This is an amazing resource of Halloween costume ideas. All these costumes have won a local contest, and for good reason! Imaginative and extremely effective, you will find yourself returning to this section over and over again.
A little sample of what you will see here include everything from a mini Mr. T to a pop art version of a Stepford Wife. In addition, many costumes take their inspiration from game shows such as Wheel of Fortune and Plinko.
It seems like people have a lot of fun recreating their favorite movie characters. Considering so many of them won contests, it’s a favorite of contest judges as well. Find out how you can become Ben Stiller’s character from Dodgeball and the whole gang from Guardians of the Galaxy. Animated movies are represented here as well from Disney princesses to Rafiki from The Lion King.
Take lessons from the masters as they take concepts and turn them into recognizable costumes, hence landing them contest winner titles!
I was almost afraid that this would have surely been my last Halloween I celebrated with my son. Afterall, he was a teenager now and I wasn’t quite sure how his generation had interpreted the whole let’s dress up, go out, and get candy sorta thing. Ever since he was a little boy he had … Read more
I don’t know about you, but since the beginning of time I have loved playing the game “Guess Who”. I especially enjoyed when my opponent drew a girl as their character because that meant less for me to have to guess. Ha! The ratio of men to women in that game is just plain nuts. … Read more
My daughter, Logan, is wearing this Astrid costume from How to Train Your Dragon 2. It’s her favorite movie character. The Astrid costume is completely home made/fabricated and stylized pieces. She is even wearing a wig that was altered to match the right Astrid shade and braid style. She is a natural redhead, like me, … Read more
Here’s how our Ursula Sea Witch costume came to life. I try to make or customize my daughters costume each year, I love for her to feel special and stand out from the crowd. This year she asked to be Ursula, she loves villains. I found on this website my template and tweaked a few … Read more
My daughter Jenny and I have created her Halloween costumes for the past 11 years. She has wanted to use stilts in her costume for several years. This year we were able to make that happen with The Jester costume. My daughter drew a sketch of the costume she wanted then I went to work … Read more
My Oscar the Grouch Halloween costume in 2020 (worn by me) was inspired by piles of trash on my street. I’ve always created my costumes with some found objects and recyclable materials, but never have I given myself the limit of using only discarded trash as my material. What better costume to do that than … Read more
My daughter loves mythical creatures. She sketches many different kinds of magical animals. This year she is a lightning creature with wings. I used a silver holographic spandex with a black lightning pattern. I made her outfit with bell bottom legs fringed with fur. She is wearing some very tall boots. The fur around her wrists … Read more
Matryoshka/Russian Nesting/Babushka Dolls Total cost: $200 ($40 per person) Materials: Foam, red and yellow fabric, red and yellow rose buttons, elastic, acrylic paint. You will need a sewing machine and thread. Total time: 3 days (based on one person crafting) Inspiration and steps in detail (trust me, it looks harder than it is!): The inspiration … Read more
Art Deco Medusa was handmade by myself and personally styled from the shoes to the headdress, leaving no element un-finessed. The pattern for the dress is researched from 1920’s flapper-style dresses and is made from second-hand deconstructed garments. These garments included an old beaded prom dress, some oversized velvet shirts, and some lace-y undergarments. All … Read more
This costume-making all started when a family friend offered me her sewing machine last year. I had hand-sewn last year’s Halloween costumes and because she was no longer using her machine, she thought I might enjoy sewing. She was correct! I taught myself to sew by watching a few youtube videos and reading the directions … Read more
When we decided that we were going to do something somewhat ordinary like a Ghostbusters theme for our Halloween costumes this year, I knew I had to do something over the top to make it stand out. Rather than take the obvious character options for costumes, I wanted to challenge myself and try to make … Read more
This is my daughter’s toddler porcupine costume from this year. I had narrowed her costume choices down to a few and showed her some pictures of them. She got very excited when she saw the porcupine and exclaimed, “Poopy-pine!” That pretty much settled it. Every time anyone mentioned costumes or Halloween, she would yell “Poopy-pine!” … Read more