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Making costumes for Halloween? There’s more than one way to skin this cat!

If you’ve got lots of kids to outfit for Halloween, or the chosen costume is a bit out of your price range, a fun and economical alternative is making costumes for Halloween. What if you’re not a seamstress or don’t even have a sewing machine? You can still make costumes for Halloween. It all comes down to how you define ‘make’. Just as you can bake a cake from scratch or whip one together with a mix, in both cases, you made a cake. So it is with making Halloween costumes. Let’s take a look at your options.

Sewing a Halloween costume yourself is time-consuming, but on the other hand has its rewards. The costume is super customizable as you can choose any fabrics or colors you like. People who enjoy sewing, and have the time, usually derive pleasure from the endeavor.

However, most of have schedules that would try the patience of a Saint and simply don’t have the time for lengthy projects. The solution? Go take a look at second-hand and Thrift clothing shops for your basic ingredients. For example, if you need to make a Princess costume, look in the formal wear sections for a flower girl type of dress or a prom dress. Look at shoes, too, which might enhance the costume. Making costumes for Halloween from these clothes shop finds make it a piece of cake, so to speak. No matter what your costume needs, from a Pirate to a pumpkin, you’ll find the basic clothes right there.

Online vintage clothing stores are another possibility. These shops also typically offer accessory items, such as hats and costume jewelry. Check eBay for things like tiaras, wands, fake weapons and other such props.

Get right over to the fabric shop and look in the notions section for lace, ribbons, trims, fringes, tassels, buttons, appliques, collars and other such custom attachments. Ribbons, silk roses and beads can do a lot to decorate a shoe. Let the kids pick their favorites.

Browse the fabrics for designs and fabrics from which you might make a belt, sash, veil or whatever the costume requires for authenticity. Check the formal wear section for gauzy fabrics you can use for veils. Just an eighth of a yard of gold lame makes a lovely sash for a dress. Check out the felts for Robin Hood’s tunic or hat. You can gather everything you need to complete the costume.

If you haven’t got one, pick up a glue gun and a supply of glue sticks. That’s all you need to attach the decorations.

Making costumes for Halloween can be as easy as that! You can be sure your kids will treasure your homemade Halloween costume for years to come. It is, after all, a one-of-a-kind costume! Original, inexpensive and fun for all.

Throw a Medieval Halloween costume party for a new romantic twist every party-goer enjoys!

Halloween is one of the most popular holiday party events of the year. Perhaps the attraction is that, as with Mardi Gras, you can dress up in elaborate costumes and pretend, for that evening, to be some intriguing figure of the past. Here’s a great theme party idea for all of you Halloween hosts out there. Try something different this year. Throw a Medieval Halloween costume party your guests will not soon forget. Besides, imagine the surprise on the neighborhood trick-or-treaters’ faces when you open the door to offer up your basket of treats!

The Medieval period is often thought to be a romantic period where ladies wore long, flowing gowns of sumptuous materials and men were their Knights in shining armor. The lady of the castle kept an ample medicinal garden to serve the villagers and her household. While this may not be the whole picture of life in Medieval times, it does comprise the positive images of the time.

Here’s how to plan and stage your magnificent Medieval Halloween costume party. You’ll need proper invitations, table settings that give the flavor of the authentic Medieval table, fun props, a few Medieval recipes (adapted to today’s ingredients) and ales and wines befitting the occasion. Your guests do the rest in their glorious costumes. Perhaps not surprisingly, men often enjoy a chance to be the knight of your dreams, as this theme provides a venue in which to be both manly and romantic.

For invitations, you can take one of two tacks. You can use the parchment and calligraphy option, or put a little special scary Halloween effect in place. Use the parchment to print your request for the pleasure of your guest’s company in the old cut-out letter ransom format. A well done invitation becomes a party favor too!

Take the time to locate a few local and online costume rental shops to give your guests some leads on attire.

Medieval table settings were simple, but specific to the etiquette of the times. Long wooden plates and plain ceramic plates and bowls were commonly used. One fun and authentic alternative is to form plates of long bread loaves, halved lengthwise. Goblets for wine and ceramic ale cups were the norm. Knives and spoons only, please. The fork was not yet in use!

