How to Make Your Very Own Luna Lovegood Costume

Costumes from the Harry Potter series have been extremely popular for the last few years, especially as the new films continue to be released. One of the most popular character inspirations for Halloween costumes in recent years has been Luna Lovegood. Luna is a little spacey and her belief in imaginary creatures tends to annoy more practical characters like Hermione Granger. Nevertheless, Luna is a kind and loyal friend and this is a guide to making a great costume of her character for Halloween.

The Clothes

Clothes for Harry Potter costumes are amazingly easy to find or make, which is ridiculous since so many sites can charge over $100 for one child's costume. For Luna, as with all Hogwarts students, you'll need a black cloak. If you want, you can search the Internet for a Harry Potter specific black cloak or you can borrow or rent a black graduation gown (in October, this should be pretty inexpensive -who's going to be using them anyway?). If no one in your area has a black graduation gown, check out thrift stores for a men's large black shirt. This might even be something that someone you know has and is willing to give or loan you. If your shirt is long sleeved, cut them off to create short sleeves.

Wear your "cloak" open so that you can show off your white blouse and tie in Hogwarts house colors. As Luna is a Ravenclaw, her house colors are blue and bronze. If you can't find a tie that fits these exact specifications, buy one (either new or from a thrift store) in one of the colors and use fabric paint to create alternating stripes in the other color. A plain black vest over your white blouse is optional. Add some plain black shoes and your basic costume is complete!

Accessories

Part of what sets Luna Lovegood apart from the crowd is her unique and interesting taste in accessories. You don't have to buy, borrow, or make everything from this list, as just one or two will make your costume recognizable to any Harry Potter fan.

When Harry first meets Luna she's reading a copy of her father's magazine The Quibbler. You can carry around your own copy easily by writing that title on a blank notebook or for a more colorful approach, staple together several pieces of construction paper in book form and write The Quibbler on the front of it.

One of Luna's trademark accessories is her lion hat. This can be accomplished easily by attaching with safety or hair pins a stuffed lion to a small knit winter cap. When wearing the hat, bunch or roll up the non-lion part as much as possible so that it's not very visible.

Another Luna accessory that might be harder to create are her radish earrings. If you find an inexpensive pair, go ahead and buy them. If not, if you know how, they can be made with papier mache.

Last, no wizard or witch is complete without his or her trusty wand. This will be perhaps the easiest part of the costume to locate. Simply go outside and find a good stick to use. If you worry about how to handle both your wand and bag of candy on Halloween, never fear: Luna is known to tuck her wand behind her ear for safe-keeping!