Basic Trope: A character is invited to a party being told it is a costume party and shows up wearing an elaborate costume only to find out the party wasn't a costume party.
- Straight: Alice invites Sarah to a party at her house and says the theme is pirates. Sarah shows up dressed as a Pirate Ship only to be embarrassed and find everyone else in normal clothes.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice pulls this trick on Sarah regularly. And she always falls for it.
- Alice pulls this trick on every girl regularly. And they always fall for it.
- Alice tells Sarah that it's a naked party. She falls for it.
- Downplayed:
- Sarah turns up wearing a pirate-themed T-shirt. Too bad, the dress code was "formal".
- Sarah brings eye patch and plastic hook to the party. If it is a costume party, she can wear them, otherwise she can leave them in her car.
- Justified:
- Alice and Sarah constantly pull pranks on each other and this is one of Alice's favorites.
- The party happens to be on Halloween, giving Sarah the wrong impression.
- The costume party is an official school event. Unfortunately Sarah did not read the room during the announcement, no one but her wants to wear a costume.
- There really is a costume party set at another date, and Sarah thought that she was going to the costume party instead of the regular one.
- Inverted: The party is a costume party, but Sarah wasn't informed of this and shows up wearing a normal outfit.
- Subverted:
- It isn't a costume party, but Sarah's costume looks cool/sexy enough that no one cares.
- Sarah turns up in costume... dressed as herself.
- Everyone snickers at Sarah's outfit, wondering if she was told the party was a costume party. Turns out she simply has that tacky of a fashion sense.
- Several other people packed costumes just in case. When they see Sarah in costume they change into their costumes.
- Sarah knew that it was a formal party, but she thought it would be hilarious if she came dressed as a pirate.
- Double Subverted:
- The rest of the guests then change into costumes so Sarah is still the odd one out.
- It really was a costume party, and Sarah was just being Wrong Genre Savvy.
- Parodied:
- Alice has a checklist of all the girls she has pulled this trick on.
- Sarah calls Alice out and makes her Walk the Plank into the swimming pool.
- Alice doesn't account for Sarah being The Slacker, and she can't be arsed to put on a costume either way.
Alice: Curses! Foiled again!- Alice tells Claire about the "costume party" in front of Sarah, who fails to notice their obvious winking and nudging.
- Sarah slashes her cutlass at Alice’s clothes like Zorro, causing them to fall off, and forced her to attend the rest of the party naked.
- Sarah invites Alice to a party later. When she arrives, Sarah meets Alice outside the house, telling her it’s a nude party and making her take her clothes off. Sarah then pushes Alice naked into the house, where everyone is clothed and taking pictures and videos of her.
- Zig Zagged: The party starts out as a costume party, but Alice keeps changing her mind about it and eventually decides to make it a normal party. Nobody tells Sarah.
- Averted:
- It really is a costume party and everyone shows up in costume.
- Alice doesn't lie about it being a costume party, so Sarah doesn't turn up in costume.
- Sarah doesn't fall for the trick and wears normal clothes to the party.
- Enforced:
- "We need an excuse for Sarah to wear that Pirate Ship thing"
- The executives decide to use a fake costume party storyline to teach An Aesop about not playing mean tricks on people and/or not falling for such tricks.
- Lampshaded: "Come on, Sarah, when is it actually a costume party? It's just the sort of prank Alice would pull."
- Invoked: Alice's best friend Amy suggests that she throw a party and then tell Sarah it's a costume party.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied:
- Sarah decides not to go the party just in case she's being tricked.
- Sarah wears an outfit that could pass as both a costume and normal clothes.
- Rachel tells Sarah that Alice is joking and it is a regular party.
- After Sarah is told of the party by Alice, she immediately seeks additional information from multiple reliable sources about what kind of party it is, and just in case they were also swindled by Alice, Sarah makes a point of arriving "fashionably late" after scouting out the joint and checking the attires of the people who arrived.
- Discussed: "Alice just invited me to a costume party. You think anyone else will wear costumes?"
- Conversed: "Why did Sarah fall for that trick? It's so common"
- Implied: Sarah doubts Alice when she invites her to a costume party, mentioning "last year's party" as a reason and not elaborating.
- Deconstructed: When she is invited to the party, Sarah checks with a few people to see if it is a costume party, and when this is confirmed, she goes in costume.
- Reconstructed:
- The people she asked lied to her, but Sarah wears a neutral costume that helps her to blend in.
- Sarah routinely dresses in clothes that most people would think looked more like a costume, so she's wearing what she would have normally worn anyway.
- Played For Laughs: Sarah sees the funny side of the trick and works with it.
- Played For Drama:
- Sarah is a bully victim and this is the final straw that pushes her over the edge.
- Sarah is told that there is a Cowboys and Indians party and shows up in an Indian costume. She instead attends a very serious Native American religious ceremony, and the people are deeply offended by her costume.
- Sarah dresses up as a monster and is killed when a partygoer mistakes her for an actual monster.
- When Sarah arrives naked, the partygoers takes photos and videos of her with their cameras and upload them online. Sarah is humiliated and runs off crying.
- Played For Horror:
- Sarah is a little nuts; upon seeing that Alice tricked her into wearing a pirate costume, she decides to kill everyone at the party like a slasher.
- After tricking her into arriving naked, Alice corners and attempts to rape her.
- Sarah's unique outfit marks her as a Human Sacrifice for Alice's cult.
- Exaggerating the third Played For Drama example: Sarah is mistaken for a monster/criminal/hostile force of some kind by another partygoer and it gets her killed… and it leaves quite a mess behind. It leaves to a very violent and gory Crime After Crime spree to try to cover the murder, if it does not becomes the origin of a Slasher Film villain.
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