Medieval props are abundant online, designed to suit every budget. Several large candles, placed around and above diners, is a must for a Medieval Halloween costume party success.

Look at library recipe books or online Medieval cuisine and choose a few authentic dishes. One highly recommended entree is roast beef with cinnamon gravy delicious! Contemporary food can certainly round out your Medieval menu. Wrap it up with your choice of ales and wines.

The Medieval Halloween costume party theme is guaranteed to be a hit. Oh, don’t forget to spread a few cobwebs around the dining area, for authenticity’s sake!

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Fun With Scary Halloween Costumes

Just like with things that are meant to be funny, scary is very subjective. There are some things that are obviously scary, but it is often a matter of who is looking at something. Though there are many types of costumes out there, the scary Halloween costumes are the ones that are generally the most common. This is because Halloween is supposed to be scary, and is the one time of the year when people find the most fun in truly expressing themselves. When it comes to scary, you can go in just about any direction. Just be sure to have fun with it!

There are some scary costumes that crop up each year. Those that love horror movies can probably predict which scary Halloween costumes are going to be the most popular in any given year. In the eighties, things like Freddie Kruger and Mike Myers were common. Though there are some that still wear these, they are very uncommon today. People always love to choose things from the current crop of horror movies when coming up with scary Halloween costumes. This does not mean they have to be generic, as you can do anything with any of them.

Scary does not have to mean pop culture. You may have your own idea of what is scary and if so, that is what you should do. It does not matter what has been playing on the big screen, as things in our real lives can be scary enough. If you think a dirty toilet is a huge horror, you can find a way to make that into scary Halloween costumes if you have the imagination and know-how to do it. You may think that school lunches are scary, and if so, you can always find a great way to make a costume out of that idea.

If you are pretty sure that you want to find scary Halloween costumes, but you dont think you have the creative pull you need to pull something off, dont worry too much. You can always shop for what you want. You can find complete costumes that will work for you, or you can mix and match what you find to come up with something new. Though you have to wait for things to come to your home when you shop online, that is where you can get some of the most inventive scary Halloween costumes that you can get anywhere. Order early so you know itll arrive in time for your Halloween events.Scary Halloween costumes that will impress those supposedly scare-proof friends!

Halloween is the ideal holiday occasion for admirers of the scary, horror movie genre. With scary movies and horrifying special effects, some of these folks think they’re scare-proof. However, advances in technology have kept pace with the movies, such that truly scary Halloween costumes are within your reach. Let’s look at a few ideas you can use to scare the pants off these smug people.

Masks are an essential element of the scary Halloween costume. Plastics technology has evolved to a point where one must question reality. Some of the masks available today are so realistic, your movie-jaded friends might well be shocked and afraid. They’ll think you do indeed know what they did last summer. Perhaps worse yet, they’ll believe you’re a movie nightmare come true. The best scary masks are the high tech ones, with the look and feel of a nightmarish face composed of skin, bones and maybe a few maggots for good measure. A mask can make or break your scary Halloween costume.

All scare movie fans know that clowns are associated with serial killers. Such clowns are not the funny Ringling Brothers types. They are morbid, obsessed and entirely scary characters. You can capitalize on this notion with an appropriately deviant clown costume. The mask is supremely important in pulling off this scary Halloween costume, but the devil is also in the details. A little fake blood on an otherwise innocent costume never hurts, and a fake hunting knife tied at the waist helps your gruesome image too.

Attending a Halloween party as a head on a platter is sure to evoke distaste from the most hardened of horror fans. Here’s how it works: Find a cardboard box that’s just large enough for you to be comfortably seated. Carefully cut a hole that allows you to stick your head through the opening. Use face paint to make you look as though the worst has been done. Think killer dentist, psychopath with a drill, that sort of thing. Cover the box with a satin tablecloth and arrange food around your head. This scary Halloween costume is best displayed at the entry to the party.

Latex body suits are ripe with possibilities. While you can find an ordinary latex body suit intended for Halloween use, you can embellish these with all sorts of gruesome additions. Stab wounds, fake blood of the most realistic sort and plastic bugs permeating the suit are a sure sign of disgusting and horrifying imaginings.

