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Homemade Halloween Costumes
Great Costumes for Less
by Tawra Kellam
You can really come up with some cute and clever ideas for costumes,
even if you don't feel particularly creative. Don't wait until the night
before Halloween to start your costumes. Look at the people and things
around you and ask yourself how " how can I recreate this?" Look at
thrift stores and garage sales for costumes. Go ahead and buy the
costume or piece of a costume if the price is right. You really can't go
wrong spending $0.25 on a piece of costume. Even if it doesn't work you
haven't lost much.
Costumes can be very simple and still make a big impact. For example,
instead of the usual witch robes, drag out your elegant black dress and
add a witch hat with a veil of spider webbing stretched over your face.
Cover the spider web with plastic spiders. For a man, a nice suit and
tie and a funny mask makes a good simple costume. For a couple: get a
REALLY big sweatshirt, both of you get in it and be Siamese twins!
Some examples of costumes for kids are:
Sunflower - For the body, use a white sleeper or sweatsuit. Paint the
child's face yellow, adding black spots to simulate seeds if you like.
Make a flower to fit on the child's head out of felt or glue sunflowers
on a white hat.
Angel - Again use a white sweatsuit or long white dress for the body.
Make wings out of heavy white poster board and paint the edges gold.
Attach tie straps to them that go around the shoulders. You can also
shape a metal clothes hanger into a wing. Make two wings, hot glue
fabric around them and add straps.
Pea Pod - Cut 2 small foam balls in half with an electric knife or a
knife with a serrated blade. (Note: Do this BEFORE attaching them to the
child!) Wrap in green fabric and pin them to the front of a green
sweatsuit. Make a hat out of 2 shades of green felt and a little brown
felt for a stem.
Lion - Buy a yellow hat or dye a white hat yellow. Buy long brown fake
fur, yellow fake fur and a yellow sweatsuit. You can get fake fur at
your favorite fabric store. Add brown fur to the top of the hat (for a
mane), hot-glue yellow fur into a long tail, adding a poof of brown for
the end. Pin the tail on the back of the costume. Make an oval of the
fur for the child's tummy and use eyeliner for whiskers.
Dalmatian - Pin black felt dots onto a pair of white sweats. Paint black
polka dots on the child's face. Add more polka dots to a white hat, make
some black felt ears and add black shoes to finish it.
I Paint, Therefore I Am - Glue a copy of a painting with a face on it on
a piece of cardboard. (Ex. Mona Lisa). Cut out the face and then put
their face in instead.
Race Car Stroller - Decorate a stroller as a race car by adding fabric
or paper racing stripes and a number. Add two flashlights for
headlights, plus some reflector tape. If you want to get really
creative, add a wind foil, a foil covered paper towel roller for an
exhaust pipe or whatever else your clever mind conjures up. Cut a
steering wheel out of cardboard for the child to hold. Your child can
wear whatever clothes he wants. Just add an old helmet or baseball cap
worn backwards.
Think of themes for all of the kids in the family. It can be fun for all
the kids to dress up in costumes that complement each other. Some sample
themes are - super-heros, vegetables, candy bars, rabbit family (or
other animals) or cartoon characters (i.e. Mickey Mouse, Minnie and
Donald Duck). They could also dress in pairs like a mouse and cheese, a
plant and a watering can or doctor and patient. The sky's the limit.
Christmas theme:
One child could go as a present, another a Christmas tree, another
Rudolph and the 4th as Santa.
Ideas for how to make the costumes:
Rudolph - Dye an old pair of sweats brown. Put a light brown felt tummy
on the shirt, make a set of cardboard antlers and paint the child's nose
red.
Present - Wrap an old box that is big enough for the child to wear. Cut
out the bottom of the box and make holes for the arms and head. The
child can wear a turtleneck & stretch pants underneath it.
Christmas Tree - Cut two pieces of cardboard into the shape of a tree.
Make two one for the front and one for the back. Hook them together with
a piece of string over each shoulder. Paint the pieces green with latex
paint and attach old tinsel and ornaments with hot glue. Make a star
head piece by gluing glitter to a cardboard cutout or use a Christmas
tree angel as a head piece.
Santa - Trim a pair of red sweats with white fake fur and a large black
felt belt. Make a beard with more fake fur, top off with a Santa hat and
add a little "Ho, Ho, Ho" for good measure.
Of course if all else fails you could wrap the child head to toe in
aluminum foil and send him as a frozen burrito...
About the author:
Tawra Kellam is the author of Halloween On A Dime and the frugal
cookbook "Not Just Beans. Not Just Beans has over 940 recipes and tips.
Order Not Just Beans and receive Pretty for Pennies free!!! This is a
limited time offer. Use coupon 5T7H29 when ordering. For more free tips
and recipes visit her web site at
http://www.LivingOnADime.com/.
In 5 years, Tawra and her husband paid off $20,000 personal debt on an
average income of $22,000 per year.
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