Draining your wallet for expensive Halloween outfits can be scary. Luckily, Halloween can be a blast without breaking the bank. In fact, chances are pretty good that you could make an amazing costume with common items found around your house.
You may already have all the necessary things to make one or all of the following costumes.
• Minion
Who doesn't love the little minions from "Despicable Me"? Chances are you've seen these little guys on the big screen, all over the toy aisle at the supermarket or in one of the many minion-filled memes that stalk social media. This is a great costume for anyone who wants to be a recognizable, mainstream character without a lot of hassle.
You will need: Jean overalls, yellow shirt, yellow beanie and eyeliner
Step 1: Put on overalls, shirt and beanie.
Step 2: Use eyeliner to draw circles around your eyes for goggles.
Step 3: Say "Bee-do."
• Aliens and earthlings
This idea works well for families or groups. In the case of a family, have the kids be the aliens and the parents be the earthlings.
You will need: Tinfoil, green makeup, green clothing, a hard headband and pipe cleaners
Step 1: Form tinfoil into hats for "earthlings." Foil hats should stand out and be prominent. Twisting the foil up into a peak would be appropriate. Have the earthlings wear normal clothing and — voila! — their costumes are complete. If you want to go the extra mile, make "Welcome to Earth" signs for the "earthlings" to carry.
Step 2: Have the "aliens" wear all green clothing and cover their faces with green makeup. Don't have green? Try mismatching colors and oddly paired patterns.
Step 3: Take each hard headband and wrap the ends of two pipe cleaners, one on each side, around the headband so that they stick up into the air. Bend the ends of the pipe cleaners into loops (or attach pompoms to the ends) so they look like antennae.
For an added bonus, incorporate glow sticks, temporary green hairspray and a made-up language into your costume.
• Pig in a blanket
This costume is great for a cold night or for the comfort-savvy costume-wearer.
You will need: A large, comfy blanket that you don't mind wearing outside, and either a fake pig nose mask or pink and black makeup
Step 1: Place the fake pig nose on your face. Or, if you don't have a pig nose, cover your nose with pink makeup and then draw circles with black makeup (such as eyeliner) around each nostril.
Step 2: Wrap yourself in a blanket, creating a hood over your head.
• Each other
When you've run out of all other ideas, get your family or a group of people together and go as each other. In a family, the kids could go as their parents. They could wear items from their wardrobe, such as a tie, hat, apron, jacket, jewelry, etc. Don't forget to include accessories, such as a purse, a "World's Best Dad" mug, drawn-on facial hair, a mature hairstyle or something from the parents' workplace, such as a stethoscope or briefcase.
If the children are going as their parents, then the parents should go as their kids. Clothing and accessories could include hats, backpacks, skateboards, letterman jackets, toys, etc.
Have the dog go as himself. Or the cat.
• A delivery person
This costume is not only simple to assemble but also delicious.
You will need: A baseball cap, two labels, take-out food
Step 1: Create a label for a fake restaurant or fast-food business. This could be as simple as "(Your name)'s Pizza" or "(Your name)'s Tacos."
Step 2: Tape a small version of your label to the front of your cap.
Step 3: Purchase take-out food.
Step 4: Tape a large version of your label over the label on the bag or box of the restaurant you purchased the food from.
To go the extra mile, put another label on the back of a jacket and wear that as well.
• Asleep
Who doesn't want a good excuse to wear their pajamas all day?
You will need: Pajamas, a blanket, safety pins and a teddy bear
Step 1: Dress in pajamas.
Step 2: Take your blanket and safety-pin the top of it to the sleeves of your pajamas (if you have long sleeves) so that when you hold your arms out, the blanket hangs flat as if it is covering you. Ideally, the blanket will not be long enough to drag on the ground when you walk.
Step 3: Cuddle your teddy bear.
If you are dressing up for the office, your teddy bear could be a convenient pillow when used between your head and your desk.
• Garden and gardener
These costumes are a really cute idea for a family or group to wear.
You will need: A gardening outfit (such as an apron, tools, sun hat, watering can) and poster board
Step 1: Choose one person to be the gardener and have that person dress in the gardening outfit.
Step 2: Have everyone else choose something they would find in a garden and draw/paint that thing on the poster board and then cut it out. If the person chose a watermelon, they could wear all green clothing and then hold their watermelon sign. If the person chose a tomato, they could wear all red clothing. If the person chose a flower, they could wear all green clothing for the “stem” and then use temporary color hairspray to create the "flower" on top of his/her head.
• Selfie
The ultimate last-minute, simple costume is a selfie. This is an extremely low-maintenance costume that can take as little as 30 seconds to assemble.
You will need: A picture frame
Step 1: Find a frame that is big enough to see your head through but light enough to carry around.
Step 2: Remove backing, picture and glass from frame.
Step 3: Hold the frame up to your face and say "Cheese!"
Think outside the box when it comes to turning household items into awesome Halloween costumes. When something as simple as a sheet can transform you into a ghastly ghost, the possibilities are endless.
Jenelle Stone blogs at Get2theGist.blogspot.com, and her email is writejenelle@gmail.com.