Great Cheap Halloween Costume Hunt

colemanbrown

have a rake through your cupboards and see what went out of style years ago and wear that (extra points if you find a shell suit). Other great ideas include The Invisible Man (bandaged head, sunglasses, gloves ,hat and suit), wearing mummy or daddy's work clothes. Cobbling together for hallowe'en is not that hard provided you plan in advance and keep your eyes open. Store bought costumes never look as fun or as good and making your own can be quite a nice thing to do with your children (provided they don't want to be a teapot). My favourite costume? Boiler suit, Thick socks, boots, backpack, part of a hoover; can you guess what it is yet? Yes I'm a ghostbuster!

colemanbrown

oh another thing, don't buy cheap blood (i.e the 49p bottles) if you plan to use it on skin, it will stain for a good few days after (you'll be red in the face so to say) always buy the best make-up you can afford I know it doesn't save money but somethings need a little extra spent on them. The same goes for red food dye, it will stain.

dalesmum

Home Bargains - what would I do without them? Broomstick - 89p and other assortments ridiculously cheap.

Another idea - requires a modicum of forward planning though. I wait until after the event and then buy half price for next year! Good Yorkshire blood running through my veins ......

fuzzyrazer

Not bad prices here,free delivery too,I emailed them too ask about discounts,if you register and order,you get a 10% discount on first order....result,making these costumes very cheap...

http://www.xs-stock.co.uk/section.php?xSec=189

tee_pee_2

home bargain need us has got witxhes costumes for £2.99 loads of sizes, and if you are expecting kids to call trick or treating, they have loads of sweets cheap. Small packets of milky bar buttons 10p

redmoorphil

colemanbrown wrote:

oh another thing, don't buy cheap blood (i.e the 49p bottles) if you plan to use it on skin, it will stain for a good few days after (you'll be red in the face so to say) always buy the best make-up you can afford I know it doesn't save money but somethings need a little extra spent on them. The same goes for red food dye, it will stain.

I can vouch for that! Dressed up as Santa for the local playgroup and used red food dye on my nose and cheeks - lasted about four days and i looked a right pillock!

jellybean0k

http://www.partyrama.co.uk/scp/Pinata_Party/Standard_Designs.html

pretty good for party goodies, costumes are a bit dear though depending on what you want

Evelynn_2

These guys use proper retail prices, but much less than most of the other costume web sites. Plus when I had a problem I couldn't have asked for better customer service.
[Dunbarcostumes.co.uk[/URL][/U]

Buttonbear

My party piece used to be excellent bat/dark faerie wings (I used to do all my mates costumes as I seem to have a talent for it) and they were excellent when I was student too!

Wings: Need: 2 wire coat hangers, 2 black bin bags (or 1 if you're canny with it!), sellotape or black leccy tape, old glow in the dark/metallic paint/nail varnish.
Tools: Pliers, wire clippers, hair dryer

Take the coat hangers and pull out the horizontal "bar" to make a diamond shape.
Twist the hangy bits together and secure any sharp bits with sellotape - for a neater/longer lasting job use the pliers and snip off any excess wire with the clippers. At this point you can use a bit of old card secured to the wires if you want the wings to last a lot longer - just cut to a rough diamond shape
Take your bin bag and stick one "wing" loosely into one of the corners - cut it off at the point where the hangers are secured (making sure that the hanger is definitely INSIDE the bag - believe me I did this!) Secure the edges to the link between the hangers with tape.
Repeat for the other wing and run some more tape around the join to make sure they're stuck!
Now for the potentially dangerous/hazardous/messy bit - best done outside or on a heat resistant surface
Plug in the hair dryer and get it to a good heat level - higher than you would normally use on your hair. Direct the flow of the hot air evenly over the wings - best done one at a time - until the heat begins to shrivel (but not melt) the placcy bag. After a while it will take on a weird and wonderful texture as the bag begins to melt and set over the wires - at this point if you have cut the bag too tight it will end up with holes (don't worry these can be patched or left for that zombified look!)
Keep heating the wings until you are satisfied that they are sealed and they look how you want them to. I sometimes frayed the edges of the plastic a little to get a good leathery rattle when I moved. You can also stick cut up pieces of placcy bag onto the wings for a feathery effect but this takes ages!
Once the plastic has cooled down you can get busy with the paint/nail varnish and create spooky "spines" or just paint them with symbols - Greek alphabet looks effective - I used to use glow in the dark nail varnish as it sets to a glossy finish and lasts if its raining.
The wings can now be angled to look like bats wings (flatter against the back) or at an angle for dark faeries.
You can use loops or ribbon or placcy bag plastic secured to the centre link to wear the wings or they are light enough to be safety pinned if you're not moving through crowds (if you haven't used card to stiffen them)

Hope this helps someone out there with their costume - I have heaps more ideas/advice if you want them!

Ed_de_Balle

Woolworths has buy one get one half price on halloween costumes, I bought 2 pairs of halloween wellington boots at £7.50 a pair expected to pay just over a tenner, came upon till half price so cost £3.75 plus half for 2nd pair, just over a fiver!