New York City

Hizzoner and McCray’s Halloween costumes, ranked from best to worst.

Sorry, they can’t all be winners.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray host a Halloween Party for children at Gracie Mansionay, on Friday.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray host a Halloween Party for children at Gracie Mansionay, on Friday. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

It's Halloween! And as per their yearly tradition, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and first lady Chirlane McCray have debuted their costumes during Gracie Mansion’s annual Halloween party. Hizzoner and McCray settled on a pair of track stars – ironic, considering the mayor failed to make it to the presidential finish line. 

The couple has dressed up for Halloween every year since de Blasio has been in office, and though many of their costume choices have improved significantly over time, not all of them have been winners. 

This year, we’ve decided to rank all of the first couple’s costumes since they’ve been in office, from best to worst – consider this our Halloween “trick.”

2016: Old time-y activists 

Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray march in the Park Slope Halloween Parade in Brooklyn on Monday, October 31, 2016.
Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

McCray’s “suffragette” outfit, adorned with a “Votes For Women” sash, and de Blasio’s “labor activist” ensemble are without a doubt the best costumes the first couple has ever sported. 

The garments looked as though they came straight out of a time machine and are completely on brand with de Blasio’s “working class” political ethos – even if he’s not.

2014: The, uh … cast of “Troy”? 

Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray host Gracie Mansion’s Halloween Open House.
Rob Bennett/Mayoral Photography Office

When de Blasio and McCray first displayed these costumes, many found themselves wondering: what are they supposed to be, exactly? Many guessed that Hizzoner was dressed as the “sea god,” Poseidon, thanks to the hefty triton he was holding. Others have wondered if he was dressed as a gladiator

Sadly, no one knows for sure, and little insight has been given as to what McCray was dressed as. Cleopatra? A Greek woman? Who can say, really? All we know is that they rocked the hell out of whatever these costumes were. 

2015: The Mets 

Everyone in the city knows that Hizzoner has has been a proud Red Sox fan for years. So, sure, he couldn’t rock a Yankees uniform, but the Mets seem like a compromise everybody could live with. 

The costumes were true to form, but a little on the boring side, compared with the couple’s more creative costumes throughout the years.

2019: Track stars 

Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray host a Halloween Party for children at Gracie Mansionay, on Friday.
Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

Okay, fine, these aren’t awful, but de Blasio’s curly wig cancels out whatever good the costumes had to offer. Sorry, I don’t make the rules.

2017: Wonder Woman and Clark Kent 

Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray host Gracie Mansion Halloween dressed at Clark Kent and Wonder Woman on Friday, October 27, 2017.
Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

Though Clark Kent’s most recognizable beau is Lois Lane, de Blasio and McCray made the bold move to represent Supes’ relationship with his lesser-known sometimes-love-interest, Wonder Woman. (Though it’s hard to imagine that much Comic Con trivia went into this costume choice.)

A little on the simplistic side, it’s hard to get jazzed about costumes that look like they were picked up from the Spirit closest to Gracie Mansion. 

2014: Pirate and Princess

Mayor Bill de Blasio Marches in Park Slope Halloween Parade. 7th Avenue and 14th Street to Washington Park, Brooklyn, NY.
Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

There’s a lot to unpack in this photo, so to make things easier, we'll start with Blaz, whose pirate shirt truly gives the Seinfeld “puffy shirt” a run for its money. 

Hizzoner’s shirt is so shiny that we’re certain it blinded several people who looked directly at it during the Halloween parade – and yes, we know, it takes place in the evening. And then there’s the long tuft of hair trailing down his back that looks less like hair than it does a rogue squirrel that found itself at Gracie Mansion at the wrong time.

McCray’s princess costume is far less offensive – perhaps because it was mostly covered up by a cape – but we’re not ready to forgive her for allowing the mayor to sport this monstrosity.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.