Halloween is almost here.  It’s a great excuse to be silly and have lots of fun.  That’s why I love Halloween.

What I don’t love is the expensive costumes.  Even the discount stores have racks filled with expensive branded-character costumes.  I’m amazed, and appalled, at the prices of these much sought after costumes.

I can’t bring myself to spend hard-earned money to purchase a costume that will be worn once, or twice at the most.

Since my daughter understands what sacrifices we all make in our family so we can live within our budget, she agreed to try something fun and create her own costume – with my help, of course.

It just takes a little bit of creativity and a few frugal items to make your own Halloween costumes.  We put our heads together and came up with not just one costume for our daughter, but three costumes – one for each of us!

Here is how simple it is to create your very own Halloween costumes out of very little money, and even on very short notice:

Leaf Pile

We started with a big, old, dark colored T-Shirt that hung to my daughter’s knees, and a sack of Fall color leaves that we bought at a craft store.  We used fabric glue and glued the leaves all over the shirt.  Then, we took an old bandanna scarf and glued more leaves all over it.  Then she put on a turtleneck shirt and leggings, and we slipped the leaf covered T-shirt over the top and tied on the bandanna. She looked just like we raked up a cute little pile of leaves.

Hello My Name Is

I started by grabbing one of my old “Hello My Name Is” tags, but if you don’t have one around just put that phrase into Google and you’ll get a good look at one.  Starting with a big rectangular piece of poster board (this one is for me) I took poster paint and copied the design onto the poster board.  Then I wrote a name on the line with black paint.  Use a name that is fun, ironic, or just plain outrageous.  Then I made another one and wrote a different name on it.  I punched holes in the top of both ‘name tags’ and strung pieces of yarn through to form straps that would fit over my shoulders.  When the tags hung just right, I tied up the yarn and that was it!  After dressing in warm clothes, I just slipped the ‘name tag’ over my shoulders and I was good to go.  The name tag is certainly an icon that’s recognizable, and humorous.

Flower Trellis

Yes, my husband got stuck going as a garden ornament.  That was mostly because when we looked around the house, that’s what we came up with last.  Luckily, my husband has a good sense of humor, so when we found a  wooden rose trellis that wasn’t being used, we thought we’d come up with something funny.  With my bins of miscellaneous silk flowers left over from crafts, he took wire, strung a bunch of flowers together and attached them to the trellis as if they were climbing.  Then he took a paper bag, cut it in the shape of a clay pot, and stapled it to the bottom of the trellis.  To attach it to his body, he took a couple lengths of big elastic which I also had left over from some sewing project, and tied each length over the top of the trellis, making a loop to slip his arms through.  To complete the look, my brave husband pinned some of the flowers on the top of a baseball cap and stuck it on his head. Now, that’s a good sport!

I know we all want to say “yes” to our children when they see the pretty costumes in the stores.  It’s not an easy thing to say “no.”  But, I found these projects to be so fun that it really took the sting out of the disappointment.  My daughter truly forgot about the expensive character costumes… especially when she saw her father dressed as a rose garden!

We’re already talking about what we’ll design for next Halloween.  I call that a frugal success story.

Warm regards,

Susanne – The Hillbilly Housewife
www.HillbillyHousewife.com

p.s. I invite you to stop by HillbillyHousewife.com to see what other frugal, fun tips we have to share. And, while you’re there, be sure to leave a comment and let us know your thoughts.

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