Cheap Halloween Costume Ideas From Stuff at Home

20 Cheap Halloween Costume Ideas From Stuff at Home (September 2026)

by

Last updated: September 2026

Yes, you can build a whole Halloween costume out of things you already own. Cardboard boxes, an old bedsheet, a laundry basket, a trash bag, a pillowcase and a glue gun cover nearly every idea below, and most costumes come to nothing at all.

We put together 20 cheap Halloween costume ideas built almost entirely from household items, then sorted them by what you can make, how long it takes, and who it fits best. Every idea includes a materials list, assembly steps, and a straight answer on cost.

Our rule was simple: if you had to open a costume shop bag to build it, it did not make the list. A few concepts need one small thing from a dollar store, and we flag those clearly. Everything else runs on hot glue, safety pins, duct tape, spray paint and whatever is in the closet.

We have made these with our own kids over several years of last-minute October evenings, and the ones that survive a full walk of trick-or-treating are the ones with a solid base layer, a warm layer underneath, and something visible at dusk. Those three details are covered further down.

Table of Contents

What Counts as a Zero-Cost Halloween Costume?

A zero-cost costume uses only items you already have. Nothing purchased, nothing borrowed beyond a friend, nothing carried over from another project. A trash bag bat, a bedsheet ghost, a pillowcase ghost and a cardboard robot all qualify.

A low-cost costume spends a small amount on a single item that closes a gap, such as a strip of reflective tape, a tube of face paint, or a pack of black safety pins. These still land in the cheap Halloween costume ideas category, because the total across a family stays small.

Here is how we label cost in the list below:

  • Free means every material is already in your house or yard.
  • Under a few dollars means one small supply purchase, usually a glue stick, a can of spray paint, or a roll of tape.
  • Group and couple ideas often cost less per person, because one box or sheet is shared across several costumes.

If you need to buy something, a dollar store or thrift store is usually enough. The one thing we never compromise on is reflective tape for anyone trick-or-treating near a road after sunset.

20 Cheap Halloween Costume Ideas at a Glance

Here is the full list in one place, with cost, build time, skill level, who it suits best, and the key materials. Use it to pick two or three, then scroll to the build steps.

  1. Laundry basket hot cocoa – Cost: free | Time: 25 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: kids and tweens | Materials: laundry basket, brown paper, glue, white socks
  2. Pillowcase ghost – Cost: free | Time: 10 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: any age | Materials: white pillowcase, marker, safety pins
  3. Trash bag bat – Cost: free | Time: 30 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: kids and teens | Materials: black trash bag, cardboard, glue, ribbon
  4. Cardboard box robot – Cost: free | Time: 30 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: kids | Materials: boxes, spray paint or marker, foil
  5. Bedsheet ghost on a rake – Cost: free | Time: 15 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: kids | Materials: old sheet, marker, stick or rake handle
  6. Cereal box character family – Cost: free | Time: 40 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: groups and families | Materials: empty boxes, cardstock, glue
  7. Mad scientist – Cost: free | Time: 20 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: teens and adults | Materials: white shirt, goggles, rubber gloves, cord
  8. Where is Waldo – Cost: free | Time: 20 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: couples and friends | Materials: red and white stripes, red hat, glasses
  9. Scarecrow from old clothes – Cost: free | Time: 20 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: kids and adults | Materials: old shirt and pants, straw or excelsior, rope
  10. Mummy from a fleece blanket – Cost: free | Time: 20 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: any age | Materials: old white blanket or sheet, safety pins, gauze or strips
  11. Coffee cup from a laundry basket – Cost: free | Time: 35 minutes | Skill: intermediate | Best for: kids and teens | Materials: laundry basket, poster board, brown paper
  12. Sun and moon couple – Cost: free | Time: 15 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: couples | Materials: yellow and black clothing, cardboard rays and crescent
  13. Space explorer from a laundry basket – Cost: free | Time: 45 minutes | Skill: intermediate | Best for: kids and adults | Materials: laundry basket, milk jug, foil, duct tape
  14. Potato head – Cost: free | Time: 15 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: kids and teens | Materials: cardboard, markers, spare socks, yarn
  15. Gingerbread person – Cost: free | Time: 25 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: kids | Materials: brown hoodie and pants, white felt or trim
  16. Sunflower – Cost: free | Time: 30 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: kids | Materials: yellow shirt, brown skirt or pants, felt petals, seeds
  17. Cardboard knight – Cost: free | Time: 40 minutes | Skill: intermediate | Best for: kids and adults | Materials: grey cardboard, paint, helmet shape, straps
  18. Pineapple from a tablecloth – Cost: free | Time: 20 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: teens | Materials: yellow fabric, green felt or scrunchies
  19. Santa or witch wardrobe swap – Cost: free | Time: 20 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: adults | Materials: red or black top, felt trim, elastic
  20. Totally invisible costume – Cost: under a few dollars | Time: 10 minutes | Skill: beginner | Best for: anyone | Materials: white clothing, clear tape, sign

