How to Create a Last Minute Halloween Costume Out of Household Items

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Last Updated: June 3, 2020 References

You blinked and all of a sudden, it’s almost Halloween—and you’re costume-less. Never fear! There are plenty of simple, fun costumes you can throw together from things you have lying around the house. With some creative crafting, your spooky or funny look will get you compliments all night long!

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Crafting a Spooky Costume

1
Make a ghost costume out of a sheet. You can’t go wrong with this classic costume! First, put on a baseball hat backwards, which will help the sheet stay in place. Then, drape a white sheet over yourself. Use a pencil to trace eye holes and a mouth, or ask someone else to help. Take the sheet off and cut out the holes to complete! ^{[1]
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- Use safety pins to secure the sheet to the hat.
- To make the holes look more black, you can cut out circles of black cloth or mesh and pin or sew them on.
2
Be a vampire with dark clothes and fake blood. Even if you don’t have time to get the full cape and fangs look, you can still make a convincing vampire with items you already have. Wear a black dress or tuxedo and drape a black blanket or piece of fabric around your shoulders. Apply pale foundation, dark eyeshadow and red lipstick for a dark, undead look. ^{[2]
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- You can also apply extra streaks of red lipstick around your mouth to look like fake blood.
- Wear long, elegant jewelry to complete the look.
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3
Craft simple red horns for a devil costume. For an easy, devilish look, start by putting on a red shirt or dress. Make devil horns by cutting out 2 triangles of cardboard, each about 3 inches (7.6 cm) long. Paint them red, or cover them with red construction paper, and glue or staple them to a red headband.
- You can place a small strip of cardboard at the bottom of each triangle to attach them more easily to the headband.
4
Dress as a witch with a dark dress, spooky makeup, and a hat. For a simple witch costume, wear a black or purple dress, or go with dark jeans and a plain, long-sleeved shirt. Throw on a long black cardigan or cape and apply black or purple eyeshadow and lipstick. To complete the outfit, grab a long stick to be your wand.
- Keep your hair down and a little messy. You could even put fake black or purple streaks in it for some extra color.
- If you have a pointy witch’s hat, wear that as well!
- Make a warlock version of this costume with dark jeans and a black, long-sleeved shirt. Use a long, dark coat as a cape and finish the look with a stick as your wand!
5
Cut up an old costume to make a “zombie” version of it. Pull out your costume from last year and bring it back from the dead—by making it into a zombie! Use a pair of scissors to add a few rips and tears in the fabric, and rub brown makeup on it in random spots to make it look dirty. Apply pale makeup to your face and create bruises and bloodstains on your arms and legs to complete the zombie look.
- You should only “zombify” your costume if you don’t plan on wearing it again as it was.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Making Cute Costumes with Simple Props

Emojis make for simple costumes that just about everyone can recognize. Choose your favorite emoji and simply dress to match it! You can also print out a large picture of one of the yellow-faced emojis and safety pin it to a white or yellow shirt for an even easier costume. ^{[3]
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Easy Emoji Costumes

The hair flip emoji: Wear a pink, long-sleeved shirt and raise your hand out to the side like the emoji.

The poop emoji: Print out or draw the poop emoji and glue it to a popsicle stick. Use googly eyes for the eyes and wear all brown to complete the look.

