Homemade Halloween Costume Ideas - Think Out of the Box This Year

Fall is my favorite time of the year, October is my favorite month, and Halloween is my favorite holiday. 

Over the years I have

made my share of Halloween costumes and many of them have been pretty creative.

There are plenty of great costumes available at the stores this year, but if you really want to make some memories, try making your own or making costumes for your kids.  It can be so much fun!

Animal costumes are always popular and you

can get a simple pattern that will enable you

 to make many different animals. 

Depending on the shape of the ears, type of

tail and choice of fabric, one pattern can go a

long way.

Years ago I created these costumes for my

children to be The Three Bears, using my

daughter's Cabbage Patch Kid as Baby Bear.

The same pattern was used to make Bo Peep's lamb costume.

I was so happy with this half girl/half boy costume I made my daughter, that I decided

to make an adult version:  half bride/half groom.  They weren't that hard to make, I cut the clothes in

half and sewed them together.  I even made my mother and my aunt costumes... half bridesmaid/half groomsman and we had the whole wedding party.

 Costumes for groups of people can be

really fun...

Creating  the

Addicted to Love girls

was pretty easy...clothes, makeup, and hair had to be

the same and we made the guitars using foam board

and black electrical tape.

Other group costumes we have made included:

The hand costume was horrible to wear, we were enclosed from head to toe and had no use of our arms. It was not fun, but we won the contest we created the costume for.  Not for the faint of heart!

The Easter basket was not confining, but we had to move as a unit.  It was created by sewing fabric  around a hoop made from pvc pipe.  We also won a contest that year.  You gotta really like someone to walk around in a basket with them all night long!  Choose your basket mates wisely.

I'm a big fan of optical illusion costumes. 

I created this Fairy costume by first sewing the mushroom

and stuffing the mushroom cap.  The cap is like a donut

with a whole in the center.  It was worn like a skirt.

The tutu type fairy skirt and fake legs are tied around my

waist after putting on the mushroom skirt.  You can't see

them, but I'm wearing wings on my back.

It was a really cute costume.  It looked even better and more

realistic on a child.

One of my favorite costumes

was this Rabbit in a Hat.

The hat was created by first making the rim

from cardboard and covering it with fabric.  Then

I attached the fabric that formed the hat, using

a hula hoop sewed into the hem to weigh it down. 

The hat is actually hanging from my shoulders using

fishing line for straps.

What was convenient about this costume was the fact that I could simply remove the straps from my shoulders and drop the hat to the ground and step out of it whenever I needed to.  It transported really easily too.

One of my more dramatic costumes was this

skeleton in a coffin.  It doesn't photograph well, and

was far more impressive in person.  My uncle, Jim, hand

painted the skeleton onto my body suit with me wearing it.

That was a really one-of-a-kind experience.

I made the coffin using a foam board presentation display,

covering it with fabric, which went to the floor.  The coffin

had wire hooks on the inside which slipped over my shoulders,

enabling me to walk around hands free, coffin and all.

My skeleton costume was recycled by my daughter.

Lose the coffin, add an orange vest and hard hat...voila:

you have  Skeleton Crew.

Her boyfriend had the highway barrel...I can't tell you

why or how he got it...that information is classified...

but he cut holes for his head and arms and wore

a light on his head.

I hope you enjoyed my photos, but more importantly, I hope they have inspired you to get creative and have fun this year making costumes of your own.

  If you create something special, or have made costumes in the past,  please share a photo in the comment section.   I would love to see them!