Last, but not least is the headless Halloween costume. Remember the Legend of Sleepy Hollow? The trick with this costume is to hide your real head, while holding a reasonable facsimile.

If you’re intent on a scary Halloween costume, you’ve got to be willing to go the extra mile and put those scare fans in their place!

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Caring For Halloween Costumes

Halloween is a fun holiday for most. Children love it because they can get candy just for dressing up and being cute. Adults love it as it is a time for parties with friends in which you can be anyone you want, if only for just one night. Though you may go through a different costumes though the years, there are time when some of them are worth saving. You may never use the Halloween costumes again as a whole, but some parts and pieces are going to come in handy at another time. Dont just throw it in the closet when Halloween is over. Take some care so it is clean and fresh when you want it use it again.

Remember that even though you are only wearing your Halloween costumes for a short time, they are still collecting things from your body and from your environment. You sweat, but you may not think you have sweat all that much. You are also going to have a smoky smell to your Halloween costumes if you have been to a party where anyone was smoking. You may think your costumes smell okay, but they are not going to be doing so well in a year when you pull it out again.

You can take the pieces of your Halloween costumes that you can put in the washer and wash them in the gentle cycle. If you dont think that is a good idea, you should take them to a dry cleaner. Usually, there are adornments on Halloween costumes that are going to be damaged or come off in the wash. When you use a dry cleaning service, they can take care of those for you without anything happening to them.

When storing Halloween costumes, find a good acid-free garment bag to store them in. This means they will not have that closet smell that we all know too well. If you just hang it and forget about it, you are going to have to have it cleaned all over again when you get it out the next year. Keep any accessories for your Halloween costumes in a clearly marked box so that you can find them easily again for Halloween or any other occasion when a costume would be appropriate. Even if you never wear them again, you may have children who want to play dress up, or perhaps a friend who needs something in a pinch the next year.Seven attention-getting Halloween costumes for couples

These days, couples who show up at Halloween parties in modern concepts of Halloween costumes for couples, fall prey to some unimaginative ideas that are just mildly amusing, but don’t bring much more than couple identification to the entertainment.

Come on now, we only have this one day a year to publicly indulge ourselves in a famous or infamous persona, so why not really get into it and add some drama? The ball and chain costume involves little more than, well, the ball and chain. Celebrity couples can be tough, especially if you’re doing a Branjelina costume. Brad Pitt and Angelina are a tough act to follow, although a satirical spoof might work. Here we present seven Halloween costumes for couples that offer lavish possibilities for the costume freaks.

Remember the classic movie, ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’? The mild mannered dedicated scientist versus his chemically induced alter ego, Mr. Hyde might have you fighting over who gets to be Mr. Hyde, but once you get that ironed out, you can focus on being in character. Mr. Hyde will need lots of face paint and distorting special effects. Dr. Jekyll can be the 19th century equivalent of a classy nerd. Google can serve up photo results from the movie to perfect this couple’s Halloween costume.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick, Dr. Watson make another perfect Halloween costumes for couples concept. It’s easy to find images which show every detail of the manner of dress and demeanor of each.

History buffs will appreciate the fun and pomp of dressing up as Napoleon Bonaparte and his love Josephine. Think of the wigs, clothing and great accessories to work up these costumes. Putting on pompous airs of greatness are part of the act.

King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette did arrive at a dire end, so this Halloween costumes for couples ideas can be worked in one of two ways. You can come in their pre-Revolutionary splendor or after the guillotine part. Pompous or ghoulish, take your pick.

Guinevere and Lancelot will please the romantic souls, Guinevere, with long flowing hair and gossamer gown and Lancelot in shining armor.

Romeo and Juliet, the star crossed lovers are perhaps the ultimate romantic couple. The clothing of the time was elaborate and gushing with Renaissance romance in velvets, silk embroidery and gold lace trims. Juliet definitely steals the show, but your Romeo probably won’t mind his more manly attire.

Cleopatra and Marc Anthony were certainly a standout couple that everyone will recognize. Back in that day, clothing was simpler, but Cleopatra certainly used makeup and jewelry to her advantage.

Most important to a great execution of these Halloween costumes for couples is authenticity and attention to detail. This is easily accomplished, with the abundance of images available. With a little effort and a lot of fun, you can be whomever you wish, if but for a night.