Salsa girl emoji: Wear a long red dress and heels. Make sure to spin your dress around for pictures!
This cute, “punny” costume will have all your friends laughing. Wear plain clothes and grab a few old medals or trophies, then put on a few sweatbands to create the “winner” look. Then, simply grab 2-4 loaves of bread to carry around with you. ^{[4]
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Choose a brightly colored shirt or dress, matching the color to whatever fruit you want to be—like yellow for a pineapple, orange for an orange, or red for a strawberry. Then, make a stem by cutting out a few leaf-shaped pieces of green felt and gluing them on to a thick green headband. ^{[5]
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This funny, simple costume needs only a couple items of costume props and a blank T-shirt. First, take your plain T-shirt and write “blessing” on it in big letters. Then, make the disguise part of the costume by popping on a pair of glasses (or even better, mustache-and-nose glasses), costume ears, and a piece of fabric as a cape. ^{[6]
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For this simple, funny look, pull out a T-shirt or Hawaiian shirt--the brighter the better! Wear jeans or khakis, a big camera or binoculars around your neck, and a fanny pack around your waist. Finish the look with a baseball hat, sunglasses, and sandals with socks!
6
Make an 80s costume with bright clothing. Put on your brightest pair of pants or leggings and a plain neon shirt. Pull on long socks over your leggings as leg warmers and pair them with plain sneakers. Wear bright makeup and make your hair as big as possible with curls and some teasing. ^{[7]
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- You can also wear a bright bodysuit instead of a shirt. Wear it over your leggings for an 80s workout look.
- If you have long hair, try doing a side ponytail.
7
Dress as a sports player with old team uniforms. Pair a team jersey with a sports prop, like a football, a basketball, or baseball glove, for an easy, sporty costume. If you have a full uniform, like baseball or softball pants or a football helmet, you can wear that too! Swipe some eyeblack or dark eyeshadow under your eyes to finish the look.
- This is a great costume for kids, too!
You can’t go wrong with this classic costume! Wear a pretty dress or a nice suit paired with a plastic costume crown, or make your own crown from flowers. Slick your hair back nicely for a princely look, or let your hair fall in soft waves if you’re dressing as a princess.
9
Dress as Rosie the Riveter with a blue shirt and red handkerchief. To dress as Rosie the Riveter, wear a blue long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to your elbows—even better if the shirt is denim! Put your hair up in a bun and a red handkerchief around your head. Finish the look with red lipstick.
- Make sure to flex one arm when you pose for pictures!
10
Be the Brawny man with a red flannel shirt. You can’t find an easier costume than the Brawny paper towel man! Pull on a red, long-sleeved flannel and roll the sleeves up to your elbows. Tuck it into a pair of jeans and carry around a roll of paper towels (with the Brawny packaging on!) as a prop.
- You could also make this into a partner costume! Have the other person dress in all white with Brawny packaging taped around their stomach to be your paper towel roll.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Creating Group or Partner Costumes

For this costume, one person can wear a plain green shirt and green accessories, like a headband. For the “envy” half of the costume, simply write the word “Envy” on a plain shirt. Make sure to walk around together so people know what you are! ^{[8]
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2
Dress up as “Bachelor” or “Bachelorette” contestants as a group. This costume is great for a big group, a couple, or even just one person. Put on a fancy dress or suit and choose one person to be your “bachelor” or “bachelorette.” Then, the bachelor or bachelorette can carry around a bouquet of flowers and people at a party or at school and ask them if they’ll “accept this rose,” just like the show! ^{[9]
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- You can do this as a group of all girls or guys, or as a group of all girls with one guy as “the bachelor” (or vice versa).
3
Go as animals with DIY ears and cute makeup. Cute animals are easy to dress up as, easily recognizable, and they’re perfect for a group. You can all be the same animal, or choose different ones. Try being a cat, bear, mouse, puppy, piglet, deer, or more! Simply shade in the tip of your nose and give yourself whiskers with a dark eyeliner or eyeshadow. Make ears with by cutting triangles out of construction paper, then folding and taping them onto a headband.
- Wear a comfortable shirt or dress in the same color as your animal, such as brown or black for a cat, pink for a piglet, or gray for a mouse. You can wear matching pants or leggings, or go with simple jeans.
- For a clever take on your animal costumes, throw on a couple party hats. Now you’re “party animals!”
Dressing up as characters from a TV show or movie is a great choice for a group or couple. Choose from your favorite shows or movies for a costume that’s cute, simple, and gets everyone involved.

Fun Movie or TV Show Costumes for Groups

Look at characters from:

“Friends”

“Scooby Doo”

“Tom and Jerry”

“SpongeBob”

“Grease”

“Star Trek”

“Star Wars”

“Harry Potter”

Disney movies
5
Be salt and pepper shakers with a friend or significant other. Salt and pepper shakers can be as simple a costume as you need it to be. For the simplest option, draw an “S” on a plain white shirt and a “P” on a black one. To make the “shaker” part, you could draw small circles on white and black hats.
- To step it up a notch, wrap white or black posterboard around yourself to look like a shaker.
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Community Q&A

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I am being Ariana Grande for Halloween. But my sister wants to be her, too. I am not changing my costume. What should I do? I tried getting her to pick a different costume,but she won't listen.

Rainbowtigress

Community Answer

You could both be her! Have you sister dress a little differently, using different phases or styles of Ariana, and you both could be Ariana Grande twins!

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How to Create a Last Minute Halloween Costume Out of Household Items

Steps

Crafting a Spooky Costume

Making Cute Costumes with Simple Props

Creating Group or Partner Costumes

Community Q&A

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References

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