Ten Ideas For Homemade Halloween Costumes
October 12, 2011
Not only is it less expensive to create homemade Halloween costumes for your kids, it gets your creative juices flowing and the kids can help with the preparations. Here are ten fun ideas for homemade costumes this year….
Scarecrow
This is always a family favorite. For the makeup, paint small circles on the cheeks, a triangle on the nose, and one vertical, short line above and below each eye. For the costume, grab one of dad’s old plaid shirts, big brother’s jeans and boots, and an old straw hat. For the finishing touch, cut up raffia ribbon and have it stick out the sleeves, securing it with hair scrunchies. If you have one, tape a decorative black bird to the top of the hat.
Bunch of Grapes
This homemade grapes costume is one of my all-time favorites. Purchase either purple or green balloons and blow them up to about the size of a cantaloupe. Have your child dress in a green or purple sweat suit, and pin the balloons all over the front and back. For the finishing touch, make a little hat with a leaf and stem out of felt and bobby pin it to your child’s hair.
Fairy
Purchase an old dress at a thrift shop and decorate it with bows and sequins worthy of a fairy. For the makeup, do swirls around her eyes, and use lots of glitter and adhesive sequins.
Einstein
Borrow a lab coat and some old glasses, then tease your child’s hair and spray it with white hair spray. Add a white moustache for the finishing touch.
Gypsy
Dress your daughter in long flowing clothes, hoop earrings and a colorful scarf around her head. Finish it off with heavy eye makeup.
Housewife
Have your daughter wear flannel pjs, a robe, and slippers, and put her hair up in curlers. For the make-up, do a green facial mask!
Dead Prom Queen
Dress your daughter in an old prom dress found at a thrift shop, then tease her hair and apply white makeup on her face and dark circles under her eyes. Adding scary red and brown decaying marks on the face and hands make a nice touch as well.
Hobo
Have you child dress up in dad’s old clothes, tightened with a belt, then stuff a pillow down his shirt to make a pot belly. Find a stick about an inch in diameter and tie a red banana filled with rags at the end of the stick for him to carry over his shoulder. For the makeup, do a sad clown face and add gray smudges to his face and hands to make him look like he’s been traveling for a while.
Clown
Decorate a sweat suit using fabric paint or sewn-on felt pieces, then add a wig, a hat, and dad’s old shoes. Search the internet for ideas on clown face painting. There are so many ways to do it!
Old Man
Dress your son up his his church suit, then add a pair of old glasses with the lenses removed (you can find them at thrift stores), and a stylish hat and a cane. Spray his hair with white hair spray and paint wrinkle lines on his face.
There are so many other ideas out there, so before you spend a fortune on cheap Halloween costumes your child will only wear once or twice, start early, brainstorm with your kids and be limited only by your imagination. Homemade Halloween costumes are often some of the most inventive and interesting ones on the block.
