Scare up some fun with these scary Halloween costume ideas

What’s Halloween without a scary costume?  But commercial costumes can get expensive. 

 

The good news it’s easy to make a scary costume at home with the help of a few craft supplies even if you don’t know how to sew.  Here are a couple of scary Halloween costume ideas to get you started. 

 

Car accident zombie

 

What you need:

Go through your closet or the racks at your local thrift store.  Find some clothes you won’t mind ruining.  Long dresses, old suits, and out of date formal wear are great choices.  At the dollar store or on the cheap makeup rack at a discount store, look for the palest color of foundation makeup available. Add grey-blue and deep purple eye shadow and pale blue nail polish to your basket.  Then, head for the grocery store for some light corn syrup and red food coloring.  Finally go outside and gather a few dried leaves and small twigs.

 

Getting dressed:

Use the pale makeup on your face, neck, hands and any other areas that won’t be covered by your clothes.  Don’t forget your lips! Use the purple eye shadow to create a bruised look on around your eyes.  Use the blue on your lips.  For a more dramatic effect, experiment with dusting your skin with a mixture of blue-grey eye shadow and baby powder?just be sure you don’t end up looking like a Smurf!  Do your nails with one coat of the blue polish.

 

Don’t forget the blood!

Tint the corn syrup with a couple of drops of food coloring to create “blood.”  After you’re dressed, add the “blood” in thin lines on some of your exposed skin. The sides of the neck, the temples and the back of the hands are good places. Make sure some of the corn syrup blood gets onto the clothes as well, but don’t overdo it. 

 

Finishing touches:

Entwine some of the leaves and twigs into your hair, and if possible, into your clothes.

 

Acting the part:

Use a baffled, dazed tone when you talk.  Imagine you’re lost and confused, in shock.  Your acting is the final part of your costume!

 

Variations: zombie cheerleader, zombie prom queen, zombie medical patient.  Just adapt your clothing choices!

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Crazy surgeon

 

From the time Mary Shelly penned her classic Frankenstein, the mad scientist doctor has been a Halloween favorite.  Make a modern version for your Halloween costume.

 

What you need:

Start with a set of scrubs or a lab coat.  Both of these are usually available in thrift stores.  Even plain, new scrubs are cheap at most uniform stores.  Add a package of rubber gloves, and the corn syrup blood ingredients from above to your shopping cart. 

 

Getting dressed:

At home, add a generous amount of the corn syrup blood to your costume.  Concentrate on the areas where a surgeon might get splattered.  Let it dry. Print out a “shopping list” of body parts, in a large easy to read font.  Add a few smears of the “blood” to the printed list.  Smear a couple of pairs of gloves with the blood, let it dry, and then tuck them partially into the waist or pocket of your scrubs. 

 

And once again, the blood!

After you get dressed, add some more of the fake blood to your costume, so it looks wet and fresh.  Put on a pair of the gloves and add some “blood” to those too.  Grab your list and head out. 

 

Acting the part:

Ask people you meet if they have any of the parts on your list to spare! 

 

The scary Halloween costumes you can make are usually much cheaper, and much scarier than any costumes you can buy.  Check out your favorite ghost, thriller and slasher movies for more Halloween costume ideas.  Have fun, use your imagination and get creative.

 

Happy Haunting!