For Halloween Save Money: Make Your Own Costume

Since this is the first post in October, I thought I would do a special one about Halloween costumes.  I love dressing up for Halloween, and one of my favorite parts is coming up with a unique costume.  I NEVER buy pre-made Halloween costumes.  They are terrible.  Here's why.



Reasons to Not Buy Pre-made Halloween Costumes:
1. They are too expensive.  Not only is it ridiculous to spend $60+ on a costume for one day, they aren't even close to being worth that.  They are cheaply made and look cheaply made.  Continuing on that thought:
2. The fabric used is horrible.  As stated before, they are cheaply made.  Not only is the fabric they use horrible looking (often it's that shiny material like little girls' nightgowns) but it is so thin, it can easily rip.  It just looks bad.
3. You may have the same exact costume as somebody else.  Making your own costume means nobody else will have your costume.  You may be the same character as somebody else, but chances are, yours will be more unique because you made it.  People generally think it looks cooler too, even if it isn't the best looking.
4. For women, they are overtly sexualized which is not necessary.  If you want to dress up slutty on Halloween, fine that's your choice but at least look nicer doing it and still make your own costume.  And guess what?  Most guys thing it's cooler if you make a costume that looks like the actual character.  Cause most guys are nerds and appreciate that kind of thing.  Just saying.


Of course, there are exceptions.  Some REALLY expensive costumes are very nicely made.  This can be worth it if you plan to wear it multiple times.  Also, if you want to wear one of those joke costumes, I guess the quality of the look doesn't really matter but it still seems bad to pay so much for that.  I would suggest in that case to look online for cheaper options for whatever costume you want.


As I said, I really like making my own costumes.  If you don't think that they can look good, here are some examples of my own costumes in the past few years:

 

So how do you go about finding the pieces of your costume?  Well, I like to start at the thrift store.  You can find some great pieces for costumes, sometimes you can even find wonderful already made costumes.  Sometimes I go in knowing who I want to be and have specific things in mind, sometimes I go and see what there is and get inspiration from what I see.  And as big of an online shopper as I am, it can be hard to tell online exactly what you will be getting.

That being said, if there is a specific piece that I know will be difficult to find, I look online and I start looking early.  My biggest and best friend for these kinds of things is ebay.  You can find really unique items at great deals.

For example, this year I want to be Carmen Sandiego.  Funny right?  Cause my name is Carmen.  (I used to hear the theme song a lot as a kid when the show was really popular.  I hated it, but now it's a bit nostalgic).  I'm going to reuse the coat you see that I used for Cruella de Vil (Which I found at a thrift store for under $10.  I just tacked down the dalmatian fur so I could remove it later).  Most of the rest of the costume is really simple, but her standout piece is her hat.  That needs to be perfect and it's also hard to find, so I've been searching ebay regularly to find something.

What are you going to be for Halloween this year?