Homemade Halloween Costumes

Scared to spend a lot of money on a costume for the little critter this year? Don't be afraid, these are some not-so-scary costume ideas that you can make at home with things you have in the kitchen or closet.

Charmin Mummy
Materials: Toilet paper, white sweat suit, clear tape, powder or flour.
Dress your child in the white sweat suit and simply wrap the toilet paper around his/her arms, legs and middle. Wrap it loosely so that it doesn't tear and use the clear tape to adhere it in several spots. Let the ends dangle down to give it a more mummified look. This is great for children who are walking door-to-door, but not so great if they are getting in and out of the car (for obvious reasons). You can paint their face white using baby powder or even flour. Wanna get really ghoully? Use a mixture of flour and water to make a paste and spread it on your child's face. It will hang and look really yucky! Use the flour or powder in their hair as well for the complete look.

The Great Pumpkin
Materials: A large leaf bag with a pumpkin design (these are sold at most all retail stores throughout the holiday season), tape and stuffing.
Cut leg holes through the bottom of the bag and have your child to step into the holes. When he/she is inside the bag, cut holes for the arms. Then stuff with old newspaper, paper towels, or anything you have lying around. You can tape the top of the bag closed around your child's neck (loosely of course!). For an added touch, paint the face green and use pipe cleaners for vines that can be attached to the tape around the neck. If your goblin is a goblinette, you can put the pipe cleaners in her ponytail.

Leopard:
Materials: Yellow or orange sweat suit, black permanent marker, 3 ft piece of rope, eyeliner, orange or yellow felt, a headband, glue.
You and your child can make this one together. Use the marker to draw spots on the sweat suit like leopard prints. Cut a small hole in the seat of the pants and string the rope through tying a knot in the end to prevent it from coming out. This is your tail. Use the felt to cut into the shape of ears and glue to the headband. Use eyeliner to draw spots and whiskers on your child's face. If your willing to go the extra mile, get some gloves that match and your leopard will have paws. You could even glue on false fingernails for claws! Use your imagination! This can be adapted for a Dalmatian, or whatever critter yours is instant upon being.

Hershey's Kiss
Materials: Tin Foil (several rolls), wire clothes hangers, a toboggan, and a long strip of paper (4 feet), suspenders, and bread ties
Straighten the wire hangers out and then bend them together to form a circle (about 4 feet in diameter). Ask your child to step into the circle. To keep the circle up, use an old pair of suspenders. Hook the back clamp to the back of the circle and then over the shoulders of your child. Finally, attach the front two clamps to the front of the circle. You may have to use bread ties to keep the suspender clamps in place. After you have successfully gotten this contraption to stay on, crumple the tin foil with out tearing it if possible. This helps it to mold into place. Wrap the tin foil around the wire and move up the body of your child, over the shoulders and down the back where you can wrap the end of the foil around the wire. Continue until you have a costume cute enough to eat! Don't be afraid to crumple and mash the foil to get it to stay in place. Work with it! The accessories are just as fabulous. Put the toboggan on the child's head and then wrap it in foil as well bringing it to a point.

Use the long strip of paper to write a Halloween message and wrap it around the child's neck. If after all this wrapping, your creative vibe is long gone, you can simply write "Hershey's" on the paper. This is another costume that is great for door-to-door, but will not make for a happy trick-or-treater in the car.

The thing to remember when trying to design a unique and inexpensive Halloween costume is to use your imagination (yes, it is still there) and have fun. After all, when the doorbell has rang the only thing that matters to your child is that the candy is "in the bag".

Happy Halloween everyone!