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Steal-worthy Homemade Costume Ideas

Marian K
Here are some homemade costume ideas that are incredibly easy to create, at the fraction of the cost of a store bought outfit. Finding the different pieces of the outfit and putting them together is almost as much fun as wearing them.
Making a costume is not as hard as it seems, but coming up with a feasible costume idea is! Most of us have had to or will have to create one on our own. If you are a parent, chances are you will have to make one for your kid.
Alternately, you may get invited to a theme party and need to dress up, and if that doesn't happen, there's always Halloween.
Whatever the occasion, making a costume is not difficult, even if you have minimal craft and sewing skills. If you enjoy sewing, you can come up with a fairly elaborate design, and if you don't, you can just combine a few clothes to good effect.

Cowboy or Cowgirl

One of my favorite ideas for women is to dress up as a cowgirl. However, it is a very easy outfit for a man to put together too. For this, you need a cowboy hat (but of course!), a lasso, a checked shirt, pair of jeans, a belt, and cowboy boots.
The women may substitute a pair of jeans, with a leather skirt with a fringe. A fringe anywhere is good, so if you are a guy, you can attach some along the sides of your pants. Other ideas to enhance this look are clothes with a starry print, or a scarf that you can knot around your neck.
Leather is another cowboy/girl essential, so include it in any form you can. In addition to the belt and boot, one may also throw on a leather vest.
If you want to dress up as a cowgirl, and still maintain an air of femininity, then team up a frilly shirt with blue jeans and leather chaps. Make a gold colored star-shaped badge to sport as the sheriff of your town.

Greek God or Goddess

If you want a homemade costume that makes you look fabulous, you opt for the Greek God or Goddess look. This one is pretty easy too, and the women need either a white, one shoulder full length dress that falls straight, or you can combine a skirt and top. You will also need a gold band to go around your head, arm, and waist.
These aren't hard to make; for your waistband you can use a gold sash or gold net fashioned into a belt. For your head, get a broad band of sheer gold ribbon and pick up a gold arm band for yourself. You need curls to complete the look, so turn your hair into ringlets. Use gold and bronze toned make up to do up your face.
If possible, make a gold staff to carry with you. The men need a full or knee length white robe, with a gold sash to go around the waist and a gold headband. They can either have any colored cloth around their neck as a trail, and sandals are a must.

Morticia Addams/ Uncle Fester

Another of my favorite homemade costume ideas for women is Morticia Addams costume (from the Addams family), for the ease with which it can be put together. However, a prerequisite for this is long black hair, or else a wig with long dark hair would also do.
As far as the costume goes, all you need is a clingy long black dress that has full sleeves to create this look. If you don't have such a dress, use a full sleeved black top with a straight black skirt. Your hair should at least reach down to your mid back and needs to be poker straight.
The most important part of the look is your make up. Your face needs to be a ghostly white, so you need to cover your face with a white foundation or face paint of sorts. Outline the eyes with thick lines of black eyeliner, and wear black lipstick (though some wear red).
To dress up as Uncle Fester, all you need is a full length, full sleeved black robe and a rope to tie around your waist. If you aren't stocky, you need to put some kind of padding inside the robe to achieve an 'oval' shape. Use eye makeup to create dark circles around the eyes, and find a way to look bald. A skin colored swimming cap will do the job.
Among the homemade costume ideas for adults (men and women), one that has seen a spike in popularity is to dress up like the king of pop, Michael Jackson. For this you need curly locks, a hat, a silver/white sequined glove, a black jacket, aviator shades, back skinny pants that come up to the ankles, white socks, and black formal shoes.
Other popular ideas for both men and women are vampire and superhero costumes.