For Halloween this year, why not unleash your creative side and make your own Halloween costumes! The kids will love getting involved in making their outfits, and it will save you money too. We asked our parent audience for some of their ideas, and wow what a creative bunch you are! Here are 15 Homemade Halloween Costume Ideas your Kids will Love, and they won’t cost a fortune either!

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#1.  Dead Bride / Groom

Bizarrely, this is always a popular choice among children and adults!

“My 6-year-old wore my 36-year-old communion dress, with added bugs and veil, to dress up as a dead bride” – Lyn B.

For boys dig out those communion suits!

“I bought a net tablecloth which we cut up and added over an old communion dress and used as a veil, black roses and white face paint = dead bride” – Jenny G.

#2. Enderman

Minecraft costumes continue to be very popular with kids, and thankfully for us adults, most of the costumes are pretty easy to recreate, with cardboard boxes for heads.

“My 8-year-old was an ‘enderman’. We used an inside-out skeleton costume, so all black, a box covered in black plastic & a mini torch to get the look” – Lyn B.

Instructables.com tells you how to make the box for head.

#3. Rubix Cube

We love this idea of a rubix cube costume – how neat!

“As a throw back to the 80’s I made a Rubix Cube, using a large cardboard box. My daughter and I painted on the squares and cut a hole in the top for the head and two smaller ones in the sides for arms. She wore black leggings and a black top to complete the look” – Bill F

You could make a giant Sudoku Cube in the same way, cover with white paper and add your numbers in black.

#4. Bat Costume

This bat costume from alphamom.com is super simple, where a t-shirt is converted into a cute bat costume, in a few simple steps. Wear over some black leggings to complete the look.

A sewing machine is required, but instructions are easily mastered, according to alphamom.com. Print our the mask, cut if out and have your kid wear it over sunglasses for the dark eye effect!

#5. Queen of Hearts

Rachel T tell us, “I made a Queen of Hearts costume for my daughter that won second place in the Halloween contest. Here’s how I did it:

1. Get 2 decks of cards from a discount store (1 probably would have been enough but I got 2 in case I messed up).
2. I stapled them together in a square shape and checked every so often to make sure it was sized correctly.
3. I used a hole punch to put holes in the back and laced it with a ribbon.
4. For the neck collar I did the same. I put one hole punch in the center and slid a bobby pin through it to put into her hair to make the collar stand up.
5. Then I used a plain red shirt underneath the card corset.
6. I made a red tutu with yellow in the front and black tights.
7. For the crown, I just took regular printer paper, painted it gold, made a paper rose out of cards and hot glued it on the crown. Then Bobby pinned in into her hair.”

Phew, lots of hard work but what an awesome idea.

#6. Spider

Jenny G created a nifty spider outfit as follows:

1. Outfit clothes were black leggings and t-shirt.
2. We got 3 pairs of black tights, cut the legs out and stuffed them with plastic bags. These were held together with fishing line, then individually sewn on to make spiders arms that move when you move your arms.
3. We created our spider eyes by cutting bouncy balls/ping pong balls in half, and then sewing them onto a black hat.”

Genius outfit Jenny!

Watch this video if you’d like to see a spider costume being made.

#7. Minion

These DIY minion costumes from One Creative Housewife, look great, and are sure to be a winner with your kids. They are pretty cheap to make too.

Basic costume comes from denim dungarees/some type of overalls, and a yellow hoodie. Round black glasses were purchased at a discount store. Pipe cleaners sewn on form the hair. If you sew items on to clothing, rather than glueing, then all clothes can be reused after Halloween.

We also love this variety of Despicable Me characters from Happenings of the Harper Household, where you make the goggles from jar lids, attached to an elasticated head band.

“I did a Minion. Dungarees, yellow t-shirt. Face painted yellow and silver for goggles, and made a Gru sign out of black felt and tacked it the front! Great fun” – H.Lee

#8. Zombie

Zombie costumes are pretty easy to make and the kids will get a kick out of cutting up and decorating their old clothes. Old jeans/trousers and an old shirt work best.

“We made a zombie with old trousers and a shirt that were a too small. A little bit of scissors work, some facepaint for clothes and face and we had a zombie!” – Jennifer B

Here’s how:

• Cut off the seams of the trousers, and make the end jagged/frayed. Add some rips also.
• Do the same for the sleeves of the shirt
• Use red face paint for “blood” marks on trousers, and black/brown for “mud/dirt”. You could also use fake blood for decorating
• We spiked up the hair and added some talcum powder to make it look greyish
• Finally – do some zombie face paint.

#9. Dead School Girl / Boy

For a couple of years this was all my daughter wanted to be. It’s a bit like creating a zombie, but just using school uniform instead.

We used an old school uniform, complete with a school tie, long knee socks and covered everything with fake blood and mud. We backcombed her hair and added some plastic spiders and some twigs to complete the look.

WikiHow has instructions here.

#10. Bunch of Grapes!

Watch this cute video and see how to make your child look like a giant bunch of grapes.

#11. LEGO Brick

We love the creativity and thought behind this clever LEGO Brick costume from Country Living.

All you need is a large box, glossy spray paint and some round small craft boxes. Pick the colour of brick according to clothes your child will wear underneath. You may need to paint a few times, to achieve the colour you want.

This is sure to be a winner if you have a LEGO fan in the house!

#12. Werewolf

Werewolves are always popular with the kids at Halloween, and the freakier the better!

Sarah S tells us how she turned her son into a werewolf without spending a fortune! Here’s how:

• “Face paint, black woolly gloves with tooth picks stuck on as claws, old school shirt.
• I got an old bit of fur from a coat hood, part coloured with black marker and stuck on to pieces of cardboard to make some great furry ears.
• The only thing I bought were teeth and fake blood.”

For extra effect, you could also attach fur to ripped up old clothes – on chest, legs and cuffs of sleeves.

#13. Mummy

To create the perfect Mummy, use white leggings and long sleeve top and wrap bandages or white toilet roll all over. Add some fake blood and some garden mud to complete the look.

We love the little Mummy in this video – watch how to make your own here.

#14. Viking Costume

How cute is this viking costume from I am Momma – Hear Me Roar? It is simple to produce and very cost effective.

Hard to believe, but the furry effect was created from toilet seat covers! The only items purchased were toilet seat covers, and the viking hat and hammer. Snow boots were just covered and tied with leather string, so are not a permanent fixture.

Paint a beard, strike a pose and behold the scary viking!

#15. Box of Popcorn

OMG – how cute is this idea – a popcorn box costume!

Watch how to make it here:

You could also make a popcorn bag as follows:

• Use a white shift dress/old sheet/2 stiff white card tied together(with room for head, legs and arms) as the bag.
• Paint on red vertical stripes and write the word Popcorn onto the front.
• You could cut a zig zag line at the top to make the costume look like a popcorn box.
• Glue popped corn to a white hat to complete the look!

Check out our Halloween Pinterest Page for some more great costume ideas. 

Have you created a homemade halloween costume before? Let us know how you made it in the comments box below.