Mix Up Your Own Halloween Face Paint and Other Fun Effects

There are times when parents just don't have a lot of money to spend on face paint and other Halloween goodies. That's why it is very handy to know exactly how to cut the budget and save some money this holiday season. Making your own homemade face paint, as well as several other fun, scary effects is a great way to save money while letting your kids have fun still.

Homemade face paint is pretty simple. You just need a handful of ingredients, cornstarch, milk, cold cream and food coloring. In a bowl, mix 1 teaspoon of cornstarch with about ½ teaspoon of cold milk until dissolved. Add ½ teaspoon of cold cream and mix until smooth. Tint to the desired shade with food coloring. This is a great way to avoid wasting an entire tube of face paint on a kid who wants to be a green alien or something similar. Tint the face paint green and spread it on with fingers or a paintbrush.

Fake blood can be quickly whipped by combining light corn syrup and red food coloring. Mix the two together with care so you don't have too many air bubbles and then spread or drip it where you want. This blood doesn't look good smeared, so let it dry before you head out for the evening! For fast, non-drying blood, ketchup is a good substitute, although it doesn't taste as great.

Need a good scar running down your face? Take some pink tissue paper and mix it with corn syrup. The paper will turn into a sort of paste that you can then apply to your face and hands to create sores and raised scars. For a more disgusting effect, try using some green tissue paper mixed in and making some infected boils! Lemon pudding makes great pus, you can have it dripping from your infected wounds.

Looking old is easy with baby powder. Brush it through hair to get that grey look and blend it into the skin to create a grayish, dry effect. Using dark eyeliner to draw wrinkles and blend them with a finger. You may also want to use a darker eye shadow to create hollows in your face and under the eyes for more effect.

As you can see, there is no need to spend heaps of cash on creating great makeup effects for your night out trick or treating. Most of these can be made up without any pre-planning, so you´re good even if you decide five minutes before leaving what you want to be!