With Halloween just around the corner, you can expect plenty of parties along the way. Coming up with Halloween costume ideas for these occasions can be hard if you don’t have enough time to prepare. To help you out, here are some great costumes you can easily whip up for your next trick or treat events.
Halloween costume ideas no. 1: Ghosts
Ghosts are probably the easiest Halloween costume ideas to pull off. For the most basic one, you just get a white bedsheet and poke some eye holes on it. Of course, if you want to impress anyone at the party, you need to put in some effort into them.
Easy ghost dress
For this one, you need a long piece of fabric like the above bed sheet. Fold this sheet into two and cut a large enough neck hole in the middle of the fold line. Trace the outline of the sleeves and body and cut it out. Sew the unfolded edges to finish the costume, leaving an open bottom.
To use the costume, you just slip it on like a dress and put on your desired makeup. You can enhance the look by making the edges of the sleeves and hem tattered and frayed. Alternately, you can repurpose the gown into an angel, a wizard, or even a bride.
Phantom specter costume
This is another easy ghost costume you can build from things in the house. The items you will need are:
- A black hooded robe or raincoat
- A black turtleneck shirt
- Black pants
- Black ski mask
- Black boots
- White gloves
- White face mask
In most cases, the only things you will need to buy are the gloves and the mask. You can find the latter in most craft stores for just a few dollars. Enhance the look of the robe by painting some patterns on it. Alternately, you can get a robe that has a deep red color on the inside for the same effect. Once done, wear everything on and add other accessories like a made-up scythe.
Halloween costume ideas no. 2: Monsters
If you are looking to go with monsters as costume ideas for Halloween parties, these will need some extra work. While you can just buy one, they might not be what you have in mind. Making your own will save you money and let you create your look.
Fuzzy fiends costume
This one is a great monster costume for kids but you can also adopt it for adults. The things you will need are:
- 1-yard faux fur
- Elastic waistband shorts (child size)
- Elastic child gloves
- Felt
- Eye mask
- Construction paper
- Knitted winter hat
- Quilt batting
To build the costume:
- Cut out two rectangular pieces from the faux fur large enough to cover your child’s torso. Hot glue the panels at the top to create a shoulder seam. Leave an opening for the head.
- Cut four rectangular pieces of fur to cover the front and back of the shorts. Attach this to the fabric using a hot glue gun.
- For the arm and leg warmers, cut two rectangular pieces of fur to fit around each forearm and calf. Connect two pieces by hot-gluing a 3-in. elastic at the top and bottom ends.
- Cut two semicircular pieces of fur and glue them on the backs of the gloves. You can also cat triangular felt pieces and attach these to the fingers for claws.
- For the mask, enlarge the eye holes to give your kid more visibility. Cut a piece of felt to cover the mask. You can also add some fur to accentuate it.
- To make a horned hat, cut two 4-in. diameter semicircles and two 12-in. semicircles from the construction paper. Roll these into cones and tape the edges. Fill the horns with quilt batting.
- Attach the horns to a hat. You can also cut out and attach ear pieces below the horns.
- Cut round cutouts from the fur large enough to cover the top of your child\s shoes. Glue these on. You can also attach a zigzag strip of felt for claws.
This is just the basic costume. Play around with it to come up with something more unique. For example, you can add a piece of wire for a tail. You also have the option of going either for a more colorful design or something “scarier.”
Squid costume
For this costume, you need to download a template from the internet, such as this one from Parents.com. You also need the following”
- Felt
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Eye mask
- Two large pom poms
- Sequins
To make the costume:
- Print and cut out the template then trace onto the felt. Make two patterns on the felt and cut out.
- Hot glue the two patterns together and leave a large opening at the bottom for your child’s head.
- Cut three 16-inch wavy strips for tentacles. Glue these on the inside of the hat opening.
- To make the eyes, cut two circles each from felt with contrasting colors. Glue these to sides of the hat.
- Glue some felt to the mask.
- Add some sequins for a glittery effect.
You can use this method to create all sorts of animal hats. There are different templates you can get online. As is with other costumes, you can add different accessories to make them more unique.
Be the life of Halloween parties with these costume ideas
Making these Halloween costume ideas with your kids is a great way to spend time with them and prepare for Halloween. Do these designs and put your spin on them. You and your kids will be the life of the party after.