What’s the strangest costume you’ve come up with from stuff you had laying around the house? Here’s mine…
Took one of those fabric tunnels that kids crawl through (this one was red), stood my kid up in it, cut arm holes, wrote ACME FIRECRACKER COMPANY across it, put a ponytail at the very top of her head and turned it into a fuse with painted TP roll. Also added red, yellow and orange pipe cleaners to the top of the fuse to make her look lit. (After the fact, it occured to me that the black cat logo would have been a lot more appropriate, given it was Halloween and all)
She got rave reviews and her picture posted on the school wall, but now I am at a complete loss as to what to do with her this year.
So, if everybody will just stop by and post their most interesting ideas, I’m sure I can find something to shamelessly copy.
Many, many years ago I made a Halloween costume for my younger cousin, who wanted to dress up as a Hershey’s Kiss.
I cut up old manila folders, stapled them into a frame, and wrapped the entire thing in aluminum foil. It was sort of like a sleeveless dress that she could wear over her clothes. I used the same method to make a hat, and added a strand of white crepe paper at the top with the word HERSHEY’S written in blue marker.
It was actually pretty decent for a costume that cost next to nothing to make.
Our department winner back when I worked at MallWart took a large box, cut a hole in it to put it over her head and it caught on her hips. She covered that with a tablecloth, then wore a lampshade on her head. She put a fake alarm clock on the box and called herself “One nightstand”
I came in 2nd. I took some old wire coat hangers, made them into a small ring that stayed on my shoulders and a larger ring that circled my knees. I connected the rings with garlands of “pine” that I got at the dollar store. Then I hung cheapo Xmas ornaments over that, sprayed the whole thing with fake snow, put on a Santa hat, green shirt and brown pants and went as a Christmas tree.
I always like to make my kids’ costumes out of stuff I already have, or stuff that doesn’t cost much. It’s a lot of fun to problem-solve and do arts and crafts.
Two of my better and cheaper efforts to date: I made my daughter an Egyptian princess. She wore a pillowcase with armholes cut in it for a dress, with a gold belt I got at Goodwill. Then she wore sandals she already owned and I made her a headband with a cobra on the front out of various colors of craft foam. The “collar” was a large yoke cut from a man’s white t-shirt, spray-painted gold with noodles and fake jewels glued on. Fabulous!
My son once dressed as a man driving a car. The car was made from a cardboard box, with a kind of harness rigged so it could hang from his shoulders. I decorated the box with paint, foil, reflectors, and an old license plate. He was a big hit that year.
Those are some great ideas. I love the one night stand, but she’s only 12, so I’m thinking that won’t work. If I could turn a box into a Harley, she might could be talked into that.
Probably the cheapest costume I did was to turn her red hooded sweatshirt into Elmo when she was almost a year old. Two white balls (with black dots) for the eyes and one long orange one for the nose, tacked to the top of the hood, add red pants and we have Elmo.
Another idea that won a few prizes is the mailman being attacked by dogs. It helps that I am a mail carrier, so have old uniforms laying around, but if you can get them, it’s pretty cool. You shred the bottom of the shirt and rip up the pants and then attach mean looking stuffed dogs (one time we used dog slippers) and smear on some blood. If you can get the uniforms, check to see if they also have an old mailbag hanging around that can be used for trick or treating. This got first prize twice. (Two different kids. Two different schools.)
One year my brother was a cereal killer. We took a buch of cereal boxes and cut slits in them. Then we stuck toy knives and swords and such through the slits, and painted around them in red. Then he hung the boxes from his shoulders.
A friend recently made a flapper dress (the heavily fringed kind) out of a slip and disposable plastic gloves. Sure, she looked kind of like she had hundreds of udders, but it was one of the best costumes at the anything-but-clothes party.