Living Green, One Tip at a Time - (a weekly feature)

Tip # 31

Create a home-made Halloween costume by recycling some items in your home.

(I've posted this a day earlier than usual to allow some costume creating time!)

When I was a little trick-or-treat-er, we never wore a purchased Halloween costume.  Our costumes were always made from whatever was available around the house. 
My Mom would put me in my older sister’s flannel nightgown, give me a bottle to hold and voila, I was a "baby". My brothers seemed to always be "hobos", Mom would dig out some old worn-out clothes, sew on some material scraps for patches, mess up their hair, smear dirt on their face and out the door they would go!  Oh, and there was always the old worn out bed sheet, with two holes for eyes, instant "ghost". 

Here is a link to a site with some great ideas for "home-made" costumes

•  Do you make your costumes from "recycled" items?
•  As a child, what were you dressed as for Halloween?
•  If you would like to share some ideas for recycled or green costumes, I'll post them here -

 ~ Pondside  - "...I remember wanting to be a Fortune Teller over and over again - probably because of the bright red lipstick and the hoop earrings!"
~ SuperMomWannabe -  "....My 13 yr old is making a robot costume..and we're piecing others together, witch, can-can dancer, zombie...with minimal items to pick up (mainly make up). I really wanted one of them to use balloons and cellophane to be a bag-o-jellybeans..."
~ Patricia -  "I remember making a costume out of cardboard covered with tinfoil and ... voila-the Tin Man..."
~  I'm NOT a VOLCANO! - "...Once, I was a pig- my mom took pink sweats and sewed baby bottle nipples down the front and I had a pig mask. Once, I was a mummy- white sweats and my dad safety pinned strips of muslin all over the things. Once, I was a bat, and we cut out black wings from black fabric and safety pinned them to a black hoodie. 
~  Kathy - "...One Halloween I dressed one of my girls as a nurse using a home make white cardboard cap, a cape and a white dress, another as a doll in a funny short dress with pigtails and lots of face make up, and one as an angel using a flower girls dress and home made wings..."
~ My Painted Porch -  "...on occasion, we were lucky enough to have a plastic mask but the rest was left up to us to find in my mom's funky closet collection (she throws nothing out!) and a whole lot of creativity."
~ Mom Does Reviews - "...My son made a unique combo costume this year from some of his old ones..."
~ Tammy - "For my daughters Medusa costume I re-used things I had around the house including the toy snakes for her hair. For my son's angry bird costume I had to by some material, but I used old pillows for the stuffing for it..."
~ Michelle -  "I remember possibly being a hobo. My mom sewed a ballerina costume for me once..."

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!!

Monica    

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