With the start of October comes the beginning of the Halloween season. This holiday has a variety of aspects that can appeal to people for different reasons. Whether it is carving pumpkins, consuming large quantities of candy, dressing up in costumes or watching scary movies, Halloween is clearly a month-long event. It’s not a holiday just for kids. Many college students are already excited about the upcoming holiday and the chance to dress up in crazy and creative costumes.
Although Halloween is super entertaining, it can also be expensive. Some costumes can cost between $50-100 and are rarely worn more than once. Many college students are living on a budget and cannot afford to buy expensive costumes. Because of this, it has become increasingly common for students to make their own DIY Halloween costumes. This gives them the chance to partake in the festivities while showcasing their creative and resourceful sides.
“When I was younger, I dressed up as a bum for several years in ragged clothes and a beard,” freshman Wayne Westerland said.
That costume was easy to execute and cost very little to make because he already owned the majority of his supplies. Making DIY costumes is not only affordable, but it also gives the opportunity to be funny and clever.
With the help of popular websites like Pinterest, college students, especially girls, can find great costume ideas that they can construct from clothing items they already own. One simple costume idea is a bag of jelly beans. To make this, get a large, clear bag to step into, fill it with colorful inflated balloons and cut out leg and arm holes. Another idea is a “cereal” killer.
For this costume, hot glue single-serving cereal boxes onto a plain-colored shirt and pants and stick knives into the cereal boxes. After that, sprinkle red paint over the ensemble to resemble blood. These costumes are both attention grabbing and easy to execute, which is a win/win situation for students low on both time and money yet don’t want to skip out on the fall festivities.
Another type of head-turning costumes are illusion costumes. These include: a kid carrying a backpack with your head coming out of the backpack, a zookeeper holding an egg that you are hatching out of, a bride carrying a groom, a baker carrying a cake that you are coming out of or a refrigerator or oven with your head inside of it.
All of these costumes can be made by following the basic steps involved in making an illusion costume found on squidoo.com.
To create these, start with the costume that you will wear, like the zookeeper, for example. Then, make fake legs by stuffing a pair of pants with newspaper and sewing socks to the end of them. Next, fasten a belt to the pants that will keep them fastened to the front of your costume like an apron.
Cut a hole in the stomach area of your costume so that the top part is behind you. Then, put the top of the costume over a tall backpack and strap it over your shoulders. To create the fake head, stuff something inside a rubber mask and attach the mask to the top of the backpack. Lastly, stuff the costume arms and position them to look like they are holding you.
If these ideas are a tad too “out there” for you, there are always the more classic Halloween costumes such as: 80s workout girl, 50s kid, hippie, god/goddess, witch, monster, etc.
To incorporate current pop culture into your costume, being Honey Boo Boo, Big Bird (due to Romney’s statement about getting rid of PBS during last week’s presidential debate) and K-Pop sensation Psy are also clever and relevant possibilities.
Either way, showing up to a friend’s costume party does not have to require spending loads of money. With the right amount of searching your closet and the internet, making quick runs to Walgreen’s or Michael’s and, of course, an eye for creativity, an awesome DIY costume is certainly not out of the question.
Alexandra Townsend can be reached at staddancer@gmail.com