Frugal Halloween Costume Ideas
An escape from today’s economic reality may be one word that may actually help stimulate the economy…Halloween which has turned out to be a retailers dream this year instead of last years nightmare. On average we are expected to spend around $66 each on costumes including all the decorations we are placing outside our homes which is up almost 20% from 2009. If you aren’t sure what to do for Halloween this year, you don’t have to resort to being a ghost and throwing a sheet over your head. Halloween costumes are better than ever; from silly homemade projects to upscale boutique outfits, check out these trends.
See a blog with 2016 Halloween Costume Ideas here.
Wizard of Oz- Whether your kids are going trick-or-treating with friends or your family is invited to a spooky Halloween party, group costumes are a popular theme. Try dressing as characters from the Wizard Oz. Girls can put their hair in pigtails and dress in a plain blue dress to be Dorothy. Just don’t forget the red shoes! Any gender can dress as the Tinman, Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow with monochrome clothes and a little face paint.
Frozen and Avatar have both now been blockbusters in theaters – so Avatar costumes were a trendy Halloween costume for 2010 now this year we will see everything Frozen. If you have a significant other, you each can dress as Jake Sully and Neytiri. The guy should dress in normal clothes but cover his face and hands in blue face paint, while the woman should wear tight blue clothes and cover her face in blue face paint.
Sexy sailor- This is another Halloween costume that works either as an individual or as a couple. For a sexy sailor costume, dress in tight white clothes and tie a small navy blue scarf around your neck. Buy a sailor hat at a local craft store and write SS Sexy on the front with a permanent market. This outfit works for either gender, but it’s especially dramatic as a His and Hers costume. We found some of the hottest guys costumes here.
Witch Tea- Although witches are a classic Halloween costume, it’s hilarious when men dress up as a “scary” witch. Just wear a frumpy dress, don a scraggly wig, and carry a broom. For added effect, use face paint as makeup to add fake warts and extra wrinkles. This year the Witch may be back with Christine O’Donnell running for the Delaware Republican Senate in this Fall’s election. Another idea is to have all of your friends become tea bags or tea cups and that goes back to Lady Gaga carrying around a tea cup but in this case a tea cup for the tea party.
Hippie-The 60s and 70s flower children have made a comeback just in time for Halloween. Long, flowing hippie skirts were a big hit in Spring 2010, and they are expected to show up in Halloween costumes as well as women incorporate their own pieces into their costume to save some money. Along with the hippie skirt, tuck a flower behind your ear, and cut some fringe into an old long sleeve shirt to complete the look.
Pirate- The last Pirates of the Caribbean movie came out a few years ago, but that doesn’t stop fans from reliving the magic on Halloween. Pirate costumes are a trend that’s here to stay, partly because they are so versatile. Pirate Halloween costumes can be sexy, silly, or scary, depending on your accessories.
Mummies- No Halloween would be complete without a healthy dose of scary Halloween costumes. You can buy an intricate mummy costume from any specialty Halloween store, or make your own with an outfit of white clothes and pieces of toilet paper hot glued to the clothes. Cover your hair with baby powder, and use face make up to look like a “real” mummy.
Death- The Grim Reaper is a classic Halloween costume, but it shows no signs of fading away in 2010. Try it out with a black outfit and a plastic scythe from a Halloween store. A black hoodie is best to cover your head. Use white face paint around the eyes to look especially creepy this Halloween.
Ketchup- This is a creative costume that is gaining popularity. Wear a red monochromatic outfit and spray paint a traffic cone red. Use the cone as your hat, and paint a ketchup brand name across your chest so people get the hint.
Politicians- Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton masks are trendy this Halloween, just like George Bush masks were hot a few years ago. Depending on your political views, you can buy a politician mask and dress accordingly. Do you want to be a sexy Sarah Palin or a Hillary Clinton in a business suit? The choice is up to you.
Lady Gaga seems to be dominating all costumes this year especially for the gays you will see lots of boys dressed up as the Pop Princess. She is outselling Michael Jackson’s costumes from 2009. My award for the best costume would be something political though towards the actions of BP such as the BP Costume depicting a dead fish covered in oil and possibly even a dead dolphin with the BP logo. Hey, its all about getting creative! I think the new afro wig look she is doing with Tony Bennet in their Jazz sessions may be a good look with a taste of retro to it.
Your Pets– Around 11% of consumers are expected to spend on this Costume. Now this is the funnest part and maybe the hardest part. The top sellers seem to be Halloween pumpkins with four legs, hot dogs, bees, and witches.
Just make sure you do all of this in a frugal way and find some discounts or coupons online before doing any shopping. One thing about Amazon.com is that it is tax-free but not free shipping. We found a costume shop that has free shipping here.
If anyone is thinking of dressing up as a Native American for Halloween, I would recommend you take a look at these blogs first:
nativeappropriations.blogspot.com
mycultureisnotatrend.tumblr.com
This post in particular sums up the situation well: mycultureisnotatrend.tumblr.com/post/1219050955/i-recieved-a-flood-of-angry-notes-and-messages-after
Really? “Indian”? I’m quite honestly shocked and horrified that you would list this as a suggestion for a Halloween costume. Just because it’s trendy doesn’t make it any less offensive. Honestly, I don’t think you would suggest it’s a good idea to dress up as a “sexy” stereotype version of any other race or ethnicity. I think as queer people, we have a responsibility to NOT support stereotypes and objectification of other groups.
I agree this could be used in a bad way just like many other costumes. We have seen these on popularity lists. Last year the popular costume was an “illegal alien” I could see that being offensive as well.
I apologize if it offends anyone. I always thought Halloween is a time to be someone who you are not or learn about a culture or more about your idol.
