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Making a Halloween costume doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, in fact it could cost nothing at all with a little creativity and borrowing. Check out my list of cheap costumes to make at home and let me know what else I should add to my list!

Free Costumes To Make At Home

Cardboard Box Costumes

Large cardboard boxes make great Halloween costumes. Save your Amazon boxes, ask your neighbors to save their large boxes or stop by stores and ask for free boxes.

Turn a large box into a refrigerator costume. Add a black handle and some food packaging from your recycle bin for authentic detail! Other simple cardboard box costume ideas include a birthday present, a juice box, LEGO brick and robot. As long as you have paint or other basic craft supplies at home, you can make those costumes for free.

I have a whole set of Disney Planes costumes made from cardboard boxes: Dusty Crophopper, El Chupacabra, Dipper and Blade Ranger. I used a lot of duct tape which you might not have on hand but paint could also work making these costumes free or very cheap as well.

Sheet Costumes

An old white sheet can be transformed into a variety of costumes starting with the classic ghost costume or toga costume. Cut the sheet into strips to make a mummy costume.

Primary colored sheets can be used to make ghost costumes from PacMan. Turn a turquoise or green sheet into a toga for a Statue of Liberty costume. Create a torch from tissue paper and a cardboard tube.

Pillowcase Costumes

Pillowcases make excellent costume bases for little kids. Just cut a head and arm holes and slip it over their head. You could also cut open the top and add straps with ribbon or duct tape. Then paint it for a wide variety of costume options including Olaf, a ghost, a pumpkin, or crayon. This trick or treat candy bag costume is a very easy last minute Halloween costume idea.

Cheap Costumes To Make At Home

Sweatshirt Hoodie Costumes

Sweatshirt hoodies make a great costume base and you might have one hanging in your closet. Otherwise check out thrift stores for an inexpensive hoodie to make your costume.

I have a quite a few hoodie costume tutorials for you: Fox in Socks Costume, Fortnite Doggo Costume, Olaf Costume, Lorax Costume, Baymax Costume, Hiro Hamada Costume, Puppy Dog Pals Costume, Hank the Octopus, and Charlie Brown. If you Google ‘hoodie costumes’ you can find a lot of other ideas including a dinosaur hoodie, unicorn hoodie and baby shark hoodies.

T-shirt Costumes

A solid color t-shirt is often a great base for a costume as well. Choose your costume based on a t-shirt you already own. Add a few inexpensive or DIY accessories and you have a cool costume. A few costume tutorials you can use are the Beagle Boys costume, Monsters Inc costumes, Batman and Robin costumes, cat burglar costume,

Cheap Costumes For Halloween

Sometimes a cheap Halloween costume is easy to pull together based on a few specific clothing items. Again choosing a costume based on what you already own or can borrow can save you a lot of money. Check out these easy occupation costume ideas below.

Target Employee Costume

A Target employee typically wears a red shirt and khakis. Add a name badge and carry a Target bag and you are done. We made a simple name badge online and printed it on sticker paper.

Jake from State Farm Costume

Jake from State Farm also wears a red shirt and khakis. Add a logo to the shirt and a headset and you are set.

UPS Driver Costume

A dark brown shirt and pants or short, plus a brown hat is what UPS drivers wear. Print the logo on sticker paper for the shirt and hat. Carry around a small stack of empty boxes for authenticity.

Flo from Progressive Costume

A white polo and white pants are the base of a Flo costume. Add some badges or buttons using sticker paper or iron-on vinyl. A blue headband and white apron are bonus accessories for a Flo costume.

Mayhem from Allstate Costume

Wear a suit and tie, add some bandaids and bruises and you can be Mayhem from Allstate. Bonus points if you have a pink headband and pink dumbbell.

Do you have any free or cheap costume ideas I can add to my list?

There are obvious places to buy Halloween costumes like discount stores, Halloween stores, and thrift stores. But there are other more unique or unusual places to buy costumes or just costume supplies.

Unusual Places To Buy Costumes

1. Moving/mailing stores like U-haul or the UPS store sell boxes, tape, markers, bubble wrap and other interesting things. There are lots of costumes that are simply decorated boxes. Some easy ideas include a refrigerator, a robot or LEGO brick. I have box costume tutorials for Dusty Crophopper, El Chupacabra, Dipper and Blade Ranger from the Disney Planes movies.

2. Home improvement stores like Home Depot, Lowes or Habitat for Humanity stores are full of costume making supplies. Ducting and venting supplies make great robot costume parts. Coveralls, paint, duct tape, and boxes are all versatile costume supplies available at home improvement stores.

A lot of the LEGO Emmet costume supplies can be found at home improvement stores like a safety vest, hard hat and duct tape.

3. Craft stores might seem obvious because they often have a small selection of costumes or costume accessories. Skip right past their Halloween section and check out all the different craft supplies that could be used to make a DIY costume. Simple things like blank t-shirts and caps, felt material, iron-on vinyl and duct tape are a few of my favorite choices from craft stores. Some art supply stores offer more than just basic craft supplies and you can find cosplay supplies like clay, foam and casting material.

A few costume tutorials I have that utilize a lot of supplies from craft stores are the Beagle Boys costume, Monsters Inc Costumes, Olaf Costume and Mickey and the Roaster Racers Hat.

More Unique Places to Buy Costume Supplies

4. Grocery stores also sell a small selection of Halloween costumes. Skip over it and grab some food items, you can use the packaging in your DIY costume. You might be able to score a free large box which would work great for a refrigerator costume. Just attach some empty food packages for an authentic fridge look. Or buy lots of candy to make this easy trick or treat candy bag costume.

5. Drug stores often sell t-shirts, robes, hats, umbrellas and toys. Plus lots of hair dye, hair accessories and make up to help complete your costume. I’ve seen a few fun costumes ideas that could be made from drugstore purchases like a crazy cat lady or ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’.

6. Gift card shops sell wrapping paper which means you can wrap yourself up as a present for Halloween. Or use solid color wrapping paper as a base of another costume idea.

Quirky Places to Buy Halloween Costumes

7. Dollar stores sell a little bit of everything on the cheap. You can find clothing items like shirts, socks, hats and onesies. Plus art supplies like duct tape, markers, paint and poster board. A few costumes that could be made from dollar store supplies include a stick figure costume, glow stick man costume, ninja turtle, playing card, paper doll and #2 pencil onesie.

8. Office supply stores sell poster board, tape, paint, markers and letter stickers. Lots of ‘sandwich board’ costume ideas made using poster board include a playing card, paper doll, ‘rock, paper, scissors’ costumes and emojis.

9. Sporting goods stores sell sports gear that can be used for obvious sports costumes. Plus I’ve seen some unique ideas like kids dressed as a hockey penalty box or football field using cardboard and sport accessories. Or the pregnant mamas wearing a jersey with her belly painted like a ball.

10. Beyond thrift stores consider yard sales, craigslist and apps like Offer Up to find unique Halloween costumes or supplies.

Where is the best place to buy Halloween costumes?

This is a tough question but I always think you should look at what you own first. Next consider what you can borrow from friends and family. Then consider shopping but don’t wait too long otherwise all the good stuff will be sold out.

Lots of stores like Target, Costco, Walmart, CVS and Dollar Tree sell costumes or costume accessories. And of course, don’t forget about the unique stores listed above for other costume accessories and supplies.