Last Minute Costume Ideas

There are some of us who plan for the event weeks in advance--getting all the details perfect, smoothing together the individual elements to invent a well-thought-out and convincing costume for Halloween. And then there are the rest of us, who, due to no fault of our own, struggle to put together costumes at the last minute. The necessity of a costume seems inevitable--looking silly is the least of your worries; getting jibed at parties for being the only one who isn't dressed for the occasion is by far the worse fate. Here are a few ideas that can be thrown together at the last minute so as to be your pass into any Halloween party.

The most obvious, and possibly least imaginative, is the Roman costume. Sheets are easy to come by, and no one is going to complain if you sport clouds on a blue background and wear sneakers instead of hand-worked leather sandals. To modify this costume, a few props can be added. Silk flowers can be curled around the ear, tucked in folds, wound around arms. Just yank them out of the vase in your hallway on the way out the door. This serves well as a "Greek Goddess" costume. Men who are not secure in their masculinity can try silk greens instead of flowers to radiate Greek Godliness.

If you don't have overalls, an oversized flannel shirt and pants will do nicely for a Farmer costume. Dig your hands into a potted plant for fingers dirty from the field and don your oldest baseball cap. If you have all your teeth, you may easily color one in with an eyeliner or eyebrow pencil for special effect. Be careful though--this one scares the kids.

For a fantastic express exotic costume, less is more (except where makeup is concerned). On Halloween, a bra is a costume. Whatever you wear on the bottom is your choice--be it skirt, scarf tied around your waist, or even the doily from the back of the couch. Liberally applied self-tanning solution is optional. Fake eyelashes are not.

For those really in a hurry, trash bags will do just as well as anything. Cut holes for your head and arms--what you wear underneath doesn't really matter (but you should wear something--plastic bags don't breath). With tape or staples, fasten on all those empty candy bags, dead leaves from the front yard, a cereal box or two. Mussed hair and a smarmy disposition should put you in the running for the Best Costume Award as the only living trash bag at the party.

Costume parties are outlets for silliness--especially for adults. If you can't be bothered with compiling the pieces of your costume well in advance, do it at the last minute--and bring laughs where ever you go. Halloween is all about having fun, and for a spur-of-the-moment social gathering, an inventive last minute costume can be just as fun as any. Besides, at the end of a great night, it doesn't really matter what you started out as--everyone will probably be in the same state by the end: disheveled, tipsy, and tired of wearing their costume, whatever it may be.