Homemade Halloween Costume Ideas

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Costumes from the closet or second-hand store

The old stand by a Ghost: Grab a old white sheet, cut out the eyes.

Be sure its is short enough not to trip you. Take scrap piece of

sheet, and sew up a simple treat bag.

.

Clown: Sweet clothes that are too large. Decorate by using either

fabric paint, or markers. For those who dare try tie-die. Tack on

some large pop-poms, add a cheap wig, hat, and make-up. You may also

stuff the extra space in clothing with tissue. However this could be

messy, if you need to make a “pit-stop”.

Scarecrow: Over sized flannel shirt, faded blue jeans with patches,

rope for belt and to tie at the cuffs of his jeans and sleeves, stuff

the shirt and jeans with plastic grocery, or paper, a little bit of

straw to hang out of jeans and shirt. Add a little bit of make-up.

The American tourist: Guys loud Hawaii shirt, shorts (if weather

permits), Large straw hat. Gals bright loud dress, flats, big sun

hat, straw bag. Don’t forget to have a camera, and maps hanging out,

and that look of being lost. Guys can use a tourist bag, (like you

get from travel agents, and gals can use the straw bag for their

treats.

1960s Hippy: This one is hard, after all its all back in style! What

is real, and what is costume? 😉 Tie die clothing, long wig (in the

old days we called a “fall”, sandals, headband, anything with fringe

on it (vests, purse…) light colored sun glasses.

Old man: Dark paints (cuffed), and jacket, most any dress shirt, mans

flannel hat, walking cane. Gray the hair, with any of the commercial

temporary colors, or dust with a little flour.

Old woman: Old style dress, just below knee, knee-hi stockings rolled

down a little, oxfords, large black purse.

Your chance to be a real nerd. Slick back the hair, grab some paints

that are too short, white shirt, white socks, penny loafers, or lace

up oxfords, pocket protector, with lots of pens, dark rim glasses

(don’t forget to tape the corner, or at least paper clip it)

briefcase, or backpack for treat bag.

Japanese Doll: My daughter won with this costume! Her face was

painted white, she had red rosy cheeeks all shaped in a circle, Hair

in buns, thoung slippers, and a kimono(chinese dress)

Miss. America

Use a old bridesmaid dress of formal, add a pair of gloves, a tiara,

some oversized jewelry, and heals. For the banner, a piece of wide

ribbon, and write “Miss. America” in glitter.

Soda pop can: Use a round barrel, cut a hole in the bottom. You cut

holes for arms and your head. Paint it the colors of a pop can.

Presto! You have a pop can!!!

Static Cling

Wear anything a solid color is good all white or all black. With

safety

pins pin anything to yourself i:e: socks, underware, bounce sheets,

etc. You can also spray your hair straight up in the air.

1950’s “Sock-Hopper”

It’s quite simple, just a round skirt, a white short-sleeved shirt,

and some saddle shoes. (If you don’t have saddle shoes, plain buckle

shoes are fine.) You could add some cat-eye glasses if you want. Tie

their hair in a ponytail, and wrap a scarf around it.

Mummy

Wrap yourself in white bandages (rolls of gauze) Use splotches of

green paint for “mold”. Use white make-up on face with “age lines”

drawn on. The stiff-legged gait works perfectly.

Quasimodo the Hunchback of Notre Dame

Build the “hunchback” out of foam or cardboard. Find an old coat

several sizes too large to accomodate this. Old, ratty clothes are

great! Wear a snaggly wig and keep putting hand up to ear and

muttering “eh?”.

Pirate

Form a fake aooden leg by wrapping your bad one in brown felt. Wear

sailor pants or jeans with a striped top. Tie a bandana around your

head, wear an eye patch, carry an empty bottle marked XXX (for

the “rum”) and mutter “aargh” a lot. Ask for “Trick or treat,

matey!”

Crash test dummy – After! There is a commercial costume for this,

but a good one can be made with sweats and tape to make the markings

on it like the crash test dummies. Use bandages and fake blood to

decorate. Fashion a seat belt out of webbing and an old buckle and

pin in place. (or go to a junk yard as ask for an old seatbelt).

