Halloween Costume Ideas

I have fond memories of Halloween nights as a child. My father, being the creative, engineering-minded man that he is, made a Casper the Friendly Ghost figure by cutting out, freehand, the shape of Casper from a piece of plywood, then painting it white, including accent lines, shading, and Casper's face. He then rigged some kind of motor to his camera tripod. Every Halloween, he would climb onto the roof of our home and attach the Casper figure to the tripod, which then connected to power via an array of extension cords that reached into the house. Once turned on, Casper would "fly" in a circle over our home until all the trick-or-treaters were gone for the night. He also set up a record player (yes, vinyl!) in one of our front windows and played an album full of Halloween stories and music that you could hear as you came up to the house. That, in combination with the orange light bulb he put in the porch light, made it a very spooky experience.

This creativity spilled into our costumes, as well. Again, my father's mind was spinning with ideas! My favorite costume of all time was the King and Queen of Hearts playing cards. My father bought four pieces of poster board, sat at his desk with the King and Queen of Hearts from a deck of cards, and drew, freehand, an enlarged version of the front and back of both cards onto the four pieces of poster board. He then punched holes in the tops of the cards, connected a front and a back together, and my friend and I slipped them over our heads to become transformed into two playing cards. My friend and I spent the entire evening explaining to the generous candy-givers of our neighborhood how we pulled off such a feat.

As for other ideas, I once saw at a Halloween party a couple of guys who showed up together as a monk and a nun. The guy in the nun costume somehow attached a basketball under his costume, so he looked pregnant - we all got a laugh out of that one!

I found a couple of web sites (provided below) that provide costume ideas. Here are a few of those - some of these are quite clever:

Voodoo Doll and Victim: One dresses as a voodoo doll and carries a large sharp stick. When the voodoo doll sticks themselves, the victim feels the pain (i.e., voodoo doll sticks arm and victim grasps arm and acts like it hurts).

Substitute Teacher: Dress conservatively like a teacher (hair up in a bun, skirt and sweater, glasses on a chain around your neck). Then, stick a paper airplane in the back of your hair, put a note that says "Kick Me" on your back, cover your hands and face with chalk, and put chalk eraser prints on your clothes. Attach staples and paperclips to your clothes, with broken pencils sticking out here and there.

Castaway: Take an old pair of khaki pants and tear off the legs to create shorts. Wear a dirty white T-shirt, beard and long hair. Carry a volleyball with red handprint and face.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloon: Get an appropriate costume, such as Bullwinkle or Snoopy. Attach long strings all around and then attach tiny plastic clowns at the end of each string. Then walk in slow motion humped over with the clowns just dragging the floor.

Table for One: Use cardboard or other material to make a round table that will fit over your head and rest on your shoulders. Cover with a red checked tablecloth. Make your head into a centerpiece with silk flowers. Put play dishes and play food on the table, and add accessories (candle, salt and pepper shakers, menu, etc.). Wrap a second table cloth around your body.

Hershey Kiss: I dressed my daughter up with a blow up pool ring taped around her waist. Then I wrapped up to her neck in tin foil. I painted her face white and clipped a white paper that said Hersheys to her head. Thanks to Dee in NH for this wonderful clever idea!

Cheese Sandwich: Get two pieces of white poster board and cut them to look like Sandwich bread - paint or color about 1-inch along the edges brown for the crust. Pick other colors of poster board to be the Sandwich contents - one color of yellow for the cheese (cut a couple of big circles in it for Swiss cheese), another for the mustard. One color of green for pickles (you can cut two nice-sized pickle rounds out of one piece of poster board), another for the lettuce (cut jaggy edges for more leafy look). Glue or tape a couple pieces of the contents to the inside of each piece of "bread" and use rope as shoulder straps to attach the two parts together. Wear red sweats for ketchup (or yellow sweats for mustard and use a red piece of poster board for ketchup). The possibilities are endless. Thanks to Beth in Ohio for this very unique idea!!

Dressing up for Halloween is all about having fun. Take the time, child or adult, to think about what you would enjoy being for Halloween that you couldn't be any other time, and have fun playing the role.