Fun Halloween Crafts For All Ages

Of all of the times of the year there are when crafts are the most fun, and even expected, there may be none that are as much fun as the Halloween season. This is because this holiday is associated with nothing but fun for most, and those Halloween crafts can be just as much fun. What is even better is that some of these crafts are great for all ages, and there is always something for everyone, even those that are all advanced in years. Your personality determines what you will think is fun, but you are going to be pleased at what you find.

For the youngsters, there are a variety of Halloween crafts that they can do with simple printouts and construction paper. Skeletons are a popular theme for this holiday, so finding a printout or kit that has a skeleton in it that needs to be put together with brads can be fun. That allows the pieces to move about once it is one. You can make a variety of pumpkins with construction paper, or you can use tissues and Styrofoam balls to make some cute, little ghosts for your Halloween crafts to do with younger children.

Crafts for older children should be a bit more complex. One huge Halloween craft tradition is carving pumpkins. Younger children can do this with adult help, or can use markers to do it on their own. For teens, however, they can come up with some very creative ideas. They wont always go with the traditional mouth, nose and eyes. They may come up with something more abstract that resembles, in no way, a face. Teens love this, but adults are also going to get into these Halloween crafts as well. They can be carved and used as serving dishes for parties.

Wreaths can be a lot of fun as Halloween crafts for people of all ages. You can get wreath bases from craft stores (or online) and then do whatever you wish to them. The twig wreaths are great for this, as you can paint them and then add what you want, but you can go with almost any type that you want. If you think that these wreath Halloween crafts are what you want to do, but you are running low on ideas, talk with someone at a craft store for some good ideas, or you can look around online for inspiration. You may find whatever you need to build them there as well.

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Challenge those trick or treaters by transforming your home into a Halloween haunted house!

Almost everyone enjoys some aspect of Halloween. Some adults don’t get into costume parties and the general revelry. However, such individuals may still be kids at heart and prefer providing a truly scary environment for trick or treaters. Almost every neighborhood has someone whose Halloween pleasure comes in the form of creating a Halloween haunted house that scares the wits out of the successful trick or treater.

When my daughter was little, one neighborhood couple went all out every year to do just that. Their house even creeped me out. My brave little girl made it as far as the door. When the door opened, there was a Frankenstein like old man, very tall, dressed in tatters, covered in spiderwebs and holding a big basket of treats. He slowly and stiffly made his way towards her, proffering his basket. That was it for her. The candy wasn’t worth it, but she did get her entertainment’s worth! This was a genuine Halloween haunted house. I always wondered if his basket was still full at the end of the evening.

If this Halloween tradition appeals to you, here are a few tips on transforming your home into a Halloween haunted house.

Spiderwebs are essential and can be purchased in bulk amounts at party stores and craft shops. There’s something creepy about spiderwebs, especially when they’re placed on shrubs or posts in a narrow walkway leading to the front door. This way, children may end up with spiderwebs clutching at your clothing as the hapless kids pass by.

Several Jack O’Lanterns provide just enough light for kids to safely navigate the path and help to set the mood. Strings of red or blue Christmas lights provide more dim, creepy lighting. You can set the lights to alternate on and off, with longer periods of off than on.

The best Halloween haunted houses feature plenty of Jack O’Lanterns, carved in a variety of scary faces. You can line them up on the porch, just for fright’s sake. It’s also a good idea to turn all of the house lights off and place a pumpkin in the windows facing the street. Is anyone home? Of course, you tempt the trick or treaters with a couple of blue floodlights over the front door.

Spiderwebs should be plastered all over the entry way. Some are sure to find their way onto the kids, producing shrieks from the bravest. A scary sound tape is another must, filled with ghost-like sounds, the hoot of an owl and gusts of wind coming out of nowhere.

Sound and movement activated props will give all the kids the creeps. What do you think the kids will do, when they’re whispering and giggling and the empty rocking chair starts rocking? How about a cardboard skeleton dropping down as they step on the porch?

At this point, you open the door and sweetly offer your goodies. These kids have earned them!

Make your own unique Halloween masks, easy as 1-2-3!

