Easy Inexpensive Halloween Costume Ideas

It’s October, which means Halloween is just around the corner! I’ve always loved dressing up for Halloween and thinking of creative costumes. Now that I’m becoming more conscious about what I spend my money on it’s hard to justify spending a lot of money an outfit I’ll only wear once. I will never understand why Halloween costumes are so expensive! By the time I’ve collected all the pieces to the costume I’ve decided on (because of course nothing is sold all together) the bill can be around $100! One hundred dollars for an outfit I’ll only where once? No thank-you! Not to mention how wasteful that is! The good news is, there are lots of ways you can create a unique and inexpensive Halloween costume!

In more recent years, I have been making my Costumes by using clothes I already own and by doing easy inexpensive DIYs! You can do this too! Following the methods below will help you create unique costume ideas so you won’t feel like you’re copying someone else’s idea (I know that was something I always struggled with when I was looking for ideas).

Use this post to guide your thought process as you create your own creative and inexpensive Halloween costume!

Three Methods for Creating an Inexpensive Halloween Costume:

Use the clothes you already own

The best way to save money on your Halloween costume is to use what you have. Every-day clothing items can easily be used in costumes. Instead of deciding on a costume and then looking for components, start from your closet and see what you have. Then, use what you have to come up with a costume idea!

A lot of TV characters’ have distinct styles that you can replicate with your own clothing. For example, if you have clothes that are 90s era in style, you could dress up as a character from Friends. Rachel Green from Friends often wore skirts with black tights and a dress shirt or sweater as the top. That is an easy outfit you probably already have in your wardrobe! You can make it more recognizable by adding an apron over it like the one Rachel wears at Central Perk, or by matching an outfit from an iconic episode.

Maybe you have some bright coloured clothing that matches a certain cartoon character’s go-to ensemble. For example, if you have brown pants, a white dress shirt and a red tie, you are basically Sponge Bob. Just grab the spatula from your kitchen on the way out and you are good to go!

If you own any animal print clothing you can use that to make a leopard, tiger, or zebra outfit- whichever print you have. Or wear something black as the base for a black cat costume.

An example I have personally done is wearing blue jeans and a yellow t-shirt to dress as Morty from Rick and Morty, and then tying my hair back in a bun so it looked short. (Click here for character reference).

More Ideas:

• Your favourite celebrity/influencer
• Dress as one of your friends
• Yourself in the 2000s/you from the past
  

Add details/accessories with felt or paper from the dollar store

You can make your costume look more legit by adding little details with inexpensive craft materials from the dollar store, or by adding things you have around the house.

An example of something I have done is when I dressed up as BMO from the cartoon Adventure Time, I cut out pieces of felt in the shape of his buttons and pinned them on my outfit. (Click here for character reference).

If you have time, you can even create a whole costume out of inexpensive craft supplies. For example, you can cut out cat or bunny ears from felt and attach them to a head band. You could use two poster boards and create a sandwich board style costume, drawing whatever you want on it and draping it over your shoulders. If you have a cute dress you want to wear, you can make yourself a princess crown out of paper.

I made this hair out of felt for the Rick costume that went with my Morty costume.

More ideas:

• Make fairy wings out of poster board
• Wear a green shirt with brown pants and attach felt fruits to be a tree
• Dress as an Instagram “influencer” and make an Instagram photo boarder cut out
  

Get creative with your makeup

Sometimes all you need for a costume is to do your makeup! Makeup can turn you into a zombie or a skeleton. You can also add details for animal costumes like whiskers. Or, add a scary element to a simple costume. For example, you could be a dead beauty queen by adding a fake wound on your head. Or instead of being a regular princess, be a zombie princess. That way it wont look like your costume was put together last minute.

Something simple that I did was use makeup to make myself look like a rag doll! I drew on rosy cheeks and big eyelashes and wore a colourful outfit with long socks.

More ideas:

• Do ghost makeup and wear all white
• Make your face look like an emoji
• Try pop art or comic style makeup
  
  
  

If you have trouble stopping yourself from buying new Halloween items, try reading these Ten Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Buy Anything!

I hope these ideas helped you create your own inexpensive Halloween costume! Comment what you came up with below and let us know what items you used from your existing wardrobe!