Sustainable Halloween costume ideas and inspiration

1) Borrow from your friends – if you figure out early enough who you want to dress up as, ask around and get creative. See what you can pull together without rushing to shops.

2) Buy secondhand – if you want to buy something “new” for your Halloween outfit, go search from secondhand shops.

3) Dig deep into your own wardrobe and get creative! An old white bed linen makes a pretty good ghost outfit after all! While a red coat can make a good Little Red Ridinghood outfit.

4) Go to costume rentals. For taking this route, plan way ahead.

5) Make time to create accessories. Some of the outfits might be complete with specific accessories. That’s where crafts come in handy! Try to steer clear from buying one-time-use plastic solutions.

To create the Red Light Green Light doll girl look, you’ll only need a couple of clothing pieces, which are failry easy to find secondhand or from your existing wardrome. I actually put it together using only clothes I already owned!

• A yellow T-Shirt or a blouse
• An orange strappy dress
• White tights or stockings – I opted for tights, as I already had them at home
• Black shoes
• Doll’s makeup

The keywords for creating an alien Halloween costume are – silver, green, sparkles, multiple eyes! You can mix these elements in many different ways and have fun imagining what an alien can look like! There are no rules – just the goal to get creative! I absolutely loved putting this outfit together. The elements included:

• A secondhand silver sequin dress
• A green curtain that I wrapped around my waist like a wide belt
• A vintage bling belt
• Green socks
• Silver platform heels
• Big silver earrings – I actually used some secondhand Christmas baubles, that were light enough to wear as earrings.
• DYI headpiece with some extra eyes
• Some proper green make up

What makes Wednesday Addams’ outfit especially simple is that it can be multiple looks as long as it’s black and white and slightly gothic. The only thing that will be a massive help – long darker hair, so you could make braids without needing a wig.

Buying a new cheap wig is the worst thing you can do when trying to  create sustainable Halloween costumes. So try steer clear from these. However, you might be able to borrow one! For a Wednesday Addams look, try combining these:

• White shirt with a crisp collar
• Black dress with slightly gothic-romantic or minimal look
• Black tigths
• Black shoes – if you have anything like black Doc Martens, these will do perfectly! Or black Mary Janes
• Gothic makeup with lighter primer and sligh burgundy touch around the eyes

Dressing up like Mia Wallace from Pulp fiction is especially easy if you have short, darker hear. With some Youtube tutorials you can make yourself a fringe as well using your own hair! That way, you can wear your natural hair as part of the costume. Another option is to rent a wig.

The key elements of her outfit can often be found in our regular wardrobe:

• Classic white shirt
• Black flared trousers or a fitted skirt
• You can add on a black blazer, but that’s not mandatory
• Muted dark red lips and smokey eyes
• A cgarette holder is a great prop for this look

Rene Magritte’s painting “The Son of Man”  is such a creative outfit and totally doable with some existing wardrobe pieces or some secondhand shopping. There are a couple of key elements you’ll need to figure out:

• A dark suit plazer or a coat
• Classic white collar shirt
• Red tie (and someone who knows how to tie a tie!)
• A top hat
• You’ll need to get creative with how you’re going to attach your apple to the hat. Also, you’ll need to get creative about how you’re going to make your apple! Some handcrafts will come in handy! The easiest is with some cardboard and drawing, but you can also go 3D!