Last Minute Costume Ideas for Halloween

Need a quick last minute costume idea? Whether you've forgotten about a Halloween party where costumes are required or you're just a natural procrastinator, it can be hard to think of the perfect costume when you don't have a lot of time to put something together. Fortunately, there's a ton of different things you can likely assemble just from every day items you happen to have lying around the house.

Here's a few ideas for what to dress up as at Halloween or other costume required event:

Be a Tacky Tourist: I'm sure somewhere in your closet or drawer there is either a Hawaiian print shirt or even a t-shirt from a beach location or with a beach scene you have visited that you can wear with a pair of shorts. If not, you can probably find one pretty quickly at just about any thrift store or borrow one from a friend. Then all you need are a few simple accessories: sunglasses, map, and a camera or binoculars. Make sure you wear black socks with white shoes and you're good to go! You could alternatively go in your bathing suit and bring your goggles, a towel, and some snorkel or scuba gear if you have it.

Fast Costumes With a Pillow: A simple pillow can turn just about any ordinary outfit into something quite more creative. For example, you could put the pillow underneath your shirt on your shoulders to be either the Hunchback of Notre Dame or to perfect an elderly woman or man costume. You could also stick a pillow underneath the front of your shirt at the top of your chest to be a muscle man or at your stomach to be a pregnant woman.

Classic Play on Words: Another quick and easy Halloween costume is to make one based on a play of words. For example, tape or pin a few socks and dryer sheets to you and be static cling. Another popular example is to take a cereal box and stick a plastic knife through it to be a "cereal killer". Or you could tape a leaf to your shoulder and when someone asks you what you are, blow on the leaf and say you are a leaf blower. There's about a million of these ideas, just need to come up with the right one for you!

Use Foil: Aluminum foil is great because you can make a many costumes out of it pretty quickly and easily. Want to be a robot? A Knight in Shining Armor? A Tin Can? A baked potato? An alien? All of these things can easily be made with foil. Just be sure that you are careful and make sure you don't cut yourself and watch for jagged edges on the foil!

Use Poster board: If you have about an hour of time before you need the costume, you can easily make just about anything out of two pieces of poster board and tape them together to form a sandwich board. You can then either write a message on it and be a sandwich board sign wearer, or draw something quick and easy on it, such as a piece of pizza or bullseye on both sides. The possibilities are endless with this one.

Sports and Athletics: If you play a sport such as baseball you could easily just put on your equipment and your gear. This could work from anything from your dance outfits if you're a dancer to your full football uniform you would wear to a game.

Use a Sheet: If you happen to have an old white sheet laying around and don't mind it being used or changed, there's countless options available. You can be a Ghost (with two eyes or many holes all over if you want to be a Charlie Brown ghost) or you could simply wrap it around you like a toga and be a Greek god or goddess.

Cowboy/Cowgirl: If you have a cowboy hat, you can instantly be a cowboy or a cowgirl. If you want, pair it up with a plaid shirt and some boots and maybe a bandanna and you've got a costume very easily.

Cross Dress: This is another one that is very easy to do. If you are a boy, dress like a girl. If you are a girl, dress like a boy. Another variation is if you are going with a friend or a date, you dress and act like your friend/date and have your friend/date dress and act like you.

These are just a few ideas to get you started. If you have some simple things like poster board or foil or some funny hats or clothes you'll be sure to find something that's just perfect for you to wear for a Halloween party or for trick or treat. Most of these ideas will work well for kids and adults alike. Another good idea of things to do is to keep a box of different costume supplies you can buy on clearance on Halloween so you instantly have everything related to dressing up ready all the time.

Have a Happy Halloween!