Go Green For Halloween

October 2009

18 October 2009 - Jo Williams

Halloween is a great time to open up your closet or make a trip to the second-hand clothing store and reuse, restyle and recycle. Recycled clothing is the perfect choice for a Halloween costume, no matter what the age or size of the wearer.

Old bridesmaid’s dresses are great to re-style into a child’s princess or fairy costume. Sheer fabrics over wire hangers make a lovely pair of wings, just add some glitter glue and sequins, some ribbons and flowers for your little fairy or angel.

Sweat shirts and fleece jogging suits are perfect for animal costumes. Buy inexpensive masks from the discount store and decorate with paints and trims. Make an easy pair of ears out of felt or fake fur to easily identify your animal.

T-shirts are a great start to any costume. Rip, cut, paint and embellish an old T-shirt to make a pirate, gypsy, or monster costume. Then embellish with trims, lace and ruffles, fabric paints and any number of details.

Sheets and pillowcases are always a good standard starting place for children’s costumes. If you don’t sew, make sure you have a supply of fusible web, safety pins, strings, Velcro, tape, and fabric glue. Have fun with iron-on transfers and appliqués, feathers or fabric paints and trims.

Uniforms of all kinds are easy to find at second-hand shops and can be remade to be cute costumes for children or adults.

And don’t forget cardboard boxes. Make sure you have a handy craft knife so you don’t dull your good scissors.

Halloween costumes are a great opportunity to exercize your creativity and be good to the earth by re-cycling and reusing some of those items crowding your closet.

Check out some of these sites for some great Halloween costume ideas:

Robins FYI
Costume Idea Zone
Costume Ideas for Kids from Velcro USA Inc.
The Halloween Costume Page
Halloween Costumes that Won’t Scare Your Budget