'Live with Kelly and Ryan' Halloween costume contest: See the elaborate, inventive creations

When it comes time to dress up for Halloween, you could put on something generic, or you could spend weeks on a DIY costume and sign up for Live with Kelly and Ryan's costume contest.

Audience members put their creative juices into the creations they showed off as they lined up outside the studio in New York City. Costumes ranged from the elaborate (a caterpillar that changes into a butterfly) to the clever (a "waste" of time).

Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest have also been preparing for the show for weeks. Over the course of the special, they wore more than 70 costumes including Game of Thrones and The Handmaid's Tale.

Check out highlights from the audience costumes and from the show in the gallery below and the video above.

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The kids from “Stranger Things” – Dustin (Andy Cohen), Eleven (Kelly Ripa) and Mike (Ryan Seacrest) – make an appearance on “LIVE with Kelly and Ryan" Oct. 31.

Lou Rocco/Disney/ABC