Halloween is a favorite time at our house. It gives us ALL (yes, even Mommy and Daddy) a chance to play dress up and have some fun. However, new store-bought costumes are not always cost effective for the budget, or warm enough for our Manitoba Octobers.
Here are my tips for making homemade Halloween costumes for less!
#1) Your arts & crafts cupboard is your best friend! Using clothing items you already have at home, along with masking tape, construction paper and electrical tape, you could make the referee outfit seen above. Using a long sleeve black shirt, simply make the stripes using masking tape. Never under-estimate the value of items you have at home.
#2) Borrow! Have an idea for a costume? Why not ask someone if they have the pieces sitting in their closet? Maybe you can even get together with friends and do a “closet swap” looking for perfect items for those costume ideas. Instead of spending lots of money on this umpire outfit, my husband borrowed it from his father who has been an umpire for over 30 years.
#3) Buy 1 or 2 main items. Head to the store and purchase 1 or 2 key items for your costume. Then complete the costume with items from your closet at home. My husband bought this shirt on CLEARANCE for only $5! He then bought some cheap hair dye, and got his mom to cut his hair into the correct shape. Grabbing a rubber ducky from our toy bin, he was ready to go — as Ernie!
#4) Check your local 2nd hand/thrift store. Don’t have a costume plan? Browse Pinterest, find a few ideas and then head to your local 2nd hand store. Browse the racks and find that perfect piece to help you decide which costume to wear this year.
Start early and get creative. I’m sure you can come up with some fun costume ideas for less money.
Value Village is your Halloween destination with thousands of brand new costumes and accessories plus thrifty costumes and clothing! Everything marked at screamin’ deals! Find a location near you at valuevillage.com.
Disclosure: This post was brought to you by Value Village via Glam Media Canada. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Value Village.
Kam kay
Saturday 19th of October 2013
Creativity is all we hope for, come Halloween. These are some really great Halloween Costume ideas.
Nicole B
Friday 18th of October 2013
It's so much fun to make up your own costumes! We always did and can't wait to get the kids involved when they are older to make their own!
stacey
Friday 11th of October 2013
My kids have fun coming up with ideas for costumes from around the house each year. Hitting the after-holiday sales is another great way to stock up on items that could accessorize a variety of costumes (since we don't know what we will want to be next year). We hit those for make up, colored hair spray, and other fun things.
Susan
Friday 11th of October 2013
DS is going to be a ninja turtle this year and we're making his costume. It's going to end up costing about the same as a "cheap" costume from the store but he'll be able to use his green thermal underwear in the future. :)
Roxanna Alcantra
Friday 11th of October 2013
Thank you for the awesome ideas!