Making your own Halloween costume: 5 last-minute Halloween costume ideas + Halloween trends 2023
Are you still looking for a fantastic Halloween costume for an upcoming Halloween party? If so, there is no need to panic as you can easily put a Halloween costume together in no time at all with items of clothing and accessories, which you most probably already have at home. In this article, we will show you five different Halloween costumes, which are guaranteed to make you look fantastically spooky.
How to make your own witch costume
Witches and wizards as well as bats and jack o’lanterns are some of the things that we commonly associate with Halloween. You will need the following things to make a quick and easy witch costume: some dark clothes, a witch’s hat and a witch’s broomstick.
How to make your own last-minute witch costume for Halloween
When you are looking for an easy Halloween costume that you can quickly put together, then a witch costume is a great choice. Old, worn-out clothes are great for creating a spooky and somewhat untidy witch costume.
Make your own witch costume:
A dark top, for example, ruffle blouse or an oversized jumper
A dark skirt, for example, a pleated skirt or a chiffon skirt
Or: a black dress or for example a dark coloured dress with lace appliques
Ankle boots
Accessories and face painting ideas to match your witch costume
A pointed witch's hat with a wide brim is a must-have for a witch costume. A brushwood broom or a homemade magic wand are the perfect accessories to finish off your witch costume.
Get creative with some make-up for your witch costume: grey and black eye shadow, burgundy, purple or black lipstick and a little blush will transform you into a fabulously looking spooky witch. You can go for a less glamorous look and focus more on a natural scary look such as dark, overdrawn eyebrows, pale lips and messy backcombed hair. This will make you look like a witch who has just jumped off her broomstick.
Tip: Old items of clothing with holes or tears can be recycled into a simple Halloween costume. Washed out or stained clothes can be cut up into pieces and then painted and used for a monster, mummy or zombie costume. This way you don’t need to use any new clothes to make one of those costumes.
Last-minute vampire costume: a spooky classic Halloween costume
Vampires who lurk in the shadows and keep watch for their next victim are one of the many classic spooky characters that are associated with Halloween. Elegant clothing and a long cape with a high collar are great for putting a vampire costume together.
Last-minute Halloween costume: how to make your own vampire costume
A classic vampire costume has an elegant and old-fashioned look. Evening wear is perfect for putting the costume together as well as items of clothing made of velvet or lace are also great for a vampire costume.
Men’s vampire costume:
A white or black shirt or even a mandarin collar shirt
Optional a black or a red waistcoat
Optional a bow tie
Smart shoes
Women’s vampire costume:
A Plain lace or ruffle blouse
A black skirt or trousers
Pumps or ankle boots
Accessories and face painting ideas to match your vampire costume
To finish off your vampire costume you will need a pair of vampire fangs, which you can either order online or find in most fancy-dress shops.
To complete your spooky vampire look, you will need to apply some foundation, which is lighter than your natural skin tone. This will help give your face that washed out very pale vampire look. To create a stronger contrast, you can also apply a thin layer of white theatre make-up. A little bit of dark eye shadow can also help to make you look like you have returned from the dead. Then put a few drops of blood around your lips with red lipstick, lip liner or a little fake blood - and voilà your vampire costume is finished.
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Don't forget...
For more complicated face painting designs, which are needed for zombie or skeleton costumes, you should use dermatologically tested, non-toxic and ideally water-soluble based theatre make-up. For a piece of mind, you can make your own homemade face paint, and this is also a good idea if you are going to be doing face painting for children.
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Skeleton costume: a very scary, but easy Halloween costume to make
Scary skeletons are a classic when it comes to Halloween decorations. A skeleton costume is also a great choice for a last-minute Halloween costume. For this costume, you don’t need a lot of items of clothing, but you do however need to be a bit more skilled in applying make-up.
Last-minute Halloween costume: how to make your own skeleton costume
Generally, there are two ways you can put a skeleton costume together with little to no hassle. Firstly, you will need a completely black outfit, if you are quite artistic, you can draw arms, leg bones and ribs onto the clothes by using some white fabric paint. If you are looking for something a bit quicker and easier you can go for the quicker option, which would be to create a contrast look as listed below:
Put a closer fitting white top and a slightly looser fitting black t-shirt together.
Draw the rib arches and if necessary, the vertebral bones onto the black shirt.
Then carefully cut around the drawn-on bones and put the black t-shirt over the white top.
The white top will be now visible through the cut-out parts of the black t-shirt. The contrasting effect of black and white creates a quick and simple skeleton costume.
How to make your own skeleton costume:
Black trousers or some leggings
Accessories and face painting ideas to match your skeleton costume
One of the most important parts of a skeleton costume is applying some make-up to create a skull. Below we have put together step-by-step instructions on how to create a skull by using some make-up:
Put some white make-up on your face and lips, however, leave out the areas around your eyes and nose.
Outline your eyes with some black make-up. Then colour in the circles to create the black eye sockets.
Paint your nose black and paint two black triangles over your nostrils, which should go up to the bridge of your nose.
Use an eyeliner or a thin brush to draw a thin line across your lips to lengthen the corners of your mouth on either side.
Now draw two lines, which cross over the original lines and your lips for some teeth. Then use an eyeliner pencil to carefully draw the roots of the teeth.
Apply a little bit of black make-up below to your cheekbones. Next, blend it well from around your ears down to around the middle of your cheeks. This will create sunken cheeks for your skull make-up.
