Beloved actor Neil Patrick Harris who is also know as Barney Stinson from the TV show How I Met Your Mother has a beautiful family and it seems that they created a fun tradition of celebrating Halloween by wearing matching costumes. And we don't mean dressing up as the same character but in different sizes; the family actually coordinates their outfits to a certain theme or movie.
Through the years fans have seen the couple's children grow and also witnessed how their costumes evolved. And we continue to observe what the family will be embodying this year as they winning over the internet once again after sharing photos of their newest Halloween costumes. Neil, his husband David Burtka, and their twins Gideon and Harper who are already 11 years old went all out on their costumes and dressed up as characters from horror movie classics so if you want to see the result, scroll down!
NPH, his husband David, and their twins Gideon and Harper have been surprising us with their Halloween costumes every year
Image credits: nph
Last year Bored Panda reached out to Lenore Skenazy who is the president of Let Grow, a nonprofit organization promoting childhood independence and resilience, and founder of the Free-Range Kids movement to learn more about what these kinf od gatherings like Halloween mean to a family. She said that different families have different traditions but she was impressed with those who treated Halloween as an occasion to do something together and create amazing memories.
She believes that it's nice when families have traditions, i.e. something they do regularly and if that tradition is very specific or peculiar to that family, "Kids will remember this pretty much forever, and may even pass it along to the next generation.”
Peter Pan in 2011
Image credits: nph
The Wizard Of Oz in 2012
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Alice In Wonderland in 2013
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Traditions unite the family, help strengthen relationships and it makes the members look forward to those events. As Lorene mentioned these traditions can be passed down through generations and that can become a very important tool to make members from different age groups feel like they all belong together. It is also a natural way of teaching family values to the children and forming their identity.
It's nice to see that even celebrities who usually are very busy and are even more overwhelmed during festivities make time for their families and make sure that they do things they all enjoy and want to keep the bonds between them strong. Their positive influence might inspire others to do something similar with their families and establish their own traditions that would keep their relationships strong, especially when the children grow up and it becomes harder to keep in touch.
Frankenstein’s Monster, Wolfman, The Bride of Frankenstein, and Dracula in 2013
Image credits: nph
Halloween From Gotham City in 2014
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The family dressed up as characters from Star Wars in 2015
Image credits: nph
Image credits: nph
Charlie Chaplin, Groucho Marx, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean in 2016
Image credits: nph
Through the years we had the joy of being involved in Neil Patrick Harris family's Halloween celebrations and they still manage to come up with something new. As already mentioned, the family often chooses movies as inspiration for their costumes. They have already cosplayed as The Wizard Of Oz characters, they have dressed up as characters from Alice In Wonderland and they tried to scare us by making the Frankenstein's Monster their own. Just last year they paid homage to the 1971 American musical movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
When they are not recreating movie characters, the family chooses a theme to dress to. In 2016 they portrayed some of the most iconic American actors of the 20th century and in 2019 the parents and the children became some of the most famous artists in the world. This year the creative four didn't disappoint either.
Harris Halloween Carnival of Curiosities in 2017
Image credits: nph
Image credits: nph
Hitchhiking Ghosts in 2018
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Neil Patrick Harris and his family invited us to visit the Burtka-Harris Boo-seum’ in 2019
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In 2020, the wholesome gang decided to pay homage to the 1971 American musical movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Image credits: nph
"Oompa, loompa, doompety doo! We’ve got a family photo for you!" Neil Patrick Harris greeted his followers on the spooky occasion. Just like Heidi Klum in her brand new Halloween special, the actor reminded everyone of the global pandemic and advised to keep safe. "This year, may you invent an October 31st that is spirited, safe, and scrumptious."
"Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple," NPH continued. "Happy Halloween from the Burtka-Harris Crew!"
And in 2021 the four of them put all the classic horror films in one creepy composition
Image credits: nph
This year the family decided to turn themselves into characters from different classic horror movies. David Burtka is dressed up as Jack Torrance from the movie The Shining, Gideon embodies the creepy doll Chucky from a the movie Child's Play, the other twin, Harper is the possessed girl Regan from the Exorcist and Neil Patrick Harris himself is Norman Bates from the movie Psycho.
The actor put in the caption: "'Frights, Camera, Action!' This Halloween, may all your screams come true…" Seems like the family went all out and brought all the spookiness in one place. What is your reaction to their costumes and which do you like the most? Let us know in the comments!