Halloween Costume Ideas Planned & Last Minute Costumes

Have you started making / DIYing or purchased this years Halloween costume? Costume Ideas for Halloween can be last minute and still wind up great. We’ve made and sewn more than several Halloween costumes over the years. Some less than the expense than purchasing them others equal to. But, I always find it fun to create, style and sew homemade costumes. This even can be done with the addition of purchasing the right clothes for the character you’ll be and just doing the makeup.

The quality is always better when making vs purchasing pre-made costumes. It’s fun to see it from concept to finished. Who doesn’t love enjoying wearing a good costume? I love seeing my teen, kids or grand kids enjoying wearing costumes I’ve made. As a matter of fact Sammie usually has a minimum of two costumes per year! Two for Halloween (one for school dance or school) and then there are the costume parties.

Halloween Costume Ideas

I thought I would share my process as it might help you put together your costume (s). This year she has flip flopped on ideas several times. Not uncommon with kids or teens and even some adults. But, if you are doing the costume s for kids make sure they really want the one you and they decide on. There is nothing like putting money or effort into a good costume and their not wanting to wear it. Right?

Tips for styling the perfect costume or character;

Decide on the character or costume
Decide if you will make the entire costume or parts of it or purchase it
Research your costume online
Look up makeup tutorials (if needed) on YouTube
Grab an easy to make costume pattern to sew up *see mine previous costume ideas under sewing (most can be done in 4 hours or less)
Look up easy sewing / DIY s for costumes on YouTube and elsewhere
See end of post for lots of costume ideas and links to ones we’ve made
Use your clothing in combination with other costume pieces to make a costume
Search Thrift Shops for needed items
Yard sales and consignment shops are great for looking too

Finding Your Costume Ideas: Halloween / Cosplay / Costume Inspiration

How To Find And Style Your Costume

Over the years we’ve been inspired by books, magazines, movies and costumes on Pinterest. This year we went from the ideas of the character Jillian Holtzmann the zany, salty and witty scientist in the 2016 version of GhostBusters.

We not only really enjoyed the movie but, loved her character who was played by Kate McKinnon. Sammie’s quite like this character in some ways. (she might hate me for saying this) Just before Sammie got her hair cut into a pixie cut, it looked just like this. Left over bleaching on top from having it been lavender.

We were thrifting in a nearby town and came across glasses that would of worked for the Spitfire 52 Sunglasses. We also spotted an Electrolux vacuum that we thought would of been perfect for modeling into one of her “new toys” aka ghost blasters. But, then we are headed to NYC for Halloween and we didn’t think the airlines would love our choice. You know what I mean, right? Bringing ghost busting equipment with us. But, I still want to make this costume!! Below, this version makes me want to do it even more! All credits to image below to itslike0715 on Tumblr

Spitfire Sunglasses | Leather Finger-less Gloves| Leather Bomber Jacket | Lace Up Boots | Striped Socks

This is an awesome example of a Cosplay costume for Holtzmann from GhostBusters 2016. Shop the Look >>

Anyway, she opted to pick Wirt for her new costume, which is one we can pack and take. Some of you might be saying what? Who is Wirt? Wirt is the character of a tall (which Sammie is not) thin boy (which she is not) with a cape and old Santa hat from Over The Garden and voiced by Elijah Woods.

Both boys and girls have created these costume ideas for Cosplay and Halloween. The character Wirt is always determined to make a point, being in opposition to others which then leads him into trouble. Sammie being strong willed, sticking to convictions and ideas might be somewhat like this character. Wonder if that is why she picked him??

Here’s how we’ll pull him together. She recently got her pixie haircut, which is perfect under the cone hat. (But, I’ve seen it with long hair and it looks great too)We are actually ~~making~~ made the costume cape / hat and will share how to, along with finished costume in our next post. It only took about 4 hours. But, we are also sharing how you can style this costume with regular clothing.

poncho | slouch beanie | boots | white shirt

After more research our favorite boots are the Cromwell low boot and they are less expensive. We will be buying a white shirt, boots (she has the boots already) and she’ll need grey pants and suspenders. The perfect pant on the inexpensive side are these grey treggings. Our favorite grey pant is the Lucky Cords skinny pants. Either pant as well as the other items can be used for everyday fashions. Don’t forget to grab a pair of suspenders. We grabbed ours from our local department store in the men’s section near by belts.

Need more costume ideas? Check out our Pinterest Boards for Costumes, Halloween and Autumn…. Over 430 ideas all in one place!

What do you or your kids want to dress up as this year??