13 Costumes That Don’t Cost: Cheap and Ironic, Our Fav Way to Celebrate Halloween

No doubt about it, Halloween costumes can cost a mint, especially if you are a busy parent with no time to make, sew or hunt down something just perfect from a thrift store. I brainstormed with my grandbabies one weekend for costumes you can toss together in a jiffy that won’t cost an arm and a leg.

1. Ironic Charlie Brown. Take an old sheet and cut out a bunch of holes, just the way Charlie Brown did in It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Very ironic.
2. Splat. Take an old white tee and pants and splatter paint on them. You are now a Jackson Pollack masterpiece.
3. The Ring Take an old prom dress or long white party dress that has seen better days (which means nobody cares if you mess it up). Shred the fabric slightly, hair in your face, add white pancake makeup, ringed black eyes and you just crawled out of The Ring.
   
4. Bohemian Rhapsody. Sleeveless white ribbed undershirt, jeans, studded black belt, bracelet around the upper arm and mustache. Freddy Mercury, we miss you.
5. Toga, toga, toga. Take a bedsheet and fashion it into a toga. Add a wreath of greenery around your head and you are now an honorary member of  Delta Tau Chi, more commonly known as Animal House. Double secret probation optional.
6. On vacation. Grab your dad’s aloha shirt, kakki shorts, flip flops, sunglasses and a smoothie with a paper umbrella and you are officially on vacation.
7. Mad Scientist. Access to a white lab coat? Add an oversized pair of dark glasses, rubber gloves and if you spike your hair you can scream, “IT’S ALIVE” all night long.
8. MIB. Dark suit (best if your kids were just forced to dress up for a wedding), white shirt, dark glasses. Men in Black or the Blues Brothers.
9. Gorillas in the Mist. Head to toe kakki top and shorts with sneaks. Carry a stuffed monkey (though a gorilla is more accurate). Hello, Jane Goodall.
10. Rebel With a Cause. Leather jacket, white tee and jeans. Hello James Dean or the Fonz.
11. Woodstock Revisited. Fringe jacket, tye dye tee shirt, jeans and flowers in your hair. Peace Out.
12. Village Person. Jeans, tee shirt and hard hat. Only spell out YMCA if you
    
13. No Kitty, this is my pot pie. Brown pants, red shirt, blue Bennie. Carry a pot pie of course. And bring on the rage. You can’t be Eric Cartman without a whole lot of anger.