Train Engineer

A pair of blue jeans, a blue Jean jacket, a red and black bandana.

a blue and white engineer hat, a whistle, and play lantern

Mother Nature

Silk flowers and silk plant leaves in a variety of shapes and colours

an old skirt and vest

a face mask

€ twigs (collected from your nearby park or in your own backyard) to

make a nest

€ a foam bird that you can find at any craft store

€ glue gun and wire

Decorate the vest & skirt with the silk leaves in a random pattern

and glue into place. Decorate the skirt with flowers growing out from

the leaves already put in place.Use the remaining leaves and small

flowers to decorate the face mask. Gather your twigs and secure with

wire to make a nest. Place your bird on the twigs and secure into

place with the wire. You can add some leaves and peat moss as a

filler. The child can wear a dark coloured turtleneck and leggings

under the vest and skirt for the evening walk to get treats.

Do it in tights & leotards or Sweats

Skunk

Black with white strip down the pack.. be careful everyone may run

Bunny

Pink, brown, or white, add a powder puff or large pom-pom to the

backside, and a set of ears make from constriction paper and a

plastic headband. Now just hop on out and enjoy

Turtle

Green with a piece of poster board attached to the back. Simple cut

the poster board into a large oval, make random marks like a turtle

shell, and paint.

Puppy

Brown, tan or white, either paint, or pin paper spots on. Make floppy

ears and bobby pin to hair over your ears. The tale can be most

anything, depending on what type of doggie you wish to be. Add a

little make-up.

Kitten

Gold, brown, tan, white. Make ears from construction paper, attach to

head band or bobby pin in to hair. Sew a simple round tale, and pin

on.

Spider

Black, For the legs grab some cheap black hose, stuff with any thing

dark and light weight. Either sew, or staple to keep stuffing from

falling out. Pin to clothing, add a little make-up

Lady Bug

Use a pair of black sweats and black sweat shirt (and a pair of black

shoes). Use a large piece of poster board or cardboard and cut out a

large oval. Paint it red with black dots. Staple black elastic pieces

(in a loop) onto the board to make arm holes. For the antenna atatch

craft pipe cleaners with black pom poms on the ends to a headband.

Snowman

Last year my 3 year old was a snowman. It was the easiest costume so

far! I bought white sweats, christmas socks, white keds tennis shoes,

a cheap black hat, fake snow, mittens, scarf and black pom poms for

the coal!

I sprayed the hat to look like snow and added a cheap red bird from

the craft store. I bought a white mask and bought a cheap carrot from

the craft store and glued it onto the nose part of the mask. I glued

the pompoms on his sweatshirt and that was it. Cheap, simple and he

was adorable. Besides he was the only frosty we saw! He also had to

have white face makeup on!!

Cereal Killer

Attach little cereal boxes to a shirt, cut a slit in the boxes, glue

in plastic knives into the holes, drip red paint running down from

the knife hole in the box.

A Bunch of Grapes

Using green or pruple sweets, attach balloons of the same color with

safety pins. Ppaint face and hands same color.

Grapes appear to be popular!

My fav was purple tights, purple (long sleeves) body suit (I can’t

think of what it’s really called), 12 purple balloons and a green

felt hat. Balloons are pinned (by the tied off end to the fabric in a

triangle shape, 3 on top, 2 in middle and 1 at bottom (on front and

back). I was a bunch of grapes and the hit of the party!

Bag of Jelly Beans

– lots of different colored balloons

– large clear plastic bag (I got mine from the grocery store – the

big bags that they put all the recycled cans in)

– colorful ribbon

– two safety pins

– two pieces of white cardboard

blow up all the balloons. cut two leg holes in the bottom of the bag

and two arm holes near the middle. have your child stand in the bag

and fill with blown up balloons. write on each piece of

cardboard “jelly beans 2 cents each”. safety pins signs to front and

back of bag. loosely tie around shoulders with a colorful ribbon. cut

off excess bag around face from: dee

or

if your prefer to be a little high class jelly bean… natalie

suggested…put an enlagred jelly belly sign on the front of the bag.

black eye pea

when i was younger, a teacher from my elementary school dressed up as

a “black eyed pea” and it was so cute, my mother dressed me up the

same way the next year. it is simple and cheap. wearing all white,

with black tennis shoes, i cut out the letter ‘p’ from black

construction paper and pinned the p’s all over the white outfit. i

painted a black spot over one eye (“black eye” … get it? 🙂 hee

hee) and i was a “black-eyed ‘p’ “

black bat

using a black umbrella and tights, rip the umbrella in half. discard

the center and innards of the umbrella. if you are fancy you can sew

the edges of the umbrella to the back of the body. if you don’t have

the time or patients to sew the umbrella you can always safety pin

it.

