Last Minute DIY Halloween Costumes

So it's Saturday and you have a Halloween party to go to tonight.  Or maybe you still have five days until you have to don a costume for actual Halloween.  What can you pull together in that amount of time and limited craft skills?  Plenty!

I'll leave out witch and pirate and other things that you can get ready made pieces for at a Halloween store.  A hat can be a whole costume if you're in a pinch, but let's assume you want to get at least a little bit more creative with it.  Oh and before you laugh too hard at my suggestions, I've been many of these things before. 

Autumn Tree
 
 
You can find leaf garlands at pretty much any craft store.  Wear a brown dress and tights or some brown pants and a brown or green shirt, wrap some of these around your torso, tuck a few extra leaves into your hair and you're golden!

Companion costume idea: flannel + beanie hat = lumberjack

Poison Ivy
 
And where there are fake leaves, you can usually find fake ivy too.  Pretty much the same deal as above, with bonus points for green eye shadow or makeup. 

Companion costume idea: bowler hat + paper question marks taped to a jacket = Riddler

Greek Goddess

 
The early appearance of Christmas decorations is your friend here.  Find a gold garland and turn it into a crown. Pin some bunches of fake grapes to a drapey dress and you'll be worship ready. 

Companion costume idea: sheet + same gold garland = Greek God

Princess Lolly


This one is probably the most involved.  The crown is made of lollipops hot glued to a plastic tiara.  The lollipop itself is a dowel stuck into an circular foam piece that is then wrapped in colorful cellophane.

Companion costume idea: Red plastic table cloth + Twizzlers = Lord Licorice (pictured center)

A Homemade Halloween

Let's not let a little snow get us down.  Okay, I admit - it's seriously getting me down.  (Especially living in this city of no cabs and abominable public transportation - okay, done with the Boston rants for the day, I promise).  I remember years past where I could go out in just a costume - no tights, no coats, no umbrellas and I was warm and happy.   This year I'm having to make some minor adjustments.  But I thought I'd look back on some costumes of years past, which I pieced together mostly from Michael's and my closet.

I'm a Tree!

It's pretty simple.  I'm wearing a brown dress and I'm covered in fall leaf garland from Michael's.  Some people thought I was an autumn nymph or something, but I really wasn't even going for something that cute.  

I'm Princess Lolly!

This one took a little more elbow grease, i.e. hot glue gunning.  I bought a tiara at Michael's and a bag of lollipops at the dollar store (the kind you got at the doctor's office or in the bank drive-through, not those fancy ones with bubble gum in them or whatever).  Then I glued the lollipops to the tiara.

For the giant lollipop, you put a small dowel into a styrofoam round and cover it with colored cellophane and tie it with ribbon.  

Note my partners in crime are also Candy Land characters: Lord Licorice and and Mr. Mint

I'm Little Red Riding Hood!

Okay, so this is probably the biggest cop out, because I just bought the cape on Amazon.  It was going to be cuter when Jake was going to be a modern Big Bad Wolf by getting a grey workman's shirt with one of those embroidered name things that says: B. B. Wolfe.  Now he's  going to be the Russian Oligarch from the DirecTV commercials "I also like savingz me ze moneyz."  Pictures to come shortly.  

The problem, of course, is the forecast.  So I'm thinking a red pea coat and jeans might have to be Little Red's new attire.  Wish me luck!