Here's some ideas for easy homemade Halloween costumes, especially for women. Some are cheap to make and I have made and worn them all.
How do you decide what to wear for Halloween? It all starts with an idea. You need to look through your closets, look through your junk drawers, and grab everything that is unusual or you've never worn before, and create a costume. Maybe you have tons of costume jewelry, lots of scarves, unusual shoes, outrageous hats, or clothes that are too big for you that you can stuff. Anyway, I hope this page gives you some ideas for some homemade Halloween Costumes. Most are easy to make with not much sewing.
Halloween Costume Idea Number 1.
Get some extra large coveralls, stuff a pillow in the front of the coveralls, and stuff a pillow in the back for a huge butt. For the shirt grab your dad's "checked flannel" shirt. Use a brown or black eyebrow pencil to make freckles, and you can black one front tooth too.
Top the costume off with a straw hat. Braid your hair in pigtails. If you have long hair, even better, cut a wire clothes hanger and insert the wire through the center of your braid. Bend the wire to make your braids turn up. (Sort of like Pippy Longstocking, see the picture below)
Halloween Costume Idea Number 2.
Of course, you could make a costume like Pippi Longstocking real easy. All you need is a yellow turtleneck shirt, blue jumper with some patches sewed on, and some striped knee highs, of course one long enough to go over the knee, and some ankle boots.
But what if you don't have a Pippi Longstocking wig? To make a wig it will cost you some red or bright orange yarn, maybe 2 or 3 packs of it. Open the yarn and lay it out, measure a length from the center of your chest, around your head, and down to your chest again. This is the length you will need. Measure the rest and cut. Gather the yarn up in the center, and tie it with a piece of yarn, (or put it on the sewing machine and stitch a center part for it.) If you already have long hair you can braid it, and get a can of that red colored hair spray.
Now center it on you head, divide it between your shoulders and start braiding it from your ear down. Hopefully you know how to braid hair. Tie it off at the bottom and then insert your piece of coat hanger as mentioned above. Separate the ends and brush to make fluffy. If you want bangs, then cut yourself some before you divide it to braid. Tah Dah! a Pippy Longstocking wig!
To made a Raggedy Ann wig, you would use the same procedure, but not braid it.
Halloween Costume Idea Number 3.
If you are a tall, slim girl like I am. Get some black tights and a black dancing suit. Find some black slippers. Paint your fingernails black. Use eyebrow pencil for some whiskers and your eyebrows which you make in an upside down V.
For your cat ears cut out some from black construction paper and pin them in your hair.
The only thing I had to sew was the tail. I used a black pair of hose and cut off the panties and feet. Inserted one leg into the other, rolled it lengthwise and stitched it the full length. You can insert part of a coat hanger to make the tail curve, but not too much or the tail will flop over. I don't think I used anything wire though, and I wound up using the tail to spin in my hand.
Fix up your eyes with black eye shadow and mascara to make them look deep.
Halloween Costume Idea Number 4.
I can't believe I even made this costume one year, and I don't even know what to call it. I started with a long gown. I pinned a hula hoop along the bottom edge. I took a box of Reynolds aluminum foil and laid out strips on the floor and taped them together.
When it was time for the party, I put on the gown and had my sister wrap the foil around my dress tucking it under the hula hoop and I used a foil covered belt to hold the foil in place around my waist. Then we torn strips of foil and covered and tucked around the neck and sleeves of the dress.
I had to be careful going to the party though, cause foil smashes easy. Everybody was like "WoW!" But once the contest was over and everyone saw the dress, I took off the foil and hula hoop, and was set for the evening in a nice gown.
Halloween Costume Idea Number 5.
This is an easy homemade Halloween Costume. Find yourself an old ratty long housecoat, big fluffy slippers, put a cucumber mask on your face and rollers in your hair. Top it off with some "wing tip" eyeglasses from the Goodwill Store.
The nice thing is, if you go to a party later, out comes the curlers, and under the housecoat is a sleek and sexy outfit. Voila! Everyone will be amazed at the transformation!
Halloween Costume Idea Number 6.
Well, this is what I dressed up like last Halloween. My coworkers couldn't believe I came to work in a wet suit and a snorkel with mask. Sorry, I don't have pictures, the company kept them. But I did win first prize. : )
The picture to the right is pretty much what I looked like at work. This was taken at a beach we went snorkeling at.
I got a hold of a cheap used wetsuit and some booties at a Dive Shop last summer, and wore the snorkel with a mask. No, I couldn't wear the flippers, but I had a waistbelt with a net bag hanging, filled with shells and stuff I found at the beach.
The wetsuit kept me warm and toasty all day long, but when I got home I couldn't wait to get out of it!
Halloween Costume Idea Number 7.
I know, I know, but this is an old standby costume (when you can't think of anything else, sort of like the sheet for a ghost costume.) But when you have boys in the family, you gotta have camouflage laying around somewhere. They even have the camouflage netting at Walmart you can put over your head.
Well I dressed up like this to go to work, just to see if anybody else was going to dress up, which, nobody else did. So I was glad I wore something simple. Just used some black eye pencil and smeared it on my cheeks, and black under the eyes. Even though the costume was simple, my boss loved it, cause I kept saying, "Yes, Sir!" "Right away, Sir!"
Halloween Costume Idea Number 8.
Well, I grabbed all the multicolored and bright colored stuff out of my closet, and just happen to have an old dress that was way too big for me. So in goes the pillows for some huge boobs, and then I put on a pair of huge shorts and stuffed another big pillow in the back for a big butt. I just happen to have a grey wig in the attic.
So I wore it and put some granny glasses on, had a big multicolored scarf I used for a shawl, and wore some long knee high socks with some ankle boots. Roll the socks down to the middle of your calf. Put some heavy rouge on your cheeks. I grabbed a lot of big costume jewelry and was set to go!
If you don't have a wig, just put your hair up in a scarf. You'll wind up looking similar to the bag ladies in New York. As a matter of fact, that's a pretty good costume idea too. Have bags hanging out your pockets, tied in a group hanging from a belt, stuff a bunch of bags in your shirt, and carry around a bag full of empty cans on each arm. lolHalloween Costume Idea Number 9.
This year was hilarious. Since I have long hair I decided to try to dress like "Cousin IT" from the Adams Family show. But my nose kept popping through my hair, so I put a big pair of sunglasses on to hold my hair in place.
So, here's how I dressed. I combed all my hair forward, then put on a big pair of sunglasses, a big sweatshirt to keep me warm, and put a vest on backwards.
If I would have had a long trench-type coat, it would have been better.
With some big clod-hopper boots, and rabbit skin hat, I was good to go.
The hat kept all my hair from falling back, and hid the fact that all my hair was pulled forward. In the picture I kind of scrunched down to hide my knees behind my vest to make me real short. So, if you're a short person and have long hair, this costume would work for you.