butterfly

put on black sweats and black shoes. use a piece of poster board and

paint wanted color cut them out in an appropriate wing shape. punch

two holes toward the edges of the wings. put black ribbon through

them and tie around waist. attach pipe cleaners and pompoms to a

plastic head band.

blooming idiot!

get a green body suit and some green tights and on your head wear a

beanie hat. glue fake flowers to the beanie hat and maybe pin a few

on your body suit. also it’s fun if you paint some flowers on your

face and arms. i found some cheap, fake ivy and wrapped it around my

neck and arms and presto! your a

blooming idiot!

spider to bat

you need an oversized black sweatshirt, black sweat pants, black

open faced ski mask, two huge googly eyes, black yarn or fishing

line, pipe insulation (for legs!), three pairs of gloves (very small)

and black opaque tights.

attached the ski mask to the neck of the sweatshirt. hot glue googly

eyes over the opening in the ski mask, the foam pipe insulation is

placed into tights. so that the “leg” could bend, i cut the length

of pipe insulation in half. attach all legs together for coordinated

movement with black yarn or (fishing line), attach toddlers gloves

on the ends of the “legs” and have your child wear one pair. for

safety, i bought some reflective tape and created a “design” on the

back and front so that he could be seen. obviously, wear black sweat

pants and dark shoes. two years later, we took the legs off, added a

huge set of black felt wings hot glued from wrist to neckline to

wrist and used craft foam to make big black bat ears!!

darcy prairiedog (little dogs on the prairie)

items needed: light and dark pink felt , an old hooded pink

sweatcoat, pink gloves, pink slacks, pink slippers.

cut out light pink felt into what looks like prairiedog ears. place

the dark pink felt inside in in the same shape except smaller. glue

onto the sides of the hood on the sweatcoat. with the remaining

felt,cut out a piece of “headfur”. from the light pink felt. put on

and paint your face pink with a black nose.

ragdoll

one year for my girls i had them dress up as ragdolls and i didnt

have to spend a penny!

i took an old sleeper and cut out the feet then i sewed patches in

various places over the sleeper. i also sewed wide cuffs at wrist and

ankles. (because the sleepers were to small). it looked so cute.

for

the head i used an old stocking cap and sewed strips of fabric from

old clothes to the stocking cap. then gave them red cheeks and

freckles. it was a great costume and completely free.

basket of laundry…clean or dirty.

wear sweat pants and sweatshirt if it is cold. tights and a

turtleneck if you will be in a warm building. take an inexpensive

(thin) plastic laundry basket and cut a hole in the bottom that you

can fit through. make it small enough so that is “sits” on your hips

after you pull it over your head. fill basket with laundry and pin a

few dryer softener sheets to your sweatshirt.

bubble bath

take a white laundry basket and cut out the bottom, be sure to tape

the cut edges with masking tape. attach two wide strips of material

(white) to front and back of basket (these are the shoulder straps).

attach white, light peach, and pearl balloons to the staps using

safety pins (these are bubbles) wear a white bodysuit, and white

pantyhose. put on your houseshoes, shower cap, and grab your scrub

brush. (if the laundry basket has holes in it, cover the inside with

posterboard)

costumes made from boxes

just use your imagination.

pokemon card

last year i made my 6 year old into his favorite pokemon card. i

used a box and made his head blastoise’s head. my computer scanner,

felt ,my computer’s publisher and a little creativity made him the

hit of the party!

paint it silver, glue on a few extras a presto.. a robot.

paint it red, tack on some paper plate wheels, and you are a race

car.

paint it white and a handle and you will be a cool refrigerator.

paint it light tan, tack a small flat box. draw on a keyboard, you

will be the first walking macintosh. (may work with windows 😉 )

wrap it in christmas paper, add a large bow.. wow a christmas

present.

paint it bright colors, and a crank. you can pop into the local

halloween party as a jack-in-the-box

cover with table cloth, glue on silver plastic platter in the middle

(cut hole for head to pop through. glue on a couple of place settings

of plastic dishes, and glasses. now your head in on a silver platter.

thomas the engine & friends

get a small box big enough to fit around your childs waist. paint

box

blue (for thomas), or green (for percy) etc. with colored

construction paper add stripes and train number to sides, also add

black train wheels. on front make a 3D face with construction paper

to match your train of choice. Attach a belt from a robe to each side

and harness over shoulders. Dress child up with a conductors hat.

