I know this comes as a huge shock… but we LOVE Halloween at Goodwill! No, no, not for the candy, though that’s a nice bonus. What we love is taking an idea—a popular current character, and challenging ourselves to create that character’s costume from whatever we find in a Goodwill store. It’s like the ultimate costume challenge—even better when you look at the total costume cost and it’s less than $20 in most instances.
Last year we had favorites, the Minions and Dr. Who… this year, we tackled Frozen’s Sven, Elsa, and Olaf. But if you’re looking for easy-peasy costume creations with little-to-no “DIY” work, this post is for you.
Starting off easy—a play on words costume. Inspired by the hit Netflix Series “Orange is the New Black” we paired an orange scrub top with back pants, slapped on a “NEW” sign that we made from construction paper and considered ourselves done.
If you want to flaunt your royal potential and be as comfortable as possible for your costume party, we recommend throwing together this king costume—complete with house coat and PJ pants. Who knew bedtime gear was so regal? Pick your historic king or a storybook inspiration and let that be your name for the night, otherwise, your subjects could just refer to you as “Your highness.”
Classing up the traditional evil villain. This dashing devil is actually made up from a woman’s blazer, woman’s pants (elastic waist, so an easy fit for him), and the proper accessories. Men, don’t be afraid to shop the women’s section… they tend to have far more colorful options that work well for diabolical characters.
Looking for a couples costume idea? Hello? Devil & Angel? How perfect, right? This Angelic partner initially was just going to go with the white tank top and white pants but decided to toss on the white nightgown for more of an elegant element. Make your wings (plenty of Pinterest tutorials) or find a dog costume like this one. Goodwill carries the halos, or again, get crafty.
Ah, are you more the non-committal-costume person? No worries. Find a cute dress or other outfit and add animal ears. The dress/outfit can be worn on its own later on, and the ears are a very “See! I’m wearing a costume!” without actually going to much costume effort.
Play this out if you go in a group. How could you not, after all?
Whether you’re an old-school TMNT fan or a new Ninja Turtles fan, you can create your own version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Worried about finding green pants? Don’t be. Look in the scrubs section, sweatpants, or in the women’s pants section. There’s a good chance you’ll find your green pants. The shell, in its former life, was a shield. Spray paint it your preferred color and you’re good to go. For the belly of the shell, glue on a round shape of yellow fabric. This one is a flattened out hood from a yellow hoodie.
No turtle or TMNT group would be complete without that vivacious journalist, April O’Neil. Find your Yellow top and bottom (aim for as close to color matching as possible), add a white belt, white boots (or in this case, white shoes with socks for a faux-boot), pop your collar and bam. April.
Let’s say you run across a beaded headdress on Shopgoodwill. . . let’s then say you purchase said headdress and build a costume around it. What better costume than the Queen of the Nile herself? Since a white Egyptian style dress may not be hanging around at every Goodwill store, it takes some creativity… Find a white table cloth, like this one, and sew it Kaftan style. Find obnoxiously gold placemats (could also find a gold sequin or gold sparkly shirt to cut up), and sew them to attaching ribbon to go over the shoulders. Add a gold belt, an arm cuff and some make up. Then, start walking like an Egyptian.
Sometimes, a costume comes together right before your eyes and you can’t help but use it. I give you, the Nerdy Prom couple. . .
Nearly every Goodwill store has some form of the 80’s or 90’s taffeta-poofy-sleeves bridesmaid dress. It’s just what makes a Goodwill store a Goodwill store, no? Find that dress and go look in the plastics aisle for a good pair of granny glasses to add on. Swoop up your hair into a side ponytail or tease it up into Aqua Net heights and await your date.
I kid you not. As soon as I ran across the shirt, I started sifting through the color of the week rack and found the polyester pants… granted, they were women’s pants and horribly hideous…but they matched. THEY MATCHED! When the Goodwill gods smile upon you like that, you don’t turn away… in fact, you don’t care if it fits properly, you go with it. Wrap some tape on a pair of old glasses and you are the best darn nerdy prom date there ever was.
Another can’t-believe-it-find was this beautiful chiffon dress. To Glenda-ify it, a sheer blouse was added, stuffed the shoulders with fabric for a little extra lift, dusted glitter and sparkles all over our good witch’s face and crafted a crown out of a cutting board mat. (Find that tutorial on pinterest).
We’ll have more costume inspirations and tutorials all this week and next to make sure that even in a pinch, you can find a perfectly unique and perfectly you costume creation to fit the occasion. Make sure you enter your unique costume in our Thrill of the Hunt costume contest for prizes!www.GoodwillIndy.org/Halloween
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