post off: what was your best homemade halloween costume?
Confession time: I’ve never bought a Halloween costume. Even when I was little, my mother labored over my corduroy purple mouse (complete with tail) costume and last year I grabbed a vintage prom dress, a dead flower corsage, a tarnished tiara and fake blood to transform into a vampire prom queen. Every year, Martha Stewart comes out with dozens of easy-to-make (even no sew!) costumes that always impress me. And isn’t all that creative work half the fun? The over-priced, costumes-in-a-bag that are mass produced always look cheap and fit about as well as a garbage bag. I’d much rather spend a rainy afternoon (or two or three) laboring over something amazing that no one else will show up in than be one of several sexy police ladies hovering around the punch bowl. So how about it, fellow homemade Halloweenies: what was your best DIY Halloween costume? –Katie D.
Last year, I was running low on funds and ideas. The day before Halloween, I decided to go as Christian the Lion (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvCjyWp3rEk&NR=1). I already had brown pants, moccasins, and some tan winter gloves; I bought a yellow T-shirt at the craft store and glued on a tan felt tummy, sewed some felt ears to a headband, made a tail out of some more felt to pin to my pants, and fashioned a “mane” by stringing strips of brown felt onto a piece of string that I tied around my neck. I also made my already-curly blond hair extra huge.
To top it all off, I went around hugging people all night.
i’ll tell you what it wasnt- a terrifying collection of butterflies all over my face. what a weirdo that person is! i hate butterflies.
Instant dork-dom for saying this, but when I was 10, I decided to go as a postage stamp. I designed two posterboards as a Halloween stamp, sandwich-boarded them together and topped it off with a pair of Ben Franklin glasses my Dad made for me.
My mom made me a pretty amazing green fuzzy care bear costume when I was little. Wish it still fit! In high school, during the big “Barney the Purple Dinosaur Craze”, I had her sew me a Barney costume, and then I “killed it” ripped out stuffing, painted blood on it, and put a knife through my head. I had parents of trick or treaters begging me for that costume.
My favorite “made by Megan” costumes were both creative closet raids augmented by a few thrift store hunts: A great pirate costume complete with stuffed parrot on my shoulder, and Mae West — suffering though hours of corseted pain in an itchy blond wig!
last year i went as fay wray (king kong) and made a giant gorilla hand out of paper mache, balloons, cardboard and spray painted it black. then i attached faux fur for the wrist and made it look like the hand was picking me up. i was very pleased with myself, but most people thought i was naomi watts.
When my best friend and I were 9, it was the time of the Batman and Robin tv show in the 60′s. We went as SohioMan and Boron the Boy Wonder. Sohio was the biggest gas station franchise in Ohio and Boron was their premium gas. We did make our own costumes. Geeky or what?????????????? Yes we were a little weird. We still laugh about that. Today she’s the wife of the CEO of one of the biggest insurance companies in the US. Yet we’re both 1/2 geek – 1/2 chic!
I loved my cyberfairy costume. I made wing forms out of wire hangers, and using packing tape to laminate broken cds and sprials of craft wire in the open spaces. Paired with the most cyberpunk clothes I could come up with.
Second favorite was my pun costume. I went to a party where we had to be something evil. Of course, the decision to actually go was made at the last minute. I decided on a pun. I took a white bra, and safety pin-ed white material over the cups, and drew a face on each one to make a pair of ghosts. They were my Booooooobies. I was a little nervous about it, but there was enough material there that I may as well have been wearing a tank top.
Last year, I was a tornado: I took an old black tube-dress and tacked black tulle all around in, wider at the top and narrowing down to the bottom, then sewed plastic toy farm animals and Matchbox cars all over it. I have short hair, so I swirled it up, and did funky grey/black makeup. I was pleased that everyone recognized what I was!
Pretty standard, but my favorite costume was the year I went as Holly Golightly, complete with professional updo, smoking stick, paper bag and coffee cup! I was pretty annoyed when the barely-21-yo girl at the party was all, “Nice Audrey Hepburn.” :P
BUT, it was a movie-themed party and my FAVORITE costume ever was my friend Jay’s. He was the flux capacitor from Back to the Future. Pretty simple and totally homemade, he tricked out a cardboard box painted black with a clear plastic panel, behind which was some battery-operated rope lighting in the required Y-shape. I think there was a warning sign on the side that referenced 1.21 jigawatts.
Megan, I love your tornado idea. I may have to give that one a spin (uh…no pun intended).
I grew up an Army brat, so we always had big cardboard boxes around. One year my mother used boxes to make my sister & I a pair of dice. She spraypainted the boxes white, then put black spots on the four sides. The front had a little door cut that we opened by sticking our hands and treatbags out through. We wore black derby hats & black tights.
The best costume I made was making my daughter a bunch of purple grapes. She had a purple sweatsuit on. I attached round purple balloons for the grapes. It was a great costume but wasn’t too practical for school. lol
I found an old refridgerater box and made it into an outhouse. it was really hard to get it around trick or treating but it was a HUGE HIT!! i even got some toilet paper along with my candy!
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