Teenagers want to go all out and put together the best costume possible for a Halloween bash with their friends. Resorting to some creative homemade costume ideas will create impressive outfits without going overboard on a shopping spree. When you need to purchase items for the costume, browse thrift shops, dollar stores and clearance racks for cheap items to complete the look
Fairy
To create a fairy costume, all you need are wings and a magic wand. Girls can use a short prom dress, church dress or any other fancy dress lying around the house and choose accessories in matching colors. Wings either clip onto the back of the dress or attach around the shoulders with straps. High heel shoes and tights complete the outfit. The fairy costume works well for a cheap, last-minute idea because it uses mainly items a girl already has in her closet, and she can raid her jewelry box to add a little sparkle to the outfit. For the wings and wand, visit a costume shop or dollar store. A younger sister may have a wand from a toy or dress-up outfit that she can loan to her older sister.
Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz
Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz” is a well-known and loved character that girls can pull off without investing much money in the costume. Discount department stores often carry sparkling red shoes in the shoe department and girls can use these with other outfits after Halloween is over.
For the dress, options include sewing a homemade version or visiting a thrift store to look for a similar blue and white dress. A light blue dress over a white shirt will work, even if it’s not made from blue and white checkered material. To complete the outfit, pull hair into two pigtails that rest on the girl’s shoulders and secure with blue ribbon or bows. A wicker basket works for collecting Halloween candy if your daughter is trick-or-treating. To finish off the outfit, add a stuffed dog to represent Toto. If your family has a real dog, let him go along with your daughter trick-or-treating.
Undead Costumes
Undead costumes are a classic for Halloween, and your teen can put her own spin on the tradition with a homemade undead costume. Take an outfit your teen already owns, such as an old T-shirt or a cheer-leading outfit, and cover it in fake blood. Take an old pair of blue jeans and tear holes in the knees and lower legs for a ragged look, to highlight the effect. This is best to use on old clothes, though certain types of fake blood will wash out without staining. For your teen’s makeup, use white, red and black face paint to create a zombie-like effect with pale skin and bleeding wounds. Draw stitches and create dark smudges around the eyes using the black face paint.
If your teen has a costume from a previous Halloween that still fits, use that costume and turn it into a undead fairy, witch or whatever your teen dressed as that year.
Rock Star
For a teen boy who needs an easy costume, consider a rock star. Take a denim or black jacket and pair it with a tight white shirt (or a band T-shirt) and dark pants. Boots will finish the outfit and boys can add leather cuffs or bracelets with spikes for a heavy metal look. To make it obvious what the costume is, carry a fake microphone or an inflatable guitar. Halloween costume stores have plenty of cheap accessories ranging from crazy wigs to fake bling, which guys can add to increase the “cool” factor of their rock star costume.
