UA Matters: Creating Fun, Imaginative Halloween Costumes at Home

With Halloween just around the corner, many parents are beginning to think about whether their little ones will delight or fright this year. Purchased costumes can be rather expensive or unoriginal, and many of us are not master seamstresses able to fashion our own.

The University of Alabama’s Melissa Panzarello provides some fun and easy ideas that can make use of items you may have available around the house; a way of upcycling everyday items into original costumes for the kids.

1) Bag of Candy

• Start with a white base like a sweat suit
• Make holes in a clear trash bag for legs and arms
• Fill the bag with multi-color inflated balloons
• Tie top of bag loosely at the neck with a ribbon

2) Turtle or Robot

• For the turtle, start with a green base and for the robot a grey base
• Use aluminum roasting pans and bind together with twine over the shoulders (paint pans green for turtle variation) fashioned into a breastplate

3) Rub a Dub Dub

• Start with a white t-shirt and shorts
• Cut a hole in the bottom of a plastic storage container
• Attach clothesline to it to go over the shoulders, criss-crossing in back
• Use white balloons (round) and string (twisted into “suds”) to fill the tub and tape onto the t-shirt. You can also fill in areas with pillow stuffing.
• Put a rubber ducky among the suds
• Place a shower cap on the child’s head
• Add props like a bath brush or sponge

4) Lego-type Blocks

• Start with a base the same color of the block you want to make
• Cut out the small end of a rectangular box (bottom), cut a hole in the opposite end for the head, and two holes for the arms
• Glue 6 styrofoam to-go cups down the front, 2 by 2
• Paint (with acrylic or tempra paint) the same color as the base
• Use a smaller square box lid with a single styrofoam cup on it as a hat

5) Corn on the Cob

• Start with a yellow shirt and green pants
• Paint some bubble wrap yellow with spray paint for plastics
• Wrap into a conical vest that closes in the back, and secure with packing tape
• Use green duct tape or colored paper glued to the bottom as husk leaves
• Fashion a hat out of more bubble wrap and use yarn or string as corn silk on top

Panzarello is a costume production specialist in UA’s Department of Theatre and Dance.