DJ: It’s great if you take Halloween as an opportunity to learn about another group or culture! But native peoples are varied groups (as with any other racial category), and a generic “Indian” costume ignores the diversity of their various cultures as well as the significance that particular items of clothing can have. The overarching problem here is the way that we think about native peoples–Halloween costumes of a stereotype are just a symptom of the larger problem. (There are issues of appropriation involved as well, but those are more thorny–you can read the blogs I linked in my previous comment if you’re interested in exploring that.)
The fact that “illegal alien” was a popular costume also makes me sad.
I am one of those queers who will be dressing my critters up for Halloween. Last year my dog was adorable as a lady bug. This year I think he will be quite fetching as a pirate.
We’ve talked about these types of costumes in our shop as well, but do not think it’s all that offensive. The Illegal Alien costume pushes it but for the most part it’s just fantasy. The Indian costumes don’t really make fun of anyone, and just think of that certain Village person. The costume is iconic!
Mr Costumes: Felipe Rose’s father was Sioux, and he was drawing on his own cultural heritage when he wore tribal regalia. There is a huge difference between that and someone dressing up in a generic “Indian” costume for Halloween or to look trendy. If you’re interested in exploring this issue further, please read my comments above, especially the links I posted. You may also find http://alagarconniere.blogspot.com/2010/10/cultural-appropriation-update-still.html informative. It’s not about whether people are making fun of someone–it’s about ignorant caricatures of ethnic groups.
NORTHSTAR DOMINATRIX….Sarah Palin uses “Northstar” as her code name when traveling (was described at length in the Vanity Fair article about her}. With her look and her 4 inch heels…well, you get the idea.
NORTHSTAR DOMINATRIX ANYONE?
Dressing up with feathers in your hair and fake leather outfits and moccasins is NOT offensive! Not only is it cute, it’s JUST A HALLOWEEN COSTUME! It’s all in good fun and people need to stop being so sensitive. People don’t dress like pirates to make fun of pirates, dress like Lady Gaga to make fun of Lady Gaga, and certainly don’t wear Indian costumes to make fun of Indians. Unless someone is dressed like an Indian and runs around pretending to scalp people it’s not offensive. My husband is Native American and thinks I look absolutely adorable in my Indian costume. I’m Dutch, should I take offense if people were to wear wooden shoes for Halloween? Should Germans take offense to people wearing bar maid dresses and braids at Oktoberfest? Maybe Obama should be furious for all the people wearing Obama masks with the huge ears! Have a sense of humor people. Life is short, there are worse things in the world to worry about.
I just read a couple more comments, it really bothers me that so many people make such a big deal about offending someone through a silly Halloween costume. Who is really going to spend the time to research the authentic garb of a particular Native American group of a particular time for a Halloween costume?! This holiday is supposed to be light hearted. The reason people associate Indian with feathers and leather is because throughout history THAT’S WHAT THEY WORE! That’s a fact! Facts are not to be taken offensively. Seriously, it’s your intentions in how you say and do things, not the words or symbols that are being used that really matter. Being so sensitive about things is breeding weaker people that aren’t able to have a sense of humor that may be controversial. Dressing like an Indian should be a non-issue.
liz rohrer, you speak for yourself and yourself alone in saying “dressing up with feathers in your hair and fake leather outfits” is not offensive. to me, it’s hardly cute. it’s ignorant, outdated, and in the context of halloween it’s just plain boring. just because the one native american person you know isn’t bothered by it doesn’t make it universally unoffensive. one thing you are definitely right about is the intentions behind the
halloween, in my culture, is not necessarily supposed to be lighthearted. it’s about death, it’s about the changing of the seasons, and it has a very vast and varied history. sure, it’s often lighthearted for children to make it less scary but i’m assuming most of us are adults here. halloween costumes, when i was raised, are supposed to be scary and morbid. in fact, the whole point of halloween at its origin was to dress up as the dead to scare off evil spirits. hence the witches-zombies-vampires-scarecrow classics.
but “native american?” what does that have to do with halloween?
the articles in question, namely the one i wrote, try to address the fact that this reductive stereotype image of the “squaw” or “warrior” or “chief” is problematic because it is the ONLY image we ever see of native people. i don’t know where you live, but here in canada we never take native issues seriously and by using these images of “ancient historic people” from the faraway past reinforces the idea that colonization is over and that native people no longer exist (which as you know is hardly true).
think about it: we don’t have the same resoundingly uniform historic representations of white people around the world, while we always reduce native people from all around the planet to = mocassin + feathers + paint on the face + buckskin clothing. anyone who knows even the basics about native history can tell you this is not accurate in the least.
as for claims that people dress up as indians to learn more about them? check your facts. ask someone dressed as an “indian” for halloween and see what answer you get. in my experience, no one dressed as an “indian princess” for halloween says “i am dressed up as a navajo chief’s daughter circa the 18th century in this part of the country etc” or ensures accuracy and respect and learns from it; they buy a cheap prepackaged crappily made costume and wear it for one night and imitate the images of native people they’ve seen in pop culture, like tiger lily. they don’t go out to reserves and commission native people to make them a real representation of what a native person looks like; if they did, they’d probably be given a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
and for the record, i have a really really great sense of humour. it’s tolerance for dismissive, ignorant attitudes that i am sorely lacking.
Why has Halloween been so Co-Opted by PC snobs? You’re supposed to dress as anything on Halloween. It’s the one night NOT to be judged by anyone. If I want to be Jack the Ripper, I should just as well be able to be a Cowboy OR and Indian and so would my Child be just as welcome.
That shouldn’t even be considered bad taste. Maybe you just have bad taste? It’s no different than the idea of any costume. Why don’t you go chase all the comedians out there and tell them what jokes they should tell. Go to hollywood and strike all the creative movies, and start attacking writers you bunch of bullies and hypocrites.