‘Tis the season to dress up and be whomever, or whatever you want. Go out and scare a few people and collect some goodies along the way. Some Halloween costumes require a mask for best effect. However, this can be a problem with younger kids. The latex style masks are typically sized for adults with respect to where eye holes are placed, relative to mouth openings. They can also get pretty warm and sweaty inside. You want to be sure your kids have clear vision when they’re traipsing around the neighborhood. Here’s a terrific, homemade alternative to latex Halloween masks, that keeps kids safe and comfortable, while also being great attention-getters. Kids love them!

All you need is some Play-Dough(TM), some Vaseline(R), a couple of brushes and some acrylic paint. Put a thin coating of Vaseline(R) on your child’s face (avoiding the eye areas), to prevent the Play-Dough(TM) from sticking to your child’s face.

Flatten a wad of the clay so that it’s slightly larger than your child’s face. Have him close his eyes and stay put in a chair, while holding the clay in place at his hair line. Gently mold the clay over the contours of his face, from the forehead down to the bridge of the nose. From there, continue down the nose and across the cheeks, carefully and gently molding the clay, all the way down to his chin. Remove your prototype Halloween mask and have the child hold the mask, cupped in his hands for 5-10 minutes. He’ll be having a great time, utterly amazed and absorbed in this Play-Dough(TM) imitation of his own face!

Lay down some newspaper and carefully place the mask, inside portion facing the newspaper. Trim the mask edges. Use a pencil to poke two holes in the sides. When the mask is finished, you can run ribbon through the holes to tie the mask in place.

You’ll need to let the mask sit for at least 15 minutes to give this look-alike Halloween mask a chance to firm up a bit. When the mask has dried enough to handle easily, you can mark and cut out the eye holes over the newspaper. Smooth out the eye openings for a natural, form-fitting appearance.

Now your child’s ready to paint his unique Halloween mask. Be sure to supervise and help younger kids while they paint. Whether your child’s costume is a Star Wars character or a Princess, paint and decorate the Halloween mask accordingly. If the costume is some ghoulish monster, consider gluing hanging fake eyeballs, adding bloody or festering sores with paint, cobwebs, or rubber bugs. A Princess might have rosy cheeks and a bit of painted makeup. Princesses love glitter, too. Attach glitter with a glue stick.

Painting and decorating these Halloween masks produces a one-of-a-kind accessory that kids will play with long after Halloween.

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Home Made Halloween Costumes

When I was growing up, my mother always waited until the last minute to get us something to wear for Halloween. We usually ended up picking out some plastic costume from the local store and going with that. Though this was okay, it was not ideal. When my brother was in second grade, he had to dress up for school but my mother had no time to get him something. This was when I discovered how much fun home made Halloween costumes could be. Mom didnt have the time to help him, as she had a newborn, so I took over with great results.

Though having a boy dress up as a girl is probably a pretty common idea for home made Halloween costumes today, it was not quite as common when we were growing up. I took what I could find in my room to make him into a very convincing looking little girl. Because he was only eight years old at the time, the only thing that I had a problem with was his hair. He was sporting a shaved look and I did not have a wig for him to wear. I had plenty of everything else to go with his home made Halloween costumes however, and he looked funny enough to crack up our cranky bus driver, whom we had never seen smile before that moment.

No matter what type of home made Halloween costumes that you want, you can usually find things around your home to make them. You can fill in what you do not have through a variety of sources. Thrift stores are always great for things like prom dresses, wedding dresses, and even suits that wont cost you a fortune. You can also find things in department stores or craft stores. The biggest variety of fun things you can get to go with your home made Halloween costumes are going to be things that you can only find online. Just remember to order early.

When you try to go with home made Halloween costumes, keep one very important thing in mind. You have to get started early, especially if you think the costume that you are going for is going to be extremely complicated. You want to have time to mess up and start again, which is what is going to happen when you have a really great idea of which you have never seen anywhere else. You are starting from scratch with some of your home made Halloween costumes, and you dont want to be left with nothing if you start too late and can not get it right.Easy, original, and awesome homemade Halloween costumes for kids!

On Halloween, a kid’s imagination is brightly lit with fantasies of dressing up as a pirate, a la Brad Pitt, or perhaps the loveliest little angel. This second most popular holiday of the year gives every kid a chance to fantasize and, be, for that one night a hero, cowgirl, witch, or anything that suits their fantasy.