Rubics cube

Using a large card board box and five different colors of contact

paper or construction paper (contact paper is easier to stick on)

enough to do 5 sides, black pants and long sleeve shirt. this was

done very inexpensively and we had a lot of fun with it.

Dice

Grab a friend and take 2 cardboard boxes, paint them white. Cut out

several black circles (From construction paper) and glue them in the

appropriate places to make you and your friend a pair of dice! It’s

so easy,

OR

Have the second person dress as a key ring and use a light weight

chain to attach the two people. To make the key ring cut several

large keys out of poster board, attach one to the back and another to

the front. Attach a medal ring to a hat, then attach a few more keys

to the ring.

Lego Block

Take a medium sized box (apple/orange boxes were a good size) cut two

round holes in the sides for the arms. Hot glue 6 cottage cheese

containers on the top of the box (the flat part) like a Lego piece.

Spray paint the whole thing whatever color lego you want to be. (We

chose our colors based on what color sweats and turtle necks we had

on hand) Take a smaller box that will fit on top of their head snugly

and hot glue one cottage cheese container and spray paint it the same

color. Just slip into the open part of the back of the box and stick

your arms through the holes.

Dresser!

Walmart or Kmart sells cardboard dressers in the laundry department.

Cut out holes for arms on the sides and hole on top

for head. I put foam in the inside for the shoulders to hold it up.

I painted the dresser and wrote on each drawer underwear, socks, ect.

Hot glue a doily to top with hairbrush and hair accessories. Hang

underwear, socks, shirt, and pants out of drawers. Put a small lamp

shade on child’s head so neck and face are base of lamp. From:

anonymous (by way if you don’t want to spend the $$ for a cardboard

dresser, it wouldn’t take much to make one out of a box. Attaching

long flat boxes on the front and hot glue small balls on the front

for pulls.

Costumes for Chair Users

With a little thought you may come up lots of ideas that make the

chair a natural part of the costume. Here are a few ideas to get you

started.

King or Queen on Throne

Convert chair into a throne, by wrapping the back and arm rests with

gold or silver foil / paper. Use plastic gems (from craft store),

old jewelry, Christmas garland to give it that “special look”.

Simply wear a cape of a royal color (velvet looks great). Scepters

and crowns can be purchased at most retail stores, or make your own!

If an attendant will be going, they may dress as the mate (King or

Queen) or as a court jester.

A variation of this would be to dress like Santa and have the

attendant be an elf.

Skier

Skiers have a bad habit of falling and breaking a bone or two. This

opens the door for a great costume. Just put on some ski clothing

(hat, scarf,…) Wrap a leg in wide white gauze (to look like cast)

and if you really want to “ham it up” and you use a power chair, wrap

an arm too.

Ventriloquist

If you know anyone who has a ventriloquist doll, this can be a quick

and easy one. You may wish to go with the formal look wearing a tux,

or the casual look by dressing to match the doll.

Gift, Jack in a box, or Robot

Find a box that will fit conformably over chair (still allowing you

room to maneuver inside). Remove top flaps, cut hole in top for

head, and in sides for arms. Decorate.

For gift box, wrap box in wrapping paper, make a large bow and wear

as hat.

To be a Jack-in-the-box, paint the box in bright colors, than wear a

matching top and hat. Clown make-up will add that little extra.

To be a robot, cover box in foil, then use your imagination to

decorate.

Car, Truck, Space Ship

Again using a box (as above) decorate as you favorite vehicle.

The space ship can be done much as the robot. This can be real cool

costume for high tech power chairs and or using a vent.

Make Your Own Make-up

You will need:

2 tablespoons of soft shortening

4 tablespoons of cornstarch

Food coloring

Mix ingredients shortening and cornstarch. Separate the recipe into

different cups, add food coloring.

Wash your face and any area that you will be applying makeup to and

than dry thoroughly.

Apply a thin coat of cold cream to the entire face.

Using a cotton ball, gently pat cornstarch over cold cream. Keep your

eyes closed.

Apply make-up with fingers tips.

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