We're a little nuts for Halloween around here. I know,
you're shocked. Quiet, straight laced us?!? Get all nerdy and put on funny
outfits and wallow in scary and spooky and chocolate? Us? Yup, believe it or
not, Halloween is just our thing. (Seriously, I even love the week after
Halloween. All my kids' favorite things go on clearance at the stores. I do half
my Christmas shopping then.) And since we do adore Halloween, I have been saving
all sorts of links and ideas and tips for the next few posts. If my saved emails
were a person, it would be Tim Burton in drag. So please, bear with me as I try
to whip into shape this giant trough of pumpkins, spooky awesomeness and glitter
that is my inbox right now.
I thought I would start first with some cheap and cheerful
costume ideas. You make an of these at the last minute and in under an hour.
(Trust me- we do EVERYTHING last minute and under an hour.)
1) Ghost- an oldie but a goodie. You can either go the Charlie Brown
route and simply cut eye and nose hole (in not quite the middle) and throw over
your kid/yourself. Or, you can do what we did with Feisty Pants, which was cut
a hole in the center of a sheet like it was a poncho. We then powdered her hair
and face with white powder and added a bit of eyeliner for that extra cool dead
girl look. We cut a tombstone out of cardboard and attached it to her goodie
bag. She chose RIP , made up a century old death date and used Abby Normal as
her nom de dead. Steal some chains from your local teen or dog walker to finish
the look. You can get an old tacky floral sheet and go as an ironic ghost if
you are so inclined.
2)Gargoyle- Plain grey sweats serve as the basis for this costume. FP
already had these so we spent a total of three bucks that Halloween. We bought
a dollar store devil mask, used a extra pair of her sister's fairy wings (Yes,
my eldest had spare fairy wings, why do you ask?) and a can of silver hair color
(the spray on kind at the dollar store.) We simply sprayed everything silver,
including Feisty Pants' hair. If you don't have hippie, artsy teens at your
house, you can easily make wings by shaping a wing out a wire coat hanger (make
two) and stretching a pair of colored tights over the frame.
3) Need an idea for a duo? Red sweats or a red union suit or red footie
pjs make a great basis for Thing 1 and Thing 2. Spray on blue hair color and
make two circle labels out white construction paper or cardboard and you're good
to go. This also works as an excuse if your kids are heathens. You can just
say they are really into their characters.
4) Dead anything- seriously, it's Halloween. Got any outfit or costume
that looks a bit generic. PERFECT- go as a dead one of those. Suit? Go as a
dead executive. Uniform of some sort? go as a dead one of those. Mailman,
garbageman, hunter, cheerleader, prom dress, or old church clothes? Anything
screams Halloween if you look dead. Put on very pale make up, use blue or green
or grey eyeshadow as blush. Smudge the eyeliner. Throw on some red paint or
fake blood. If you're good at make up, craft a scar or three. Make up a gross,
horrifying story of how you died, and boom, you're the next hit at the
party.
So, there you go, have fun, be safe and don't take any
wooden silver pennies for the ferryman. Happy Haunting!
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