5 Easy, last-minute DIY Halloween costumes

These ideas inspired a live Halloween costume fashion show on the Saturday morning edition of ABC Action News in Tampa. Scroll to the bottom of this post to watch the video.

Forgot Halloween is next week? Waited until the last minute to get your kids’ costumes together? Or, don’t want to spend $40 on a crappy piece of vinyl that Amazon is calling a costume? No worries! With the help of some of our amazingly creative She Just Glow readers, we’ve gathered some easy, last-minute DIY Halloween costumes that you can make on the fly, and on the cheap!

1. Cowboy

Chances are, your kid already has jeans and a plaid shirt, so all you have to dig up are a bandana, boots and a hat. She Just Glows reader, Jessica A., pulled this sweet look together for only $3 (minus the boots)! She took the cowboy hat and spurs from a western dress-up set she found at the Dollar Tree for $2. The bandana was from Target’s Dollar Spot, and she bought the cowboy boots at Walmart for less than $15.

2. Olaf

What little boy doesn’t want to be Olaf from the hit movie Frozen this year? Turns out, the Disney Store is constantly sold out of the costume, plus their version is a little too warm for the Florida climate where reader Kim C. lives. So, she decided to build her son’s costume herself, using an $8 hat from eBay, and a pair of $8 white thermals from Amazon. She also bought a black piece of felt at Walmart for 28¢, cut out circles and stitched them to the thermal. (If you don’t sew, you could just use fabric glue.) The whole assembly took about 10 minutes, and now this lil’ guy has some adorable pajamas he can wear all winter!

3. Indians

These 3 sisters, daughters of reader Danielle G., love the Disney movie Pocahontas and wanted to be Indian princesses. All three of their costumes cost less than $10 total! First, Danielle bought a half-yard of fabric from Joanne Fabrics for $3. She folded it in half and cut an inch off the length and width, then cut a slit at the crease for the head. After that, she cut fringes across the neck line, sleeves and bottom hem and added $4 beads she’d also found at Joanne’s. The excess 1-inch piece she’d cut off the width and length were used to make belts and headdresses. To complete the costume, she used a small, $3 bag of feathers for the headdresses and to tie into their hair. The whole project only took about 15 minutes!

4. Artist

She Just Glows reader, Erika G., went back to basics for a super creative take on an adorable little artist. She bought the button-up shirt at a local consignment store for $2.50, used black pants her daughter already had and made the paint palette out of cardboard and finger paints. For an added touch on the shirt, she ironed on custom images she’d found online. The costume also includes a black beret hat, which Erika found at Party City for $6.99. In total, the whole costume cost less than $15 and took about an hour to put together.

5. Chicken

Believe it or not, this costume required no sewing! Reader Kristina P. took a white onesie with a long-sleeved t-shirt over the top, stuffed it with batting and used safety pins to affix white feather boas to the outside. Then, she used a hot glue gun to attach the chicken comb (made of inexpensive red felt) to the white hat, and to attach yellow rubber gloves to her daughter’s shoes. (The gloves are easily-removable after the costume is used.) What an adorable, unique look!