Halloween is a great time to let your inner creativity shine through designing your own costumes. Do-it-yourself costumes not only bring to life your unique ideas, but they can cut the cost of standard costumes by more than half of retail prices.
You could pay up to $75 on the Spirit Halloween’s website for a full costume that would cost less than $25 if you made it yourself.
Take Disney’s Tinker Bell. If you were to purchase the costume from a retail store like Spirit Halloween you would pay upwards of $55. However, if you did it yourself creating the classic Tinker Bell skirt out of tulle and an elastic band, you would spend roughly $15 on supplies at Target. You could pair the skirt with leggings and flats from your closet while coordinating a matching green tank top. And voila! You just saved $40 and have a costume that represents your style.
If you are looking for a cool group costume idea, the Ninja Turtles might be the way to go. If you were to buy individual costumes through retail, you could spend $40. By creating the costumes yourself, you could buy colored shirts at Michael’s or Walmart for under $5. Use colored cloth to tie around your wrists to indicate the Ninja Turtle you chose and brown tape to wrap around your waist as the signature belt. The fabric costs about $2 at JoAnn’s Fabrics for half yard and tape costs $4 at Michael’s.
Maybe you are looking for a costume idea that is a little outside the box. Turn yourself into an Instagram selfie! Create an Instagram frame using poster board you can purchase from your local drugstore for under $5 and copy the design frame of an Instagram post. Write the amount of “likes” and comments using blue paint or Sharpies. Make a creative caption for yourself and see how many people will appreciate the creativity and cleverness that went into your costume that you spend under $10 to make.
Don’t let the holiday break your bank. Let your creativity take over and make Halloween your own. Check out Instagram #halloweencostumes for more crafty ideas.
Rachel Hassett can be reached at rachel.hassett@student.shu.edu.
