Affordable Halloween costume fun begins at home

It's the day before the scariest night of the year, but one thing may be even more frightening: the fact that you, or the kid or kids in your life, have not yet dreamed up this year's Halloween costume.

Not to worry. There are many quick, easy solutions available, and plenty of them would fit into even a recession-weary budget.

Karen McKenney, artistic director for the Rainbow Company Youth Theatre, suggests you begin the search at home.

"I think stuff around the house is a great way to go," said McKenney, who worked her way through college in a costume shop. "Just find what you have -- pots, pans -- and see how you can use them. I'm a big fan of cardboard and tin foil."

You could, McKenney said, put a colander on your head as the beginning of an alien costume. Cut a neckhole and armholes in a pillowcase and make a toothpaste-tube costume for a small child ("and don't underestimate the value of a bathroom garbage can for the hat," she said), or make a costume out of black garbage bags. Paint the bags orange, stuff with newspaper and you're a pumpkin, she said; going as a bag of garbage is another alternative.

A supermarket paper bag can become a lion's mane with a hole cut for the face and some creative snipping around the edges, McKenney said. Make a toga with a sheet or towel, or wear Dad's bathrobe to be a biblical character. Go online for ideas; McKenney said her son found instructions on turning a black T-shirt into a ninja mask and used it for ninja day at his college.

"And it looked great," she said.

LaDonna Jimenez, president of the Assistance League, said the organization's thrift shop at 6446 W. Charleston Blvd. is a great Halloween source for "unusual things -- weird things."

They had a vintage nurse's uniform, Jimenez said.

"We had a clown costume that was to die for," she added. "A couple (of) military items, a Red Cross uniform. Last week we sold a buccaneer's outfit. What's his name -- (actor) Johnny Depp? Like that."

The nurse's uniform went for $30 because of its vintage, she said, but many other pieces are priced at $1 to $6.

"We had a lady come in who bought a wedding gown," said Yvonne Givens, floor supervisor at the Opportunity Village Thrift Shop at 4600 Meadows Lane. "She said she was going to make it into some kind of costume."

Other costume fodder: tie-died T-shirts, bomber jackets, petticoats, unusual shoes with big clog heels, multicolored polyester shirts.

"Just kind of like odd stuff that people wore back in the '70s, or just different things to put together," Givens said.

At the Faith Lutheran Thrift Store at 4530 Meadows Lane, manager Rhea Delgado said resale costumes frequently are available and are popular.

"The princess stuff for sure," she said. "The cute little baby stuff like the big bumblebees and the Winnie the Pooh kind of stuff."

Which makes sense, because babies usually can only wear a costume once. But kids outgrow all sorts of other things, and a lot of them end up as costumes. Delgado said old school uniforms and cheerleader uniforms are popular, as are sports gear and jerseys.

"Ninja -- martial arts -- that kind," she said.

"We get things like the Dickie coveralls, the work suits; there's your 'Texas Chainsaw' guy," she said. And vintage clothing such as poodle skirts.

Delgado said new costumes are priced at about half off retail; a vampire costume still in the bag went for $19.99 and would've been $40 to $45 in a specialty store, she said. Used costumes run about $2.99 to $8.99, and they're now half-off.

Savers stores advertise their Halloween wares on billboards. At the store at 1231 W. Warm Springs Road in Henderson, manager Lori Tavares said new costumes, which might include Angry Birds, run from about $9.99 for kids up to $49.99.

There also are a lot of used costumes, and Tavares said anyone who brings in a donation can get 20 percent off a used costume, normally priced at $2.99 to $9.99

They also have a lot of new accessories, such as makeup, hair spray, wigs, hats, swords and witch brooms.

"We have used merchandise throughout the store," Tavares said. "We take pride in our used selections. Come in and get a white shirt in the men's area, grab a vest and buy the accessories in our new area."

"A lot of them -- the younger generation -- come in just to get crazy," she said. Vintage clothes abound, she said, with '50s-style leather jackets, polka-dotted pants and striped pants from the '60s and '70s.

There also are plenty of old-reliable costume ideas that may be due for another trip around the block.

Paint a large box black, attach white dots and you've got a domino. Cut armholes and legholes in a clear plastic trash bag, slip it on a leotard-clad child, fill the bag with multicolored balloons, tie loosely around the shoulders and you have a bag of jelly beans. Cover your head with an olive-green hood, construct a wire framework draped with plastic wrap and you're a martini.

"Halloween is big," Givens said. "People really get out. They come in and ask for things that you don't even imagine sometimes. And you end up finding the oddball things in a thrift store."

Contact reporter Heidi Knapp Rinella at hrinella@
review journal.com or 702-383-0474.