Best Halloween episodes of The Office, ranked

The best Halloween episodes of The Office

The Office is currently available to stream on Netflix, but you’d better get your binging in now because the series will be leaving the streamer soon. It’s October, and it is always fun to revisit the Halloween episodes of The Office. 

Employees of Dunder Mifflin, Scranton Branch, are always up for any kind of party.  It didn’t take much for Michael to want to throw a party. He put his party planning committee to the test often by springing last minute over the top party ideas on them. Even after Michael left, the PPC still hosted many great events. Most of the employees really get into the holidays, which is evident by the costumes for the Halloween parties.

You always have the party poopers who don’t want to dress up; we are talking to you, Jim and Plop. Then you have Michael on the other end of the spectrum, making a huge deal out of any party. It was good that they carried the Halloween party tradition even after Michael left Dunder Mifflin.

There are six Halloween episodes of The Office. We ranked all six from worst to best.

6. “Here Comes Treble” Season 9, Episode 5

Andy’s Cornell acapella group “Here Comes Treble” is invited to entertain at the annual Halloween party. The young acapella guys aren’t interested in Andy’s glory days stories as he had hoped they would be. Andy, dressed as George Michael, assumes the group will ask him to sing solo on “Faith,” Micheal’s popular song, which they don’t. The employees are dressed in customs, but this is one of the Halloween episodes focused more on the subplots.

Jim, not in costume, fights with Pam, making this the worst Halloween episode.

5. “Spooked” Season 8, Episode 5

Spooked finds Erin as the party planner at Andy’s request, who is now the branch manager. Andy feels they must really make this party special in order to impress Robert California, CEO, who will be attending.

Erin’s decorations aren’t adult enough for Andy, prompting her to seek Gabe and Dwight’s assistance to make the party scarier. Gabe goes way over the top, and things go badly for Erin. Throughout the party, Robert gets each employee to tell him their greatest fears, which he, in turn, complies and tells as a horror story convincing them not to let their fears rule their lives.

Jim doesn’t wear a costume at this party, so this gets the second to the worst rating.

4. “Employee Transfer” Season 5, Episode 5

In season 5, Pam is at the corporate branch, and her Charlie Chaplin costume got a lot of attention. Mostly because no one at the corporate office dresses up for Halloween. The Joker from The Dark Knight movie was popular that year, so popular that Kevin, Creed and Dwight all dressed as this character.

In true form, Jim puts on a name tag that says “Dave” and calls it good. He at least tried, I guess.

3. “Koi Pond” Season 6, Episode 8

This episode contained a cold open with a haunted warehouse scene that has since been removed. Michael played a prank of hanging himself that was deemed a bit too risque for even this series. The whole office dressed up and decorated the warehouse into a haunted house.

Jim’s costume consisted of the word “Book” written across his face; he claims he dressed as a popular social media platform. Okay, that was clever at the time.

2. “Halloween” Season 2, Episode 5

This was the first Halloween themed episode of the series. Michael was told earlier in the month he needed to fire someone, and he procrastinated until the last day of the month, which, of course, is Halloween. The employees were in a festive mood, dressed in costumes, and then the firing happens and dampens everyone’s holiday spirit. Devon, who Michael chose to fire, got his revenge by smashing a pumpkin on Michael’s car.

Jim took the time to add three black circles to his shirt, calling himself a three-hole punch. I guess he gets an A for effort.

1. “Costume Contest” Season 7, Episode 6

This year for the annual Halloween party, there is a prize for the best costume. The employees go all out, trying to outdo one another with their costumes.

The prize is a Scranton coupon book that touts that it is worth $15,000 savings, making everyone think this is a super prize. Many of the employees are afraid their costumes aren’t good enough and make costume changes midway through the day.

Oscar’s “Rational Consumer” costume ends up winning because Kelly voted for him as the least likely to win, Ryan voted for him as the underdog and Creed thought Oscar’s Edward James Olmos costume was spot on.

Pam is dressed as Olive Oyl and begs Jim to dress in his Popeye Costume. Since Jim always bucks at dressing up, he refuses. Throughout the day, Jim comes to realize he loves Pam and her dorky ways and shows up dressed as Popeye with Cece in her Swea’Pee costume, much to Pam’s surprise.  This gets the best rating because Jim not only wore a costume but made Pam so very happy.

Below is a video of the 25 best costumes featured in the series. It is a fun look back at all the craziness of The Office Halloween episodes.

Do you have a favorite Halloween episode of The Office? Let us know in the comments below.