Halloween Costumes

I hit up a Target this week, and spent a fun half hour looking through some very overpriced costumes for kids and adults.  What a blast!  Would I spend that kind of money on a costume?  Not on your life.

Over the years when my kids were little, I tried very hard to keep the expenses for costumes as low as possible.  With three children, my goal was to never spend more than $10 for all of the costumes, combined.

What have we done over the years?

Railroad Conductors- striped overalls, white shirts, and a red bandana tucked into the back pocket.
I loved the railroad conductor hats, but I could never bring myself to spend that kind of money on hats.  At that time, our local hardware store was giving away white painters hats for free.  I picked up the hats I needed, and took a blue Sharpie and drew lines on the hats.  Lots and lots of little lines.  They never looked exactly like "real" engineer hats, but they worked for my purposes!

Cowboys and Cowgirls- Admittedly, I am a sucker for overalls.  I think little kids in overalls are adorable, so I always picked up overalls for my kids anytime I could find them.  Thrift stores, yard sales, deep discounts... they are durable and wear like iron.  We had overalls that I picked up at yard sales that made it through all 3 of my kids, and then all 3 of my sisters' kids before they were finally wore out.

Anyway, for the cowboys, flannel shirts, blue overalls, and cowboy hats.  I found the cowboy hats at a party store, on sale, and I'd had a coupon for them.

Ballerina-  I had a couple of yards of tulle that I'd found at a yard sale.  For the tutu, I folded the tulle in half, and then I folded over a 1 inch edge at the top and sewed a small pocket at the top.  I had some 1" elastic, measured it to fit daughter's waist, and then ran it through the pocket at the top of the tulle.  I sewed the edges of the elastic together, and voila!  It was a tutu!  For trick or treating, she slipped the tutu on over a pair of sweat pants and a sweat suit.

The CAPES- This was a fun year.  I invested more in these costumes than I intended to.  I made capes for the kids.  A pink lame cape for the daughter, black cape for middle son, and a red cape for oldest son.  I think I invested $30 total for the fabrics and the pattern.  Over time, this has ended up being the cheapest, most cost efficient costume I ever could have made.  The pirate cape was worn over black sweat pants and a black sweat shirt.  The next year, it was worn with black church pants and a white dress shirt- a magician.  That cape has been pulled out over and over again over the years - at the Medieval Days in elementary and middle school, for plays, etc.  Just this weekend, it was pulled out of the drawer, and middle child carried it back to college with him for his Halloween costume.

Oldest childs' cape was made of red velvet - so that it looked like a Harry Potter cape.  He dressed as Harry Potter for 3 years.  He hasn't worn the cape in public since he stopped trick or treating - BUT - it is a very warm cape.  When he's home, he wears it around the house on chilly mornings to stay warm. 

Lawyer - one year, oldest child put on his church clothes, and put a sign on his father's briefcase that said "Do you have a phone?  Then you have a lawyer!"

And then, my favorite costume of all....

Daughter donned the very same blazer oldest son had worn as a lawyer.  White shirt, black skirt.  She had a flag pin in her lapel.  She pulled her hair up into a bun, donned a pair of magnifying glasses that were slightly square.  The year was 2008.  Days before the election, my little girl who looks so much like Tina Fey, who resembles a certain Vice Presidential candidate...

We live in a Republican County.  To say that the child cleaned up on candy that year is an understatement.  I have never seen that big of a Halloween Candy Haul in my life.

How creative can you be with your Halloween Costumes?  Halloween is supposed to be a fun-filled time, you shouldn't be worried about how you're going to pay the bills for the Halloween costume. 

Dig deep into your imagination, look into your dress up bins, at your old clothes, and into the kids' closets.  What creative, wild, inexpensive, imaginative costume can you come up with?