Items one through five need nothing but glue and a marker. If you only have an hour and a glue gun, start at the top of the list.

11 No-Sew Costumes Built With Hot Glue, Safety Pins and Duct Tape

These eleven ideas need no sewing machine and no needle. Hot glue handles cardboard and fabric, safety pins handle anything you might want to remove later, and duct tape is the emergency fastener that holds everything together at 4pm on October 31.

Laundry Basket Hot Cocoa Costume

This is the costume that wins school pickup. A round laundry basket becomes a cup, brown paper becomes the cocoa, and rolled white socks or polyester stuffing become marshmallows.

Materials: laundry basket, brown paper or brown garbage bags, hot glue gun, white socks or poly fill, cardboard strip, ribbon or rope.

Steps:

  1. Cut a brown paper rectangle that wraps the outside of the basket and glue it on in strips.
  2. Roll handfuls of white socks tightly and glue them in a cluster near the top front of the cup.
  3. Add a second smaller cluster for foam, or leave a gap to show the brown paper as the cocoa.
  4. Bend a cardboard strip into a handle and glue it to the sides.
  5. Cut two arm holes in the basket so the wearer can get their arms through.

Wearing a warm layer under the basket keeps it comfortable, because the basket sits away from your body and lets cold air straight in.

Pillowcase Ghost Costume

A white pillowcase with two cut-out eyes is the fastest costume on this list, and it works for a four-year-old and a six-foot adult with the same technique.

Materials: white pillowcase, black marker or fabric paint, safety pins, optional yarn for hair.

Steps:

  1. Cut two eye holes near the closed end of the pillowcase, or draw big eyes if you are short on time.
  2. Snip a fringe along the bottom edge, or pin the pillowcase over a fringed skirt so the hem moves.
  3. Pull the open end over the head and pin it at the neck.
  4. Tie yarn scraps or ribbon on top for hair, then add face paint if the eyes are drawn rather than cut.

Trash Bag Bat Costume

Black trash bags, cardboard and a clothespin make a bat that is genuinely light and holds its shape all night.

Materials: two black trash bags, cardboard cut into wing shapes, hot glue, safety pins, ribbon, black clothing.

Steps:

  1. Cut two wing shapes from cardboard, roughly hand-sized, and round the top of each into a point.
  2. Stretch a black trash bag over each wing and fold the excess underneath, then glue it down.
  3. Glue the wings to a strip of cardboard that sits across the shoulders, pinned under clothing so it cannot slide.
  4. Add a felt or paper face, or two yellow dots for eyes, and tape on two small ears.
  5. Make a tail from a rolled black sock pinned to the back of the waistband.

Cardboard Box Robot

Flattened or whole boxes, silver paint and a black marker turn a recycling pile into a robot. Kids wear it, adults wear two boxes, and the boxes flatten flat for storage.

Materials: two or three boxes, silver spray paint or grey marker, black marker, foil, tape, string.

Steps:

  1. Paint or colour the boxes silver and let them dry fully before handling.
  2. Draw a control panel on the chest box with buttons, dials and a screen in black marker.
  3. Wrap the smaller box in foil for the head and tape a strip across the front for a visor.
  4. Add antennae from cardboard strips and paper towel tubes, taped to the head.
  5. Strap the boxes to the body with ribbon or an old belt so the child can move.

Bedsheet Ghost Costume on a Rake or Broom Handle

This one came out of the old Halloween movies, and it is how a lot of us remember trick-or-treating. A sheet, a stick, and a face in the dark does the rest.

Materials: old white sheet, black marker or dark clothing for the face, a stick, rake handle or broom handle, safety pins.