While there are plenty of shops and discount stores you can shop for ready made costumes, there are two disadvantages to off-the-rack costumes over the homemade Halloween costumes for kids. First, if the kids are going trick or treating and your child sees every other girl in her costume, she may feel slightly deflated. Homemade Halloween costumes for kids are one of a kind. Second, making Halloween costumes is cheaper than buying.

So, what if you’re not a seamstress? No problem. In this case, get a simple ready made costume. For girls, you can embellish with feathers, sequins, beads, lace, flowers and such lavishness. For boys, fancy trims enhancing the realistic Pirate image (or super hero or Fireman), makes this costume unique. How about a scarf for his bandanna? Now, all you need is a glue gun and you’re good to go. Craft, thrift and fabric stores are great places to find these special add-ons.

Some younger kids know right off the bat who or what they want to be on Halloween. If your child can’t decide, help them through their general costume themes, such as movie or cartoon characters. You can probably make suggestions when you have a good idea whether they’d rather be funny, pretty or scary.

As kids get older, their appreciation for unusual and perhaps a tad more bizarre Halloween costumes grows. Sometimes groups of teens will decide to all wear the same costume to make a real statement as they pluck their loot from your Halloween basket. Let them decide (within your ethical values) on their costume. That and the candy is the whole fun of Halloween!

Once your child has decided on the costume, it’s time to shop. If you are an experienced seamstress, you may not even need a pattern, for, say a ghost! Attaching those neon-glow stars and planets will make your ghost highly visible and add a mysterious glow, enhancing the costume.

Whether you choose to buy or make your kids Halloween costume, be sure the fabric is fire-retardant, for safety’s sake. The most successful homemade Halloween costumes for kids are those made with the add-ons they choose, not you. Talk about original!

Perhaps the best reason in favor of homemade Halloween costumes for kids is that you get to spend some time, enjoying and indulging your kid’s fantasies.

Stumped for ideas for Halloween costumes? Take a look here!

Have you ever received an invitation to a Halloween party which gives you no guidance but to ‘come in costume’? You’ve been a witch, a ghost, a pirate and a scary ghoulish monster character. Now, what do you do for an encore, something that’s fresh and original? Sometimes your mind just draws a blank. Before you decide to pass on the invitation, read on. We’ve got several avenues of scariness, humor and role-playing ideas for Halloween costumes to get those imaginative sparks fired up in you. Let’s go.

The most successful ideas for Halloween costumes are ones that suit your personality. If you’re the guy who really gets a charge out of scaring the trick or treaters and your fellow party guests, then go in that direction. Think, spooky, scary and disgusting. The Grim Reaper trip. Put ‘Halloween’ in front of those adjectives and Google yourself to your corner of Halloween fright.

If you’re a woman and don’t go in for the above sentiments, but have always wanted to the the beautiful fairy tale Princess or Norman Queen, set Google to work in that search. Remember too, that Disney(TM) makes lots of their movie character costumes in adult sizes. If you enjoy the incognito effect, there are plenty of animal costumes with face masks that allow you to observe and have the guests guessing. Want to be a penguin? No problem. You can. (I almost hate to admit I did this as an adult, but it was a lot of fun!)

Are you a fan of the Matrix and Star Wars genres? Such fanciful ideas for Halloween costumes can make for original and creative costumes. You could certainly be the only R2-D2 at the party!

Now, about that Pirate. There’s a little Pirate in us all, that daring, bold and unconventional persona just waiting to come out. Other ideas for Halloween costumes along these lines include the nomadic Gypsy or the magnificent Flamenco dancer. Have you the courage to come as a belly dancer? Zorro is a fairly cavalier guy. Why not?

Are you the celebrity type? Hey, indulge yourself! If you’re short on time, a trip to the trendy clothing shops can produce a reasonable facsimile of your favorite celebrity. Wigs, makeup and costume jewelry do the rest. Besides, you can wear the costume as street wear later on down the road. That is, unless you want to be Elvis!

You can see that the key to fun and creative ideas for Halloween costumes is right in your head. It just needs a little development and a quick online shopping trip. Live your dream. Just don’t scare the kiddies too much!

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