5 Inexpensive Halloween Costumes that You Can Make at Home

With Halloween right around the corner many parents are searching for ways to get their kids dressed up without spending a fortune on costumes this year. There are many Halloween costumes that can be made at home and do not cost a lot of money. Some costumes can be made with just the items that are found around the house while others may involve the need to purchase a supply or two. It's fun and easy to create inexpensive Halloween costumes that are a touch of your imagination.

1. Pirate: Little boys love the idea of being a pirate and parent's should love the idea of saving money by creating the costume at home. A pirate costume can be created out of sailor pants, an old button up shirt that has stripes on it, a bandanna, an eye patch, and some brown material (an old shirt will do).

Use the brown material to cover the entire bottom of one of your legs and your foot. This will be your "peg leg"

Wear cut off pants or jeans and the button up shirt (leave a few buttons open at the top) Place the bandanna around your head and the eye patch over your eye.

Be sure to say "ahoy" and "Matey" often during your Halloween tricks and treats

2. Ghost: A ghost costume is likely one of the easiest and cheapest costumes that can be made at home. A white sheet can be layered over the head and draped to the ground. Cut eye holes into the sheet. For a girly ghost, add some fake eyelashes to the eyes and some lipstick to the mouth.

To create a neat twist to the ghost costume, buy some glow in the dark spray fabric paint and paint the sheet before creating the costume. Then the ghost will glow when walking around the neighborhood on Halloween night.

3. Bunny Rabbit: This costume can be made out of an old leotard and tights. Wear white tights and the leotard. Pin or Glue a large pom pom to the bottom of the leotard as a tail. Create a pair of ears by drawing bunny ears onto some cardstock and then glue the ears standing upright to a headband. Add some glitter for a more glamorous bunny rabbit.

4. Bat: Use and old black umbrella and a black leotard and tights for this costume. Cut the umbrella in half and attach each side of it to the back of the leotard either by sewing or by safety pinning. Place the tights on and then the leotard with the "bat wings" attached. IF you do not have an old umbrella to attach as wings you may make wings out of black construction paper and glue them to wire that has been formed into the shape of wings. Attach the wire wings to the leotard by pinning or gluing.

5. Clown: A clown costume is easy to make and can be either a happy clown, a sad clown or even a spooky evil clown. Create the costume by layering bright colored clothing that is too large. Sweat pants work great as do over sized button up shirts in bright colors. You can decorate the clothing in polka dots and stripes or any design that you choose using regular markers, fabric crayons, or fabric paint depending on what you have available and how much time you have to create the costume.

To finish off the clown costume you will need a cheap funny wig, a hat, and some face paint. Paint the base of the clown face with white and get creative from there.