Steps:

  1. Drape the sheet over the head and shoulders, then pin the excess at the front so you can see.
  2. Cut two eye holes and one mouth hole, or mark the face in thick black marker on a smaller sheet panel.
  3. Pin the hem so the sheet does not drag on the ground.
  4. Hold the stick out in front, angled slightly, for the classic silhouette.

Cereal Box Character Costumes

Empty boxes from the pantry become anything: a sock, a butter box, a cracker character, or one box per family member so the whole group matches. This is the best value idea for a group, because the cost per person is almost nothing.

Materials: empty cereal and cracker boxes, cardstock, glue, markers, paint, ribbon.

Steps:

  1. Turn each box so the printed side faces in, then cover it with white or brown cardstock.
  2. Draw the character face large on the front panel with markers or paint.
  3. Glue the box to the front of the chest with a ribbon harness that goes over the shoulders and around the back.
  4. Add matching cardboard accessories, like a hat, a pair of mittens or a paper handle.
  5. Repeat the same base for each family member with a different character face.

Mad Scientist Costume

A white button-down shirt, safety goggles and rubber gloves read as mad scientist from across a street. It is the easiest adult costume in the list to assemble in a closet.

Materials: white or light dress shirt, safety goggles, rubber dish gloves, thin cord, markers, optional toy stethoscope or cardboard tubes.

Steps:

  1. Put on the shirt with the sleeves rolled and add smudges of marker along the cuffs and collar.
  2. Glue or tie wild grey or white hair on the head, or pinch two small tufts of yarn.
  3. Push two or three empty cardboard tubes through a belt loop or a pocket as instruments.
  4. Add a length of cord around the neck and mark a few fake stains on the shirt front.
  5. Finish with gloves and goggles last, so they stay clean.

Where is Waldo Costume

Stripes, a red hat and round glasses. The whole joke is that a person in stripes appears in a crowd of stripes, and the costume reads instantly.

Materials: red and white striped shirt, red trousers or shorts, red felt hat, round glasses or cardboard circles on string, white beard optional.

Steps:

  1. Make sure the stripes on the shirt and the trousers line up visually at the waist.
  2. Glue a red felt circle on a headband or hair clip for the hat, and add a white brim.
  3. Make round glasses from cardboard circles, then attach them to a length of string.
  4. Add a white strip under the chin or a white pom-pom hat if you want a second character in the duo.

Scarecrow Costume From Old Clothes

Raggedged clothes you were going to donate anyway make a scarecrow. The key is the stuffing, and the key to the stuffing is an old pillow or a bag of poly fill.

Materials: old shirt and pants, straw, excelsior, rope or twine, old gloves, hat.

Steps:

  1. Tear the shirt and pants into strips, or cut fringe slits up the sleeves and pant legs.
  2. Stuff straw or excelsior under the shirt front, at the shoulders and inside the sleeves so the shape holds.
  3. Stuff the pant legs and tie the cuffs with twine to stop the straw escaping.
  4. Add a rope belt, gloves and a floppy hat, then smudge the clothes with dirt or flour.
  5. Safety pin any loose straw at the collar before the child goes outside.

Mummy Costume From a Fleece Blanket or Sheet

Wrap-and-pin is the method here. No glue, no sewing, and it comes apart in five minutes at the end of the night.

Materials: old white sheet or fleece blanket, long strips of gauze or old white fabric, safety pins, white face paint, black marker.

Steps:

  1. Dress in black or dark clothing so the gaps read as shadow between the wraps.
  2. Start at the ankles and wind strips upward, overlapping like a bandage.
  3. Pin each wrap in place with two safety pins so nothing shifts while walking.
  4. Wrap the arms from the wrist to the shoulder, leaving one forearm clear for holding treats.
  5. Wrap the head loosely, leaving the face visible, and add a dark line at the mouth for stitches.

Totally Invisible Costume

White clothes, clear tape and a sign. It is a good joke costume, it costs nothing, and it solves the problem of being cold because a white hoodie is a warm layer that still reads as part of the costume.

Materials: white clothing, clear packaging tape, safety pins, a hand-lettered sign, optional white sheets to wrap around the body.

Steps:

  1. Dress in all white, including shoes and socks, since shoes give most costumes away.
  2. Wrap sheets around the torso and pin them at the shoulders, leaving the arms free.
  3. Wrap the head and face in a scarf, then leave a gap for the eyes.
  4. Carry a hand-lettered sign reading that you are not there.
  5. Hold out both hands and let people figure out the rest.

