Does Your Costume Scare The Planet?

Here are 10 crafty ideas to help keep your Halloween costumes inexpensive, eco-friendly, with still plenty of scary.

Check out your own closet for inspiration

For example, the perfect clown costume is a combination of just a few pieces of plaid, striped, and polka dot clothing. Add some face paint and a few pieces of yarn to your hair and you’ve got a whole costume for little or no money at all.

Reusable treat bags are easy!

Treat bags can made from old pillowcases, fabric or gallon-size ice cream buckets. Decorate them with reflective tape, fabric paint, glitter, or felt cutout shapes. These can be reused and redecorated for years to come.
Don’t purchase  those overpriced plastic and rubber masks. Utilize makeup and face paint that you can make yourself.  See our easy recipes below!

Organize a costume swap with a group of people

Invite friends, family, and coworkers to a “costume swap” party night. Send invitations that include details to bring any old costumes they might have stashed around their house. Spend an evening mixing and matching costumes until everyone is geared up and ready for a scary Halloween.

Raid your recycling bin (and your neighbor’s, too!)

See if anything reminds you of something you could sport as a costume. For example, soda bottle caps might remind you of robot knobs. This could be a great starting place for a full costume!

Check out your local thrift store with a huge selection of not-so-fashionable clothing, but great costume making materials.

Is there a bright orange oversized jumpsuit? It could be the perfect beginning of a jack-o-lantern or a prisoner costume.

Giant pieces of cardboard can definitely be your friend for the holiday season

They can be a blank canvas for just about any idea you have! No matter how ugly it is as you duct tape the pieces together, you can hide it all with a coat of paint and a few accessories (that robot costume perhaps!).

Use a friend’s “costume.”

If you’re totally stuck for ideas, time, or money and you have a friend who has a job with a very recognizable uniform such as fast food cashier or delivery person, ask to borrow their uniform. People will be doing double-takes all night!

Consider buying an inexpensive, traditional costume from a discount store, but then do something funny and ironic with it.

For example, buy a nurse costume and add your own shark fin to become a nurse shark.

Don’t be afraid of tradition

If all else fails, there is always the never-fail backup costume: the classic sheet ghost!

Here are some easy homemade Face Painting Recipes:

Basic Face Paint Recipe

Mix cold cream with cornstarch and water until a paste forms to create a basic face paint recipe. Add food coloring to create the desired color. If cold cream is not available, use a mixture of light corn syrup and flour.

Clown Face Paint Recipe

Homemade clown face paint includes shortening, cornstarch, flour and petroleum jelly. Mix these items together until smooth and add food coloring for different colors. A few drops of red and yellow coloring make orange face paint, blue and red drops make purple, and blue and yellow drops make green. Use your fingers or foam make-up applicators to apply the paint.

Halloween Face Paint

Mix shortening and cornstarch with food coloring to make easy face paint for a Halloween costume. Apply using a soft paintbrush or a make-up brush.

Fake Blood

Make your own fake blood by mixing light cornstarch with red and blue food coloring. Add a small amount of milk for a more realistic opacity. Use a loaded paintbrush to drip “blood” down the face.

Easy Removal Tips

Baby wipes make face paint removal simple. If baby wipes are not available, soap and water work. Be careful not to get red face paint on clothing or light-colored hair as it can stain.

Happy Halloween!