As a result of its cancellation in 2020, Halloween this year is more anticipated than ever: we can’t wait to arrive at the SU, West Street or a house party dressed in ghoulish, grisly attire. However, finding this can be a challenge. Many ready-made costumes are expensive, sold-out or take days on end to arrive. In order for you to avoid these stresses, here are some simple, fast and
affordable DIY costume suggestions.
A ghost– The main material you will need is an old white bedsheet. Take the bedsheet, fold it in half and cut out two eye holes in the appropriate spots. To add more authenticity, snip the hem of the sheet to create a frayed effect. You could also take a marker pen and draw on some ‘wounds’. Then put the bed sheet over your head and voilà, you have a ghost costume.
A zombie – Take a white T-shirt and cut some tears in it. Start the tears o
ff with scissors, but then rip them for a couple more in
ches. Then concoct ‘blood’. Dilute some red food colouring in water (to make it an even more realistic colo
ur, you could also add in some yellow food colouring) and then smear this mixture across the T shirt. You can also add patches of ‘dirt’ on the T-shirt by mixing instant coffee with water and spreading this on. Finally, layer the T-shirt over another one and complete the look with jeans or a skirt.
A cat – Start by teaming a black top with black leggings or jeans. To make the cat’s tail, take a black pipe-cleaner and attach it onto the back of
your leggings/jeans with a safety pin. Then make the cat’s ears: take some cardboard (either
black cardboard or you could paint or colour in a different colour cardboard) and cut out two triangles. Next either glue or tape these to an Alice-band. If you fancy adding face-paint you can paint on a black nose and whiskers.
A pirate – Your main items of clothing for this costume are versatile – you could wear a shirt, a stripy top, an off-the-shoulder top, or even a waistcoat along with jeans. Now create a bandana to tie around your forehead: for this you can use anything from a tea towel to half of an old T-shirt.
Next it’s time to make a pirate’s hook or sword. You can do this in a variety of ways such as wrapping tin-foil round a pen or a pencil, scrunching up tin-foil until it’s in a solid hook/sword shape or cutting one out of sturdy cardboard. To complete the look, paint an eye patch on with black face-paint.
A mummy – For this costume you will need to mak
e ‘bandages’ and can choose from a wide range of materials to do so. You could cut up an old bedsheet, old clothes or an old tea towel, use toilet roll or even actual bandages. Then put on a T-shirt and jeans or leggings and wrap the bandages round you, securing them with tape if need be. You can bandage yourself as much or as little as you like – you could do just your arms or your whole body!
A witch – First pair a black top and skirt/black dress with stripy tights. Then make a broomstick – you can do this by taking a piece of cardboard and cutting it into a very slim rectangle. Next cut some thin strips and stick them onto one end of the rectangle to make ‘bristles’. You can also make a
hat out of black cardboard – fold a large piece of this cardboard into a cone shape and then attach it to a ring shaped piece of cardboard which can act as the hat’s brim.