9 More Costumes From Boxes, Sheets, Pillowcases and Old Clothes

Coffee Cup Costume From a Laundry Basket

Same base as the hot cocoa costume, different colours. White poster board, brown paper and a cardboard sleeve turn the basket into a takeaway cup.

Materials: round laundry basket, white poster board, brown paper, hot glue, cardboard strip.

Steps:

  1. Wrap the basket in white poster board, then add a band of brown paper around the middle as the sleeve.
  2. Cut a circle of brown paper for the lid and glue it to the top.
  3. Add a red or brown rectangle on the front as a logo block, or tape on an empty wrapper from the recycling bin.
  4. Cut arm holes and add the cardboard handle on top.

Sun and Moon Couple Costume

Two people, one yellow and one black, and a crescent cut from a cereal box. It photographs well and works as a family duo with kids dressed as stars.

Materials: yellow clothing, black clothing, yellow cardboard, black cardboard, glue, black tights or leggings.

Steps:

  1. Cut a crescent moon from black cardboard and a ring of triangular rays from yellow cardboard.
  2. Glue the crescent to a black headband and the rays to a yellow headband.
  3. Add closed-eye lashes to the moon face and a smiling face to the sun.
  4. Finish with yellow for the sun and dark leggings for the moon so both silhouettes read at dusk.

Space Explorer Costume From a Laundry Basket and Milk Jug

A plastic laundry basket makes a helmet shape, and a cut milk jug makes a chest pack. Foil and grey duct tape turn both into a suit that looks far more technical than it is.

Materials: laundry basket, empty milk jug, foil, grey duct tape, cardboard, black clothing.

Steps:

  1. Cut the bottom off the laundry basket and keep the domed top as a helmet.
  2. Wrap the dome in foil and tape the seams with grey duct tape.
  3. Cut a dark mesh or window from black fabric and tape it across the face opening.
  4. Cut the milk jug in half lengthwise, then tape it flat to the chest with foil and tape details added.
  5. Dress in black underneath so only the suit panels show.

Potato Head Costume

Cardboard potato shapes, spare socks and yarn give you a face you can rearrange mid-trick-or-treat, which children love more than most adults expect.

Materials: cardboard, brown paint or markers, spare socks, yarn, safety pins, buttons from a sewing box.

Steps:

  1. Cut one or two potato shapes from cardboard and paint them brown.
  2. Draw features on each shape, or pin on button eyes and a yarn mouth so they can be moved.
  3. Wear them over your clothes with a safety pin, or make a headband version by gluing smaller pieces to a headband.
  4. Fill the spare socks with stuffing and pin them to the head for ears and a nose.

Gingerbread Person Costume

Brown clothing with white icing trim is the whole concept, and a felt cookie sheet from a craft box handles the icing in one cut.

Materials: brown hoodie and matching pants, white felt or white fabric trim, buttons, red felt for the bow.

Steps:

  1. Draw white icing lines on the hoodie and pant legs with a white fabric marker or fabric glue.
  2. Glue white felt circles at the wrists and ankles as cuffs.
  3. Add three large buttons down the front of the hoodie as the cookie buttons.
  4. Glue a red felt bow at the collar, and circle small white felt dots on the cheeks.

If you have a sewing machine, the bow and the cuffs take ten minutes on it instead of a full glue set time.

Sunflower Costume

A yellow shirt, brown bottoms and felt petals make a sunflower that works for a trick-or-treater and for a classroom theme day.

Materials: yellow T-shirt, brown skirt or trousers, yellow felt or cardboard petals, sunflower seeds or dry beans, green felt leaves.

Steps:

  1. Glue a ring of yellow petals around the collar and again at the wrists, cutting slits in each petal so they bend.
  2. Make a brown disc from a piece of cardboard, glue it to the chest and cover it with seeds or dry beans as the flower centre.
  3. Glue green felt leaves along the sides of the shirt and at the hem.
  4. For a full sunflower, glue a large petal ring around the head with a headband or hair clips.

Cardboard Knight Costume

Cardboard boxes, grey paint and a cardboard helmet cover make a knight that holds up to a full evening of running around.

Materials: large cardboard box, small box, grey and silver paint, marker, ribbon or straps, poster board.

Steps:

  1. Cut the front panel off the large box, paint it grey, and draw a heraldic design or a face on it.
  2. Wear the panel over the chest with ribbon straps crossed at the back.
  3. Build the helmet from the small box: cut a visor slit, add a crest from cardboard strips, and paint the whole thing silver.
  4. Make a shield from a piece of poster board with a painted emblem, held with a hand strap.
  5. Add cardboard arm plates by wrapping them around the forearms and pinning them closed.

