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Ideas for Making Your Own Halloween Costume
Maybe you are old enough to remember when making your own Halloween
costume, or at least deciding what you wanted to be for Halloween, used to be
half the fun of Halloween. It wasn't really the anticipation of that bag full of
candy---it was putting on a costume and maybe a wig and some makeup, and
walking around, pretending your were a comic book character, a Fairy Princess,
or some hobgoblin (or a hobo...if you couldn't think of anything else, you could
always be a hobo). If you are even a little older, you remember planning and
plotting how to make your costume out of pieces of cardboard, swatches of
material, paper towel tubes, and tinfoil. Come on, admit it---it was fun!
Get a little of that fun back---and make your own costume this year! And if you
are too old to go Trick or Treating, then have a Halloween costume party just so
that you can play dress up and be the Wicked Witch of the West!
Think Outside the Box!
Well, actually---maybe you should think inside the box...a cardboard box that is.
Think about what comes in a cardboard box---and then be that for Halloween. Do
you work in an office, shuffling paperwork all day? Then be a box of computer
printer paper! Find a printer paper box to use an example. Buy a packing box that
is wide enough to fit across your shoulders (and around your middle), cut a hole in
the closed-end bottom for your head, and then decorate the box like the sample
printer paper box. Wear a black T-shirt and black pants or black tights
underneath. (Think U-Haul or places like that where you can buy oversize packing
boxes.)
Maybe you are addicted to Honey-Nut Cheerios---then be a box of Cheerios!
Zillions of things "come in a box" so let your imagination run wild!
Sturdy hunks of cardboard can be the basis for numerous types of costumes. Just
keep two things in mind: Eventually, you are going to need to be able to sit
down...and you are going to need to go to the bathroom. Keep these thoughts in
mind while you are crafting your costume!
Go to a Thrift Shop or Second-Hand Store
You've probably got at least one thrift store near-by, or maybe a Goodwill outlet.
Wander through the aisles and check out the old clothing, shoes, coats, and
other accessories. Be the Crazy Old Lady Who Lives Next Door and get really
campy. Or be a Wacky Professor and be completely scatterbrained! Be The
Oldest Punk Rocker Alive (or Grunge Rocker) and go for the safety pins and dog-
collar look! Shop for clothing styles that are either really over the top or totally
out of fashion. Think of any stereotyped character, and then find clothing and
accessory items to suit that character.
Got a Sewing Machine?
If you are handy with needle, thread, patterns, and lengths of material, you can
make real costumes. You can buy patterns that Halloween costume specific---or
you can cobble together elements from several patterns to make costume
items. Let's say you need a frock coat for a Rhett Butler (the 1800s) period
costume. Find any man's jacket pattern that you can use for the "waist and up"
portion of the jacket. On newspaper draw a "dove's tail" shape so that the blunt
end of the "tail" is one-half the width of the back of the jacket. Allow for seam
allowance, and cut two tails. When you cut out the jacket back, cut it off straight
at the waistline. Sew on the "tails" and voila! You have a frock coat!
No matter what type of costume you want to make, if you can't find an exact
pattern for that, just mentally break down the garment into segments. Now look
for patterns that will offer you that type of segment---or make your own pattern.
Remember, it's a costume, the measurements don't need to be exact!
Accessories Make the Costume!
Don't worry if you can't exactly come up with everything you need for "the
perfect costume." Most costumes are just representations of the character you
want to portray. You can get away with a little less costume and a little more
accessorizing. Just be over the top! Wanna be The Crazy Lady Who Lives Next
Door? Just wear clothing pieces that don't match, clash horribly (like plaids and
florals) and then spray your hair some really awful orange, get outrageous
dangling earrings, wear ten strands of fake pearl necklaces, two different shoes,
and carry a dog leash with no dog on it, etc.
If you can't think of what kind of costume to create, do it backward---shop the
thrift shops for accessories, and let them dictate what character you will create.
Get Some Mileage Out of Prom Gowns, Bridesmaid Dresses, and Wedding Gowns!
