DIY: 9 Halloween Costume Ideas

So it's getting close to that time of year where you need to start thinking about what you are going to wear for Halloween. I decided I'd help you all out by sharing some of the past costumes I've done that were a big hit.

Some are quick & easy and some take some preparation. So hopefully this can help to influence your Halloween costume this year!

 

Pirate Costume & Renaissance Costume

First off, lets start with the costume that took the most preparation and some skill. One year for Halloween my friends threw a pirate themed party. After looking through many MANY stores, I discovered that it is almost impossible to find a non sexy pirate costume. I decided to make my own. I first found a pattern that I liked. This is a pattern by Simplicity #9966. I made the purple outfit.

 After you buy your materials you get to spend a few days sewing it all together. This could go really well if you are an experienced seamstress, or it could end up as a huge waist of time and/or money. Your call! I went for it and the results went well!

I used the pattern to sew the shirt and the bodice. Everything else I found from a thrift store and altered it. (2 skirts layered, one of which was hiked up in the front; a mini shot glass goblet; a pistol; leather belt; and a hammer holder from a tool belt as a pistol holder) I happened to have a lot of piratey jewelry which made this easier. I think I spent about $40 on this costume!

The best part of that costume is that I was able to re use the bodice and one of the skirts as a Renaissance costume as well!

 

1920's Black & White Film Star

This one took time just to find find black, white, and grey pieces and accessories. Which meant a lot of time in the thrift stores. The idea is to make yourself look like you are in a black and white movie. This was a fun costume and fairly easy to pull off. It just took time to find everything I needed.

You'll need to find a full outfit that "goes" together and is in a grey scale color scheme. I found a white blouse, grey jacket, black purse, black skirt, grey tights, grey shoes, & black hat. I really wanted to find some gloves but was unsuccessful and painted my hands grey & my nails silver. I also sprayed my hair black and painted my face grey. I wore black lipstick and dark grey & black eyeshadow. Remember to do your eyebrows in black as well! This one cost me about $20.

Dirty Snow

Now this next one was a lot of fun. At this particular Halloween party, I was playing bartender under a black light. 

Now you can go a lot of ways with this idea, but here is what I did. I was wearing white fishnets with black fishnet thigh highs on top held up with a garter, white butt shorts and a white tank top, black fishnet gloves, silver jewelry, and a icy blue wig. To make this extra dirty I tied a yellow highlighter around my neck and had people "write their name in the snow". This was entertaining since I was under a black light all night. This was by far the funnest costume but took time finding the right white outfit. This one cost me about $20.

Nerd

This was a rather cheap & quick costume for me. It should be for you too if you stick to the thrift stores!

All you need are high water pants held up with suspenders, a geeky shirt, and some taped up glasses. The more mismatched the better! This costume cost me about $15. Easy and you can pull it off pretty quickly too.

Zipper Face

I did a tutorial on this last year. This one was also fun because it really creeped people out. . 

You only need a few basic supplies and some time to pull this costume off. Better yet, I have a tutorial for it here!

Fairy

Another easy idea is to dress as a fairy. Let's face it, wings are cheap and they come in plenty of varieties. 

All I did was borrow a dress from a friend and threw on some wings. Instant fairy... instant & easy. The wings were about $10. 

 

Zombie

Now we are getting to some classics. Going as a zombie is one of the easiest costumes to pull off. It's also super cheap since all you need to buy is fake blood and face paint.

First you are going to need to paint your face so you can look undead. If you are going to have any wounds on your face, you'll want to do those first. 

Here is a great tutorial for creating fake wounds.  

Here is a great video tutorial on how to do the face paint.

I decided to get messy with this costume, so I wore regular clothes that I didn't care about. And after I got the face make up done, I bloodied myself up. I recommend doing this in the shower. I put a handful of blood capsules in my mouth and spit it out so it'd run down my chin & shirt like that. All I had to buy was the fake blood & makeup. Total cost was about $10.

Baby Hands

Do you really want to creep people out with your costume with out a lot of effort? Then this is the idea for you! I did this a few years back and this costume is a lot of fun to wear.

 

 

Get a dress or some shirt with long sleeves. You'll also need a pair of baby hands. You should be able to find some at a craft store. Or do what I did and buy a baby doll and saw off those arms! Them attach chopsticks our some sort of stick with some duck tape to the inside of the baby hands. On the dress or shirt you'll need to attach some material in the same color to make the sleeves longer to cover up the baby hands. Make sure they are tapered on one end to help keep the baby hands in place. Now stick them in everyone's face, drink you beer with them, pop some bubbles, caress your friend's faces. Get creepy with it! I spent about $10 in total on this costume.

I hope this helps you out with some ideas for your costume this year. I still haven't decided what I'm doing this year, but I'll be sure to share it with you all when I figure it out!