Pineapple Costume From a Tablecloth

A yellow tablecloth or shower curtain over dark clothing gives the body of a pineapple, and the spiky green top is scrunchies or felt leaves.

Materials: yellow fabric or tablecloth, green felt or scrunchies, black or dark leggings, optional sunglasses.

Steps:

  1. Tie the yellow fabric into a knot at the front to create the pineapple body shape.
  2. Add dark crosshatch lines across the fabric with a black fabric marker to mimic the diamond pattern.
  3. Glue green felt leaves in a fan at the top of the head, or tie scrunchies onto a headband.
  4. Add dark sunglasses and dark shoes to finish the look.

Santa or Witch Wardrobe Swap Costume

This one uses clothes you already own. A plain red top becomes a Santa suit, and a plain black dress or top becomes a witch, with felt trim doing the costume work.

Materials: red or black clothing, white or black felt trim, black leggings, elastic, optional sparkly belt.

Santa steps: cut a wide white felt band for the hem and cuffs, glue them on, add a wide black belt and a white felt beard, and pull on black boots.

Witch steps: add a black felt pointy hat made from a cone of felt or cardboard, add a wide black belt, and wear dark leggings and boots.

Morning of Halloween: Costumes You Can Finish in 30 Minutes

It happens. The kid decided on a costume at breakfast, or the shirt you planned on is in the wash. These five need no paint, no drying time, and no trip to the store.

  1. Pillowcase ghost – ten minutes, marker and safety pins only.
  2. Trash bag anything – a black bag with holes for the head and arms makes a bat, a vampire or a ninja in about five minutes.
  3. Where is Waldo – stripes, a red hat and cardboard glasses.
  4. Totally invisible costume – white clothes, clear tape, and a sign.
  5. Box and blanket fort costume – a box over the torso, a blanket over the head, and a marker face.

My rule for panic day is that you are allowed one cutting step and one gluing step. Anything that needs paint to dry, or glue to cool, is not a morning-of costume.

The Tools Checklist and How to Use Hot Glue Without a Burn

Most of these projects need the same small set of tools. You likely already own every one of them.

  • Hot glue gun – the workhorse for cardboard, felt and fabric edges
  • Safety pins – the temporary fastener and the no-sew substitute
  • Safety scissors – for cutting cardstock and fabric
  • Spray paint or acrylic paint – for turning plain cardboard into something
  • Cardboard and poster board – structure for every box-based idea
  • Felt scraps – clean edges and no fraying
  • Velcro – closures that a child can manage alone
  • Duct tape – the fix-it for straps, seams and same-day repairs
  • Elastic – for anything that has to stay on while running

Hot glue safety. Hot glue burns skin at around 120 degrees Celsius, and children get burns in seconds. Set the glue gun on a heatproof mat, keep it out of reach when it is not in your hand, and do the gluing yourself on the night before. For children under about six, use a low-temperature glue gun or craft glue instead, and let a cool adult handle anything metal.

Small parts. Buttons, beads, seeds and small cut shapes are choking hazards for younger children. Skip them on costumes for under-threes, or glue every piece flat against a larger surface so nothing can be pulled off and swallowed.

Dusk visibility. Trick-or-treating in Edmonton usually starts near sunset, which in October comes early. Add a strip of reflective tape to the chest, the back and one sleeve of every costume, and carry a small light. Reflective tape costs very little and it is the single most useful safety item on this list.

Matching Costumes for Kids, Teens, Adults, Couples and Groups

The hardest part of a home costume is usually not the build, it is making one idea work for three different body sizes. A few tricks fix that.

Scale the headpiece, keep the concept. Everyone can be a hot cocoa. Make the basket version for a child and an oversized poster board cup worn as a sandwich board for an adult.

Use elastic and Velcro everywhere. The first-fitting is always wrong. If an adult has to help a child into the costume, it will be too tight by the third house on the block.

Couples and friends: sun and moon, Where is Waldo and Wally, a white sheet ghost and a red sheet ghost, or two cereal box characters from the same box of shapes.

Families: one cardstock template reused across several boxes makes a matching set in a single afternoon. Everyone helps paint, and the paint is the entertainment.

