Making your own Halloween costumes is a fun and easy project for the entire family. Making your own costume allows you to use your own creativity and imagination to produce a unique and one of a kind costume allowing you to stand out amongst the crowd at the party.

You can use almost anything to make your own costume. To start off with, search for scraps of fabric around the house. Consider using old bedsheets or clothes as the foundation to build your costume which you can easily dye a different color. Gather ideas from your favorite movies, TV show characters or search the internet for easy to use sewing patterns. Consider collaborating with classmates, friends or neighbors to pull together more materials and to feed off of each others creativity.

Inexpensive materials from the craft or party store can add the perfect finishing touch to your homemade costume. Blank plastic masks with elastic bands can be painted and decorated to match your costume. Cans of silver or gold spray paint, used under adult supervision on cloth or plastic masks, can give the illusion of shiny metal without the discomfort. For a unique and dynamic look, dress up your costume with battery powered Christmas lights.

Some easy and traditional homemade costume ideas include ghosts, versions of the Grimm Reaper, or a cute pumpkin. Scraps of cloth sewn together into a tunic and colored brown can make a great caveman costume while checkered picnic blankets can be sewn into skirts for fairy tale character costumes.