- Break out from the crowd with a homemade costume.witches image by kds from Fotolia.com
Looking for some creative Halloween costume ideas for you or your kids? Don't head to the party stores or costume shops for manufactured costumes that will turn you into one of the legions of Harry Potters or Darth Vaders. To make the most of your creativity, try making the costumes yourself. - You can turn cardboard into great costumes.cardboard box image by MAXFX from Fotolia.com
Boxes make great costumes. You can use them to create televisions, robots, computer screens, iPhones, LEGOs, cars, trucks and airplanes. Even SpongeBob SquarePants can be created from a cardboard box. You can become a complete table setting with your head on a platter using a box with a tablecloth over it and the table settings glued on. You may need box cutters and packing tape if you plan to shape boxes into elaborate forms. But there are plenty of simple box costumes as well. For instance, use the top and bottom of a printer paper box, cut holes for arms and use Velcro to keep the pieces together to create a LEGO. Use margarine tubs or half-pound plastic food containers to form your brick. Glue the containers on the front of the box, spray paint it your favorite Lego color and you're done. For an even more authentic look, use foam letters to spell LEGO on each container. Depending on how elaborate you're willing to get, you can use a battery pack and lights to light up the inside of your box to create an iPhone or iTouch application or a cell phone. - Turn balloons into jelly beans or a bunch of grapes.party balloons image by Vita Vanaga from Fotolia.com
You can become a favorite dish with a little imagination. Purple or green balloons tied together just right can turn you into a bunch of grapes. Wear a clear recycling bag filled with multicolored balloons and you become a bag of jellybeans. Cut out two round pieces of cardboard, paint them black and wear them like a sandwich board while wearing all white underneath and you are an Oreo cookie. Pile rope and red Nerf balls on a large cardboard disk with a cutout for your head and you can be a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. - Use platic rats or birds to enhance movie costumes.Morgan_halloween5_070307 image by TMorgan from Fotolia.com
You don't have to buy a Freddy Krueger mask to pay tribute to scary movies. Attach rubber rats to a jacket and you become "Willard." Wear a pillbox hat and attach black plastic birds to a suit and you'll pay instant homage to Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." Use an an old prom dress and some fake blood to create an easy "Carrie." - Greek mythology is full of great costume ideas.pers??e image by Philophoto from Fotolia.com
Are you or your kids into Greek mythology? You can become a god or goddess without sacrificing anything. To create a shield, take a large plastic platter, cover it with tinfoil and spray-paint it gold. Use duct tape on the inside to give it a handle. Use gold spray paint to turn a long piece of balsa wood with a tinfoil tip into a spear. If you're Athena, add a stuffed owl pinned to your shoulder. If you're Zeus, create a lightning bolt out of cardboard and tinfoil. Looking for a scarier mythical character? How about Medusa? Take a cheap Halloween wig (black or brown), hot-glue a couple dozen plastic snakes into it and you're ready to turn trick-or-treaters into stone.
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