Here's your chance to finally use that bridesmaid dress for something other than
the one day that you wore it! Wedding gowns make great Fairy Princess
costumes---just add wings, a magic wand, and white wig, and glittery makeup! Be
a Wallflower! Put on your Bridesmaid gown, and get a pair of old-fashioned gunky
plastic rim glasses. Do you hair in a really bad hairstyle, spray on way too much
hairspray, get a really tacky artificial flower that doesn't match your gown---and
you are an instant Wallflower!
Now that you've got some ideas, let your imagination run free! Halloween used to
be fun and can still be fun---even now that you are an adult! So enjoy it!
For other Halloween-related articles, please visit:
Make your own Trick or Treat bag! Get ideas, examples, and free printable
Halloween pictures at Halloween Trick or Treat Bag.(http://readingroom.
janktheproofer.com/HalloweenTrickorTreatBag.htm)
For more free printables for Halloween, along with free cards, gift and costume
ideas, and decorations (many include free illustrated instructions), please go to:
Jan's Reading Room: Halloween (http://readingroom.janktheproofer.
com/Halloween.htm). Jan K., The Proofer is a freelance copyeditor and
proofreader. Visit http://www.jansportal.com for more information about Jan's
free crafts, recipes, tutorials, other resource sites, and free content articles, as
well as Jan’s business services. Be sure to visit Mom's Break (http://www.
momsbreak.com/) for free printable crafts and projects. © Copyright 2005 to
present. All rights reserved.
Maybe you are old enough to remember when making your own Halloween
costume, or at least deciding what you wanted to be for Halloween, used to be
half the fun of Halloween. It wasn't really the anticipation of that bag full of
candy---it was putting on a costume and maybe a wig and some makeup, and
walking around, pretending your were a comic book character, a Fairy Princess,
or some hobgoblin (or a hobo...if you couldn't think of anything else, you could
always be a hobo). If you are even a little older, you remember planning and
plotting how to make your costume out of pieces of cardboard, swatches of
material, paper towel tubes, and tinfoil. Come on, admit it---it was fun!
Get a little of that fun back---and make your own costume this year! And if you
are too old to go Trick or Treating, then have a Halloween costume party just so
that you can play dress up and be the Wicked Witch of the West!
Think Outside the Box!
Well, actually---maybe you should think inside the box...a cardboard box that is.
Think about what comes in a cardboard box---and then be that for Halloween. Do
you work in an office, shuffling paperwork all day? Then be a box of computer
printer paper! Find a printer paper box to use an example. Buy a packing box that
is wide enough to fit across your shoulders (and around your middle), cut a hole in
the closed-end bottom for your head, and then decorate the box like the sample
printer paper box. Wear a black T-shirt and black pants or black tights
underneath. (Think U-Haul or places like that where you can buy oversize packing
boxes.)
Maybe you are addicted to Honey-Nut Cheerios---then be a box of Cheerios!
Zillions of things "come in a box" so let your imagination run wild!
Sturdy hunks of cardboard can be the basis for numerous types of costumes. Just
keep two things in mind: Eventually, you are going to need to be able to sit
down...and you are going to need to go to the bathroom. Keep these thoughts in
mind while you are crafting your costume!
Go to a Thrift Shop or Second-Hand Store
You've probably got at least one thrift store near-by, or maybe a Goodwill outlet.
Wander through the aisles and check out the old clothing, shoes, coats, and
other accessories. Be the Crazy Old Lady Who Lives Next Door and get really
campy. Or be a Wacky Professor and be completely scatterbrained! Be The
Oldest Punk Rocker Alive (or Grunge Rocker) and go for the safety pins and dog-
collar look! Shop for clothing styles that are either really over the top or totally
out of fashion. Think of any stereotyped character, and then find clothing and
accessory items to suit that character.
Got a Sewing Machine?
If you are handy with needle, thread, patterns, and lengths of material, you can
make real costumes. You can buy patterns that Halloween costume specific---or
you can cobble together elements from several patterns to make costume
items. Let's say you need a frock coat for a Rhett Butler (the 1800s) period
costume. Find any man's jacket pattern that you can use for the "waist and up"
portion of the jacket. On newspaper draw a "dove's tail" shape so that the blunt
end of the "tail" is one-half the width of the back of the jacket. Allow for seam
allowance, and cut two tails. When you cut out the jacket back, cut it off straight
at the waistline. Sew on the "tails" and voila! You have a frock coat!