Groups and offices: pick one base material everyone can source, such as black trash bags or a white sheet, and let each person pick their own creature. It reads as a coordinated group without anyone wearing the same thing.

Dressing for Edmonton October Without Ruining the Costume

Cold is the constraint that quietly ruins a good costume. Edmonton in October often runs near or below freezing after dark, and a costume that only works at room temperature is not a costume, it is a poster.

Build the warm layer into the design. A hoodie under a cardboard chest panel, sweatpants under a robe, leggings under a skirt and a long-sleeve base under every short-sleeve idea are all invisible once the costume is on.

Fleece, an old sweater and thermal leggings are the best friends of a home costume because they all compress under a cardboard or fabric layer without bunching. Avoid bulky coats under a basket or box costume, because the bulk prevents the arm holes lining up and the costume twists when you walk.

Give the hands and feet some attention too. Mittens in a costume colour, or gloves painted in a matching shade, keep the end of the arms from breaking the illusion. For anyone waiting on a porch in the cold, a costume that works indoors and a jacket that comes off at the door is the practical answer.

Store It So It Lasts Until Next Halloween

The best part of a home costume is that it is still in a closet next September. A few minutes of storage work makes that possible.

Store cardboard pieces flat, between two sheets of paper, so they do not curl. They are also far easier to glue the following year when they are flat again.

Roll fabric costumes loosely, do not fold creases into a pillowcase ghost, and put the cut eye holes between two layers of tissue to stop them fraying.

Keep the glue gun off and store the hot glue sticks flat. They go soft and slump in a garage, which is the classic Edmonton reason a costume falls apart in a box.

After the night, undress everyone before anyone goes to bed. Elastic stretched in a cardboard shell overnight warps the shell, and safety pins left in fabric leave holes that grow with age.

What does not survive the night can still be used. A trash bag, a sheet and a cereal box all become next year’s craft supplies, and the cardboard from the robot is good for the storage boxes you put the costumes in.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Halloween costumes can I make with things I have around the house?

The best home-made costumes start with one big material: a cardboard box, a trash bag, a white pillowcase, an old bedsheet, a laundry basket or a cereal box. Turn the material into the main shape of the costume, then add details with hot glue, safety pins, duct tape, felt and markers. A laundry basket becomes a hot cocoa cup, a box becomes a robot or a knight, a trash bag becomes a bat, and a white pillowcase becomes a ghost. Most of these cost nothing and take under an hour.

What are some low-budget Halloween ideas?

Low-budget means using what you own and spending nothing, or spending a small amount on one item that closes a gap. Free ideas include the pillowcase ghost, the bedsheet ghost, the trash bag bat, the cardboard box robot, the mad scientist, the scarecrow, the mummy and the cereal box character. A roll of reflective tape or a tube of face paint is the only purchase most families need, and even that is optional.

What is the easiest Halloween outfit I can make?

The pillowcase ghost is the easiest. Cut two eye holes in a white pillowcase, fringe the bottom, and pull it over the head with two safety pins. The second easiest is the mad scientist: a white shirt, safety goggles, rubber gloves and a few cardboard tubes. Both take about ten minutes and need no glue, paint or hardware.

What can I be for Halloween if I don’t have a costume?

You can be a ghost, a bat, a robot, a hot cocoa cup, a coffee cup, a mummy, a scarecrow, an astronaut, a potato head, a gingerbread person, a sunflower, a pineapple, a knight, Where is Waldo, Santa, a witch, or a completely invisible person in white clothes. Every one of these can be assembled from items already in your house, most in under an hour.

What are some Halloween costumes I can make from household items?

Household items make the best costumes because they are big, free and already in the house. A laundry basket, cereal boxes, cereal box lids, a milk jug, a pillowcase, a bedsheet, a shower curtain, a trash bag, an old shirt and pants, and cardboard tubes from paper towels all work. Join them with a hot glue gun, safety pins or duct tape, and finish with markers, felt and face paint.

Conclusion

Cheap Halloween costume ideas do not have to look cheap. The trick is picking one big household material, building the silhouette first, and adding details in hot glue rather than at a store counter.

Start with the pillowcase ghost if you have ten minutes, the laundry basket hot cocoa if you have a free afternoon, and the cereal box set if the whole family is doing it together. Reflective tape on every costume, and a warm layer built in from the start.

Store what you build flat and loose, and you will be making the next one out of the same box next September.

Leave a Comment