Party Animal
We all have a pair of animal ears or a onesie of some sort lying around. Add on a fun party hat to take your costume to the next level, and dance the night away!
Beanie Baby
An alternate way to step up your basic animal costume: cut a red heart out of red cardstock, and add the “ty” logo with white paper or a paint marker. Punch a hole in one side, thread a ribbon through, and wear it around your neck. Repeat this for all your friends, and this simple idea can turn your eclectic last-minute gettups into an adorable group costume!
Minion
If you own a pair of overalls, all you really need is a yellow shirt to create this costume. If you want to go that extra mile, you can add the Gru logo to your chest, some black gloves, and glasses or goggles.
Winnie the Pooh Character
The great thing about some animated characters, like Winnie the Pooh, is that their colour schemes are recognizable enough on their own to look like a costume. For example:
Red top + yellow bottoms = Winnie the Pooh*
Light blue top + beige bottoms = Roo
Dark pink top + light pink bottoms = Piglet
Orange/black stripes + yellow middle (which you can make out of fabric or felt) = Tigger
Add some ears to any of these costumes (which you can DIY with felt, a hairband, and some hot glue) to top them off!
*Bonus: get a dollar store candy container shaped like a cauldron or pumpkin, paint it blue and write “HUNNY” on it for a fun prop.
Domino
Throw on an LBD or some black skinnies and a tee. Add a white belt or felt strip on your hip or waist, and glue (or pin) large felt circles above and below this line. Do this with some friends, if you wish – being part of a group costume always makes you feel more legit!
Spice Girls
Yes, you can totally dress up like Scary, Sporty, Baby, Ginger, and Posh; and hats off to you if you do! But if you ain’t got no time for that, you can also grab some friends and stick words like “cayenne,” “oregano,” “basil,” and “cinnamon” to yourselves for an easy and punny costume!
Nail Polish
Throw on a black* top, stick or write your favourite brand’s name onto a coloured skirt, and voila! You can even make a “skirt” from some craft or tissue paper if you’re really in a crunch. Maybe just wear something underneath if you opt for the latter choice.
*For Essie, swap out your black top for a white one.
Chill Pill
Wear some combination of either solid red and white, or red and blue, preferably with a pencil skirt on the bottom. Then stick the word “CHILL” to yourself with some felt, paper, or sticker paper. Apologies if this pun is a little hard to swallow…
Rainbow
Get together a group of 6 or 7 and each choose a colour! This costume is sure to cause some impromptu colour-ordered doggy piles, so be prepared.
If you want to add another to your group, one person can dress up as a pot of gold, which is of course found at the end of every rainbow.
Fruit
These sweet costumes are a fun and easy DIY using a just a few materials!
Strawberry: cut out seed shapes from white felt and glue them onto a red dress or large shirt. For a headpiece: cut out a strip of cardstock and create a circle that fits around your head. Cut out leaf shapes from green felt and stick them all around the circle. Twist some felt together and glue it on as well to create a stem.
Pineapple: wear a yellow dress or large t-shirt. Add on triangles or a cross hatch pattern with brown fabric marker or felt. Make a cone out of cardstock and glue tall green leaf-shaped pieces of felt to it. Then glue the whole thing to a headband for a pineapple topper.
Watermelon: wear green bottoms and a pink top. Add black felt seeds to your top, and you’re done!
Put them all together, and what do you get? Fruit salad, of course!
Magician and Rabbit
Person one: sport a white button down, black pants, a black blazer, and a top hat. Add a bow tie and a magic wand if you can find them.
Person two: deck yourself out in white, and add some ears and a tail.
Prepare for a magical night!
TMNT
Wear all green, and add details with brown and yellow felt or fabric. Top off the outfit with a bandana or strips of a t-shirt in purple, orange, blue, or red. If you’re in the DIY mood, you even can decorate a disposable turkey pan with green spray paint and black Sharpie. Punch four holes in the pan, add string or ribbon, and wear your shell like a backpack.
Minnie Mouse
This one is a classic. Wear some white gloves, a black top, and a red skirt (or red top and black skirt, if that’s easier).
For some DIY ears: cut out something like a figure 8 shape (with perfect circles on either end) from black felt. Repeat this shape. Glue one of the shapes to a hair band off-centre, with the hair band in between the two circles. Glue a pipe-cleaner circle to one side of the black felt for some structural support, and seal it up by matching the circles together. Repeat on the other side for the other ear. Finally, add a red bow made from ribbon, fabric, or more felt!
Lilo
Cut copies of the leaf pattern from Lilo’s dress out of white sticker paper or felt. Stick them onto a red dress or large t-shirt, and add a lei or shell necklace for the finishing touch.
Mario (or Luigi, or Waluigi)
Here is where a pair of overalls comes in handy again. Wear a red shirt, some white gloves, and a pair of brown boots. For the hat, there are some great tutorials online for ones made from red fleece. Alternatively, simply find a red baseball cap and glue on a white circle and red ‘M’. For Luigi and Waluigi, simply switch out the colours for green and purple, and the letters for ‘L’ and an upside down ‘L’, respectively.
Hopefully, these costume ideas proved that you don’t need a whole lot to make a fun costume that you can rock this weekend. Happy Halloween-ing!