Last-minute costume idea...

[FuzzyKitten99]

...gets the biggest laughs trick-or-treating with the kids and earlier today at the Halloween parade.

I didnt have money for a costume this year. I originally planned to be Bellatrix Lestrange. But lack of $$ plus severe lack of time, left me needing to be creative.

So I decided to just put on my school uniform (chef jacket & pants) and go around as a chef. But then it hit me... instead of just any chef, I was gonna be something gross or scary. So I needed a little blood, and maybe one of those headbands that make you look like you have a knife in your head. but I couldn't find one of those at the store. Nor could I find fake blood that would not stain (my chef jacket is white).

So I went home and found a no-stain fake-blood recipe online. Dishsoap (any color), food coloring and a little cornsyrup (which i already had all the items at home). Made the mix, and splattered it all over my jacket and had my kids and BF's kids make bloody handprints on the back.

I then found a stuffed fox that looked pretty real (was in storage... an old HS boyfriend had given it to me). I slathered HIM with the fake blood and made his fur all matted. I then took and typed up a tag that said "RoadKill Cafe-You Kill It We Grill It!" and put it over the school logo on my jacket. I also found a 'menu' with all the RoadKill Cafe items on it and printed a bunch out.

Every time I got a question or someone looked at my 'tag' & 'fresh kill', i gave them one of the 'menus'.

My cost was absolutely $0! Well, unless you count the cost of the uniform which is included in the $42k in tuition I am forking over to the school, lol!

If I can get a picture, I will post it.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Hehe, sounds awesome!

One of the cooks in the cafeteria at work yesterday had a fake knife (made of foil over cardboard, I'm guessing) through his hat (one of those tall paper hats), with fake blood on the knife and smeared on the hat.

[Becks]

I was going to wear my Danish flag as a cape and be a Great Dane (), but 3'x5' flags just don't go well in a deli department, so...maybe at some other job.

[Jester]

Some of the best costumes can be thrown together on the cheap.

Because I have an odd taste in clothes and love goofy shit, both props and otherwise, I am often accumulating odd things that morph into or become part of a costume.

I once went as a Blues Brother for Halloween. Scary thing is, I had everything I needed in my closet: black hat, black shades, white dress shirt, black tie, black pants, black belt, black socks, and black shoes. And when anyone asked me which one I was, in my best Dan Aykroyd impression, I would deadpan, "Elwood. Jake's dead, ma'am." Sure, I pissed some people off, but I never said I was an inoffensive Blues Brother! (Then again, come to think of it, the Blues Brothers were not exactly politically correct themselves....)

During our insane Fantasy Fest, many themed parties have sprung up hosted by various bars on various nights. The more successful ones have often caused people who never even went into or even near the bar hosting said party to dress in said theme. So we have a red night, a green night, a plaid night, a toga night, etc. Well, last year for the green party, I built an entire costume around one t-shirt I had. The t-shirt is a camo shirt that on the front reads "Be vewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits." So I went out and bought some camo cargo shorts (needed a new pair of shorts anyway, so a real cost of zero to me), a camo Army Ranger type hat (a few bucks) and a stuffed bunny (a few bucks). I attached the bunny to the top of the hat, and just kept asking people if they had "seen any wabbits," pretending to be oblivious to the one on my head. Many people laughed.

And probably my most ingenious costume ever cost me almost nothing. As I recall, I spent just a few bucks on some name tags, some large stencil letters, fake blood, some construction paper, a phony beard, and a couple U.S. flag stickers. I was either given or spent almost nothing on a shipping tube. I had already in my possession some old white sheets, talcum powder, a baseball cap, duct tape, sandals, and some cardboard boxes. So, what does one create with all that, you may ask? Well, it was six weeks after 9/11, and I was inspired--I dressed up as Osama bin Laden with a U.S. cruise missile going right through my chest! Made the turban out of some of the sheets and the baseball cap, cutting off the brim. Powdered my hair and the fake beard to make both greyer. Used the construction paper and the shipping tube to create the missile, and the cardboard and duct tape to create the harness to keep the back and front halves aligned. Used the stencil letters to put "BIN LADEN" on my back so no one could accuse me of being an anti-Middle Eastern racist asshole, and added a name tag that read "Hello! My name is Osama!" Wore sandals and a white toga/robe to complete the outfit. About 12 people were offended by my costume. Most of the rest of the 80,000 people in town wanted photos. It was....awesome. (Okay, I spent a few bucks on it, but nothing major.)

My Hannibal Lecter costume I only ever had to buy the orange scrub pants and the mask/fake straight jacket costume combo. Slicked my hair back, wore the scrub pants and my orange "Los Angeles County jail" shirt, over which I wore the straight jacket, and used a borrowed hand truck to have Photo Dude wheel me around town on.

I once created an entire costume while purchasing only a cane and liquid latex. Convincingly aged my face with liquid latex, powdered my hair to grey it, and raided my stepfather's wardrobe and used a cane to go as a sometimes-too-realistic Old Man. (I was 19 or 20 at the time.)

I could keep going (oh yes...I could), but I have rambled long enough......my point is you don't have to spend a lot to create a good and effective costume. Brave to you, FK, for your ingenuity!