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
- 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.
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