No matter what type of costume you want to make, if you can't find an exact
pattern for that, just mentally break down the garment into segments. Now look
for patterns that will offer you that type of segment---or make your own pattern.
Remember, it's a costume, the measurements don't need to be exact!
Accessories Make the Costume!
Don't worry if you can't exactly come up with everything you need for "the
perfect costume." Most costumes are just representations of the character you
want to portray. You can get away with a little less costume and a little more
accessorizing. Just be over the top! Wanna be The Crazy Lady Who Lives Next
Door? Just wear clothing pieces that don't match, clash horribly (like plaids and
florals) and then spray your hair some really awful orange, get outrageous
dangling earrings, wear ten strands of fake pearl necklaces, two different shoes,
and carry a dog leash with no dog on it, etc.
If you can't think of what kind of costume to create, do it backward---shop the
thrift shops for accessories, and let them dictate what character you will create.
Get Some Mileage Out of Prom Gowns, Bridesmaid Dresses, and Wedding Gowns!
Here's your chance to finally use that bridesmaid dress for something other than
the one day that you wore it! Wedding gowns make great Fairy Princess
costumes---just add wings, a magic wand, and white wig, and glittery makeup! Be
a Wallflower! Put on your Bridesmaid gown, and get a pair of old-fashioned gunky
plastic rim glasses. Do you hair in a really bad hairstyle, spray on way too much
hairspray, get a really tacky artificial flower that doesn't match your gown---and
you are an instant Wallflower!
Now that you've got some ideas, let your imagination run free! Halloween used to
be fun and can still be fun---even now that you are an adult! So enjoy it!
For other Halloween-related articles, please visit:
Make your own Trick or Treat bag! Get ideas, examples, and free printable
Halloween pictures at Halloween Trick or Treat Bag.(http://readingroom.
janktheproofer.com/HalloweenTrickorTreatBag.htm)
For more free printables for Halloween, along with free cards, gift and costume
ideas, and decorations (many include free illustrated instructions), please go to:
Jan's Reading Room: Halloween (http://readingroom.janktheproofer.
com/Halloween.htm). Jan K., The Proofer is a freelance copyeditor and
proofreader. Visit http://www.jansportal.com for more information about Jan's
free crafts, recipes, tutorials, other resource sites, and free content articles, as
well as Jan’s business services. Be sure to visit Mom's Break (http://www.
momsbreak.com/) for free printable crafts and projects. © Copyright 2005 to
present. All rights reserved.
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WAHM
About
Activities
Africa
Alphabet
Bible
Colour & Activity
Contact
Crafts
Curriculum
Calendar
Dolch Words
Freebies
Gallery
Games
Health
Homeschooling
Kids Fun Pages
Language
Links
Maths
Menus4Moms
Nursery Rhymes
Parents
Phonics
Pre-K
Services
Site Map
South Africa
Spelling
Surfnet Kids
Teens
Themes
WAHM
246 pages absolutely
jam-packed with Family
Fun Activities & Teaching
Resources. This book
includes lesson plans,
crafts, recipes, Jokes &
Riddles, Crosswords,
Wordsearches, Vocabulary
7 counting exercises,
Handwriting & memory,
numbers, phonics,
colouring, Halloween
Safety, Superstitions,
History, Sight word cards,
fingerplays, scrapbooking
pages, tags, bags and
labels, incitations and
more.
Click this link to preview
jam-packed with Family
Fun Activities & Teaching
Resources. This book
includes lesson plans,
crafts, recipes, Jokes &
Riddles, Crosswords,
Wordsearches, Vocabulary
7 counting exercises,
Handwriting & memory,
numbers, phonics,
colouring, Halloween
Safety, Superstitions,
History, Sight word cards,
fingerplays, scrapbooking
pages, tags, bags and
labels, incitations and
more.
Click this link to preview