With the smell of fall in the air and pumpkins on every doorstep, millions of Americans of all ages get a sudden urge to dress up in capes and maybe invest in some makeup or a fun wig.

A dad who is clearly secure in his masculinity slapped on some lipstick, donned a skirt and a string of pearls for this quirky holiday photo-op

But as these hilariously awkward photos show, many families simply don’t believe in the ‘less is more’ approach when it comes to choosing their Halloween getups.

Rifling through a slideshow of some of the most embarrassing and gawky Halloween photos, one can encounter anything, from a homespun tribute to America’s favorite campfire treat to a play on a 1993 comedy based on a classic Saturday Night Live sketch.

Some people are ashamed of being couch potatoes, but not this family which went the tuberous route for Halloween

Some went the more traditional route, dressing up as a jack-o-lantern or Count Dracula, but others showed some outside-the-box thinking coupled with a do-it-yourself attitude, creating spectacularly mind-boggling getups like a human salad bowl or Noah’s ark.

The slideshow complied by the website Awkward Family Photos proves that when it comes to Halloween, there is no such thing as going too far with your costume.

A mom dressed herself and her two kids in full swine costumes, complete with tutus

For example, one mom dressed herself and her two kids in head-to-toe pig costumes featuring lacy tutus, while another family donned shiny black-and-silver futuristic space attire.

There seems to be no end to creativity when holiday ensembles are concerned, from a homemade toilet bowl getup to an impressive giraffe disguise.

This spectacularly awkward family costume is based on the 1993 film Coneheads about a famly of aliens that first appeared on a classic Saturday Night Live skit

Much like today, in the 80s and 90s costumes based on pop culture phenomena were all the rage, with some dressing up as Star Trek characters or the royal elephants from a cartoon based on the classic French book the Story of Babar cartoon.

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This grinning family settled on a gourd theme, with mom, dad and their three kids sporting jack-o-lantern costumes