The Sufficient Self DIY Halloween Costume Thread! (pic heavy)

[Dreaming of Chickens]

When I was about 9 or 10 my mom didn't have the money to get me a costume, so I put on some jeans and a white shirt. Then I went to the first aid kit and took out the ace bandages and wrapped myself up and I was a mummy. Worked out pretty good.

 

[gettinaclue]

I went as a mummy one year as well for the same reason. I had to wrap up on TP though since we didn't have enough bandages. That lasted about 5 minutes of walking and all the TP just fell off. LOL

 

[Denim Deb]

I got a cast on my leg right around Halloween, and was on crutches. So, I put on a pair of jeans and a football jersey, and went as a football player.

 

[Henrietta23]

DS has been everything from an octopus to a hovercraft racer to Jack Sparrow to Harry Potter. He hasn't made up his mind for this year. He wants us all in costume for the school party. I haven't worn a costume since I sewed what I thought was a really cool orange witch-like dress with black spider web overlay. A really mean woman I worked with told me I looked like Mimi from the Drew Carey show and I've refused to wear a costume since....

 

[snapshot]

I made a bee costume from a black trashbag and yellow duct tape. Spray painted yellow fairy wings, found one of those antennae headbands with springs and a ball at the top, wore black body glove with yellow (one year I spraypainted white socks) socks and black tennies. Gave out Bit-o-honeys all night and won our contest. Looked a lot like John Belushi's bee outfit!

Another year, a friend and I went as the Blues Brothers! Went to goodwill for the suits.

Now that I don't work anywhere, I have no excuse to dress up and DH is not a Holiday kinda guy!

 

[justusnak]

Since we live so far out of town, we don't get kids coming to the door here....and we have no kids at home. I have to admit, I really miss seeing all the little ones in costume, and handing out candy to them. A few years ago, a neighbor and I dressed up with masks. Since we are both so short... 5 ft... we passed as kids! Ohhh, the fun we had, and all the candy!! We used pillow cases for our loot....and glad we did, in about an hour, our pillow cases were getting too heavy to carry...so we stopped and handed the candy out again! LOL Maybe I will convince her to go again...im feeling a chocolate need!

 

[lorihadams]

We didn't do this for halloween but you could totally do this very easily.

We got invited to a cowboy and indian themed birthday party so I scrounged around and found some brown fabric. The kids and I had gone for a walk in the woods earlier that week and found turkey feathers. I used a rectangle of fabric cut to the right height for each child and folded it in half and cut a circle out for their heads to go through. Then I went out and cut some baling twine off a bale of the goat's straw and tied the fabric to the kids. I cut fringe on the bottom of my daughter's, cut a strip of fabric for a headband and tied the turkey feather in it, made necklaces out of my daughter's pop beads and voila! two little indians. Didn't cost me a dime.

 

[Wifezilla]

When the kids were little, it was really easy to base costumes on a set of one piece jammies. Pea pod, bee, pumpkin, cow, etc... Then when they get older, the cheap cotton sweat suits make a good foundation. I made Calvin a skeleton costume out of black sweats, and Max a pikkachu costume out of a yellow set. My mom had a mccalls pattern and she made a rabbit, a dog, and a leopard custume out of the same pattern. I still have the dog costume and the rabbit custume... which we turned in to a pig custume because the bunny outfit was too girly for the boys.

 

[calendula]

This year my youngest son wants to be a clone trooper from Star Wars, and we already have a costume for it that they use to play in, so that one's all set. My oldest want to be a SWAT team guy. So, I'm thinking I'll find a black jacket at the thrift store and get some iron-on letters to put SWAT on the back, and just dress him in all black for the rest. I'm glad they picked simple stuff this year!

Here's some pics from a past Halloween:

My youngest wanted to be Robin Hood, so I made this costume.

I bought a second hand green shirt, and cut a slit down from the collar, poked some holes on either side, and laced it up with leather string. I sewed the hat out of some scraps of green felt that I had, and we found the feather outside somewhere. The sword was some cheapo dollar store thing. I made his arrows out of sticks, and used paper to make the fletching. The quiver was just a tube wrapped in felt.

And my oldest son was Indian Jones, which was a very simple costume. We already had a black hat, so I spray painted it brown.

For his whip, I just braided some twine together, and the handle was just a toilet paper tube with twine wrapped around it. I spray painted that brown too. And his pouch was actually...one of my purses. This is a deep, dark family secret. My son won 3rd place in the cub scouts costume contest with this one.

And here's a shot of the three of us taken by my hubby (who isn't as thrilled about getting dressed up).

Halloween is my most favorite holiday, I like it even more than Christmas!

 

[Farmfresh]

I will never forget the year we went to an early (think mid September) Halloween party. We found a wedding dress at a thrift store and my hubby (complete with mustache) went as a pregnant bride! The looks he got at the gas station on the way there were great!

He did complain a lot later however, there was a keg at the party (grown ups only) and he said bathroom trips were a nightmare!