How to make a quick and easy zombie Halloween costume
One of the quickest Halloween costumes to make is the classic zombie costume. You can make it out of any old items of clothing. You just need to splatter it with a little paint or fake blood and then make some holes or tears on the clothing to give the costume a more authentic scary look.
Last-minute Halloween costumes: how to make your own zombie costume
You can choose to wear a t-shirt, a shirt, a summer dress, or a jumper then combine it with some pale, greyish make-up, dark eye rings and a little fake blood and voilà your zombie costume is good to go.
Make your own zombie costume:
A t-shirt or shirt, for example, a lumberjack shirt
Distressed jeans or for example, some jeans with holes in them
Trainers
Accessories and face painting ideas to match your zombie costume
Not only does the costume play an important role, but face paint will help to give your zombie costume the finishing touches. Use white or grey theatre make-up to create the basis for your ‘returned from the dead’ look. Use black or dark brown eye shadow to add dark circles under your eyes.
You can either cover your lips with some white or grey make-up for an extra dead look, or why not bring out your lips with some dark red or brown lipstick. The aim here is to have very smudged and messy looking make-up as this will make your zombie costume look more authentic.
20th century costume: classy Halloween costume ideas
Halloween costumes don’t always have to be very scary. With the unmistakable flair of the Roaring Twenties, you're sure to be the centre of attention at any party. If you still want to give your 20th century inspired costume a spooky touch, you can combine the glamorous look with scary looking make-up to create an exciting contrast.
How to make your own 20th century Halloween costume
A 1920s costume is based around having a very classy look, which makes evening wear a great choice for the base of your costume. These clothes don't have to be expensive, however, it is important that you feel confident in them and style them extravagantly.
Women’s 20th century Halloween costume:
Short to knee length cocktail dress, sequin dress or a pleated dress
Some skin coloured or black tights
Smart shoes with a slight heel, for example, Mary Janes or pumps
A bell hat, headband or a hair band
Some elegant looking jewellery including a long necklace
Accessories and face painting ideas to match your 20th century Halloween costume
Women generally wear a cocktail dress for an authentic Roaring Twenties look. Sequins, fringes, pleated skirts and/or an asymmetrical pattern can all be used to create an exciting flapper costume. Accessories like hairbands and headbands with feathers, sequins or pearls and a long pearl necklace can be used to complete the look.
Since tomboyish looks were a defining feature of the Roaring Twenties, women can style themselves more androgynously. They could wear a white shirt, wide-leg trousers and a casually cut, light-coloured blazer to capture the revolutionary look of the style icon Marlene Dietrich.
When it comes to make-up and hairstyling, the same rules apply to both styles. Funky short hairstyles were really in during the Roaring Twenties, but longer hair can be put into a fake bob. The perfect Flapper make-up includes dark, narrow eyebrows in a dramatic arch, dark-rimmed eyes and dark red lips with a strongly accentuated lip line.
To transform yourself into a gentleman of the 20s, you need classy evening wear. Combed back or parted hair will help to finish off your look. If you want to dress a bit more casual, then you should stick to suit trousers, a shirt, braces and a cap or beanie for a more urban look.
Tip: You always have the option of choosing one of the tried-and-tested Halloween costume ideas and then giving it your own unique look. Combine a brightly coloured witch costume or a vampire costume with a casual Hawaiian shirt. There are no limits on being creative.
Stylish and spooky Halloween costumes for 2023
Are you looking for a trendy Halloween costume that will make you stand out at any party? We'll show you how you can dress like famous characters from different films:
How to make your own Barbie costume
There is a wide range of looks to go for in different shades of pink such as something very girly or something a bit more smart. A Barbie costume can be put together in no time at all and can also be adapted to your personal style.
Classic Barbie costume: blouses or fluffy jumpers in pastel colours, midi dresses with gingham patterns and stylish miniskirts.
’’Weird Barbie" costume: a pink T-shirt dress or pink jumpsuit, pink hoodie and black ankle boots.
‘‘Disco Barbie“ costume: dresses or jumpsuits with glitter or sequins, high heels and sparkly jewellery.
How to make your own Little Mermaid costume
You can look just like Ariel with sparkly sequins and outfits in different shades of purple and green.
Stranger Things Halloween-style costumes
Fashion trends from the 80s have become increasingly popular over the last couple of years and also because of the popular Stranger Things series. There is a wide range of fantastic vintage styles you could go for:
Discover our 80s style fashion
How to make a Super Mario costume
A Mario and Luigi costume are easy to put together. This is also an ideal option for couples or groups.
Dungarees
A red cap and a red jumper for Mario.
A green cap and a green jumper for Luigi.
A pair of white gloves and a pair of brown trainers/ loafers.
Classy Bridgerton Halloween costume
Empire dresses with a high waist, dresses with puffed sleeves or corset tops are great for a DIY Bridgerton costume and can also be worn for many other formal occasions.
Conclusion: quick and easy Halloween costumes you can find in your wardrobe
Many last-minute Halloween costumes are absolute classics that you can easily put together with clothes from your wardrobe and some clever make-up. If your costume is otherwise minimalist or modern, accessories such as vampire fangs or a witch's hat can enhance your last-minute Halloween costume. The goal is that everyone will recognise your disguise. Spooky make-up or a bit of fake blood will help to complete your spooky Halloween look.
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Image sources
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