A few simple and fun Halloween costume ideas for my fellow procrastinators
This post is in partnership with Value Village Thrift. As always, opinions are my own.
Dressing up for Halloween is a blast, but I’m usually that person scrambling for a costume at least midway through October. What can I say? I tend to work best under the pressure of deadlines.
I can’t believe I’ve never really blogged about it before, but my favourite way to pick out a costume is to get creative with second-hand items and combine them with existing pieces from my own closet. I DIY accessories where I can (depending on how much time I give myself LOL) and it’s legitimately such a fun, low-budget, and low consumption way of celebrating Halloween! Especially if you need more than one costume for work, play, trick-or-treating, etc.
I cannot even tell you how many potential costume ideas I was bombarded by at my local Value Village! I was so inspired, I honestly could have put a dozen costumes together if I needed that many. My growing bump did limit my options, but there was so much potential at every turn. The ’90s are still such a huge trend and I would say that besides the classics, I had lots of characters from that decade in mind. I almost purchased a red velvet jacket with black fur trim that reminded me a little of Cher Horowitz’s Alaia dress look from the party scene in. A pleated skirt that with a wig and blouse (perhaps tea-stained) could have made a great Mrs. Doubtfire. Years ago, I thrifted a red trench coat and hat and went as Carmen Sandiego and they had the exact items to re-create that! There was plenty to work with if you just wanted to keep things really basic (like a cowgirl or hippie) or if you wanted to stick with something current in pop culture (Ariana Grande, the cast of Queer Eye, etc).
This office-friendly ‘50s look is so fun! I found this poodle skirt for $9.99 and the pink cardigan (worn backwards) for $4.99. The look reminds me so much of my dance days and I’ve had the Grease soundtrack in my head ever since taking these photos. Speaking of which, a Pink Ladies or Sandra Dee outfit would also be easy to achieve with Value Village finds!
Adam called this costume: Pregnant witch with a baby brewing! I love the simplicity of finding an all-black outfit and creating a classic costume from it. Last year I added ears and went as a cat, so I mixed things up with this witchy ensemble. This velvet skirt with ruffle hem sparked the inspiration and along with the hat, this costume came to a grand total of $11. The skirt is a little too big, but I just tied it together with a hair elastic at the back and it all worked out because again, pregnancy makes standard fitting clothes a bit tricky. A classic witch costume like this is perfect for the office and trick or treating. Actually, I would wear this out to a friend’s Halloween party as well, why not? It’s extremely comfortable! If you wanted to step it up, you could even DIY a black broom to go with it for Halloween this year.
It’s definitely not too late to throw something fabulous together for this weekend and/or the 31st and if you go for second-hand, you don’t have to spend a ton. What are you dressing up as this year? Have a safe and happy Halloween, Witches!
I love the idea of dressing up as a character from the 90s!