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Creating the Perfect Halloween Costume
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AKRON, Ohio (MCT) – Haven’t scared up a Halloween costume yet?
Better get on it.
Sure, you can pick up something at the discount store, but homemade costumes are much more attention-getting.
And if you get the kids involved in helping to make their costumes, you’ll make a memory together, as well.
You can put together the following costumes this week in an hour or so, plus shopping time. They’re taken or adapted from “A Halloween How-To: Costumes, Parties, Decorations, and Destinations,” by Lesley Pratt Bannatyne, “Halloween Handbook,” by Bridie Clark and Ashley Dodd, and the Websites FamilyFun.com and Family Crafts FamilyCrafts.about.com.
Self-portrait: Cut a picture frame shape out of foam core using a sharp utility knife and paint it in an ornate fashion.
The frame should be big enough to frame the wearer’s head and shoulders.
Add another piece of elastic so it goes behind the wearer’s back. When it’s trick-or-treat time, dress the wearer formally and extravagantly, as if sitting for a portrait.
X-ray machine: On a piece of black poster board, paint the torso and the upper parts of the arms and thighs of a skeleton, or glue on a jointed cardboard skeleton decoration.
Reinforce the back of the poster board’s top edge with packing tape. Punch two holes in the top edge, and use string or twine to make a loop to hang around the wearer’s neck.
Trash bag: Clean and string together pieces of trash. Cut leg holes in a large, durable drawstring trash bag, and stuff the bag with other clean trash bags or newspaper.
Have the wearer step into the bag, and tie it just under the arms or around the neck, depending on how big he or she is. If you tie it around the neck, cut arm holes, too.
Decorate the wearer’s arms and legs with the strung-together trash, and maybe glue a few fake flies to his or her forehead.
Chick magnet: Buy a bunch of fake baby chicks from a craft store, or use the petrifying Marshmallow Peeps left over from Easter. Attach them to an old sweat shirt or sweater with pins, staples or glue.
This costume will require some explaining, of course, so it’s best worn by an older teen-ager or adult, someone old enough to get the joke.
Head on a platter: Cut a line from the back of a large aluminum baking tray to the center, then cut a circle for the wearer’s neck. Tape the cut edges with duct tape, and dress the wearer in a turtleneck. Add some parsley and lettuce as a garnish.
MARY BETH BRECKENRIDGE
The Akron Beacon Journal
