Making a great costume can be time-consuming and expensive, but there are many get-ups that are easy to assemble and put together. For most of them, you probably already have the supplies you need to build them at home.
Halloween is coming, and with it comes the need for a costume, not only for children but for adults, too. Making a great costume can be time-consuming and expensive, but there are many get-ups that are easy to assemble and put together. For most of them, you probably already have the supplies you need to build them at home.
Here are five great Halloween costumes that you can put together with little money and effort.
Zombie
A zombie costume is extremely inexpensive and easy to assemble. All you have to do is go through your kids’ current clothing and select some older weather-appropriate clothes that fit them, then get them smudged and dirty. Have the children play rough in the clothes or roll them around in your garden. Consider using an older lighter colored item of clothing that won’t be a major loss if it never gets clean. You might also want to consider getting a teddy bear similarly dirty, as a prop.
Once they have on those beat-up clothes, just apply a small amount of white or gray face paint with perhaps a bit of red here or there and muss up their hair. You can get enough face paint for this for just a few dollars at any department store during the Halloween season. Have them put on the most beat-up pair of shoes they own, and they’re ready to go.
(Thinkstock)
Thinkstock
Rosie the Riveter
This is a great Halloween costume for a preteen or teenager. It’s a fantastic image of empowerment and very easy to put together. All you need is a blue work shirt that fits or is a bit oversized and a red bandanna. Simply roll the sleeves on the shirt up to the biceps and cover up much of the hair with the bandanna tied through it in some fashion. This costume is instantly recognizable, distinctive and fun.
(AP Photo/Joan Seidel)
AP Photo/Joan Seidel
Scarecrow
Much like with the zombie costume, all you really need are some older clothes, preferably some oversized ones. You’ll also need a small amount of straw and a bit of face paint. A straw hat from a secondhand store also works well. Rather than getting the clothes dirty, however, you’re mostly looking for clothes that simply look old and worn.
When it’s time to go out in the costume, simply stuff a bit of straw into the edges of the clothing, apply a bit of yellow face paint, perhaps do a bit of detail around the mouth to make a longer “scarecrow mouth,” toss on a straw hat, and you’re ready to go. Optionally, you can put some stuffing into the clothes to give a bulky, lumpy look to the costume.
(Thinkstock)
Thinkstock
Bank robber
All you need is a white canvas shopping bag, some play money and a ski mask. Simply paint a big black dollar sign on the side of the canvas bag, tape or glue some individual bills of play money on the edges of the bag, so the bills are exposed, and have your child wear the ski mask. Your kid can even put candy right into the canvas “loot bag.”
If you want to go a little further, find a white shirt and black pants, then draw black stripes all over the shirt to imitate an old-fashioned prison uniform. If you happen to have a white shirt with lots of horizontal black or dark blue stripes, even better.
(Thinkstock)
Thinkstock
Witch
Pulling off a successful witch costume is fairly easy. At its simplest, all you need are some black clothes from the closet and a wide-brimmed black hat. The look can be accentuated with a bit of facial makeup, depending on the style of witch you’re going for.
With a little bit of digging through the closet, some cheap makeup or other supplies, and a few minutes of work, you can put together a really neat Halloween costume for yourself or your child.
(Thinkstock)
