Halloween costumes don’t have to be expensive. Halloween stores are completely overrated; they all sell the same costumes with tiny variations, if any. By making an original Halloween costume, college students can avoid that annoying costume doppelganger at parties by crafting their own, simple designs.
Shotgun Wedding Couple
This one’s easy and cheap, and can probably be put together without any extra purchases. The “husband” here dons a “wife-beater” tank top, with no shirt over it, and as loosely fitting jeans as possible to complete the effect. The “wife” should wear cut-offs (use an old pair of jeans and alter them, if necessary), and a too-big T-shirt. For added effect, she should tie up the T-shirt so that it reveals her midriff. This really completes the illusion.
Make-up is great for these two costumes, too. If a little money is available, buy some tooth blackout, which can be found on eBay or at most novelty stores. Use dark eye shadow to add some bruises here and there, throw in a naked baby doll, and this costume is complete. It’s a sure path to laughs for college costume parties.
Dirty, Stinking Zombie
Zombies are quite popular at the moment, what with movies like Zombieland sure to take over the box office. That’s good news for college students, as becoming a zombie is as easy as tearing up some old clothes and getting some gray face paint.
Find any kind of old clothes that may be lying around and get them dirty. Rub them into dirt or mud, let a dog play with them for a while (tug-of-war, maybe?), spill ice cream on them, and so on. Get them really, actually dirty. That way, the clothes will smell and look dirty, to complete the zombie effect. Finally, coat the skin with the gray face paint and mess up the hair. It’s quite a disgusting costume, but it is a zombie, after all.
Finally, for optional final touches, apply some blood-type makeup or paint here and there, on clothes and the face. Yellow, rotten teeth mouthpieces are completely optional.
Lego Man/Woman
This one requires a bit more searching, but it’s definitely worth it. The clothing part is easy: the college student must find a pair of slacks and a plain, button-up collared shirt. It doesn’t really matter what the color is of either of those things, but Lego people are usually dressed simply. A tie is good for men; a pearl necklace is good for women (Lego people are stereotypes, yes).
The most difficult part of this costume is finding a head. To do this, first find a large hat box, or any other kind of cylindrical box that will house a human head. Cut a hole in the box that will go over the head. Paint it yellow with some cheap paint, and then use a black marker or paint to draw on the simple, minimalistic face. Cut holes through the eyes to see through. To complete the look, find a smaller, cylindrical object about the size of a thick hamburger patty, paint it yellow, and put it on top of the head.
See below for a great execution of this costume (with Lego hands included).
Sims
This is probably the easiest and cheapest of all the costumes, and it will probably be unrivaled at any college costume party. All a student needs for this is a pack of green construction paper, tape, makers, and whatever wardrobe he or she already has.
The idea here is to get the little green indicator that pops up over Sims characters in the wildly popular video games. The photo below illustrates what this looks like, with the little diamond indicator sitting over the “i” in Sims.
Take a piece (or two, taped together) of construction paper and make it form a cone, and tape it to stay that way. Do the same with another piece, and then join them together, taping them wide-end-to-end to form this diamond pointer. Draw line onto this shape to make it look like it has diamond-like edges.
Finally, find some sort of hat or costume halo (or even headband) to fashion the shape onto, with a Popsicle stick or straw. And voila: a simple college student is now a simple Sim college student.
Imagination and originality make Halloween more exciting, especially for college students. Guys will be going as vampires and pirates, girls as the provocative versions of pretty much anything. Break out of the mold while saving money: be original!
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