas from Girls Who Code!
We all know the most frightening thing about the tech industry is the gender gap, so here are a few homemade costume ideas from Team Girls Who Code to celebrate the women who’ve blazed trails and the quirky mascots of computer science! Submit your own costume renditions or other ideas on social using the hashtag #GWCHalloween — we’ll share our favorites on Nov. 1!
Ada Lovelace
Ada Lovelace, the world’s first pioneer of computer science, is a fine lady from a bygone era… no traces of today’s tech bro in this look!
To pull off your best Ada,
- Don your best old-timey princess dress!
- Throw together a flower and feather headpiece (hot glue things to a plastic headband if you can’t find one pre-made)
- Add some costume jewelry (think pearls!) and a fan!
Is that the world’s first programmer, or a classy lady? (Both, of course!)
Grace Hopper
Grace Hopper was a no-nonsense rear admiral in the Navy as well as an amazing computer scientist.
- Look for a sea captain’s hat, a white collared shirt, a navy blazer and navy pants.
- Make your cuffs shine with gold stars and stripes made out of paper and a little bit of paint, and pin them to the sleeves of your blazer.
- Use some paper and markers to make the insignia badge to show off Grace’s accomplishments.
- Don’t forget to wear your best horn-rimmed glasses!
(Bonus points if you bring along a fake bug… Grace Hopper invented the term debugging when she had to take a bug out of her computer!)
Katherine Johnson
If you watched Hidden Figures, you know that Katherine Johnson was an amazing mathematician and human “computer” during the Space Race of the 60s. To dress up as this star:
- Find a 60s style dress
- Add some horn rimmed glasses!
You’re ready to put Americans on the moon!
Rubber duck
Rubber ducks are our favorite debugging tool — just talk to them for a few minutes, and voila! The bug is found! To honor this helpful creature:
- You can glue a few rubber ducks to a headband and wear them as a magnificent crown!
- Dress in a yellow and orange outfit…
- (or even better, a yellow onesie!)
Look out, people dressed as spiders, this rubber duck is on a mission to debug!
The Scratch Cat
Scratch is a great place to start your coding journey — and a great way to show off your coding knowledge this Halloween! For this costume:
- Bring out the cat ears!
- Draw a couple of whiskers on your cheeks
- Pull on an orange onesie
- And tape a white circle onto your stomach!
Now you’re ready to drag and drop and trick or treat!
Characters from our Girls Who Code books!
Leila, Lucy, Sophia, Maya, Erin — the new girl gang to be! The best part of this option is that you don’t even need a costume, just a couple of Girls Who Code sisters.
Yourself!
Wear your favorite “Girl Who Codes” swag and show off your incredible coding know-how!
Send us your Halloween photos on social with the hashtag #GWCHalloween and we’ll share our favorites on Nov. 1!
