Last Minute Halloween Costume Ideas

'Twas the day before Halloween and the big Monster Mash and you need a quick costume for little or no cash...

If you didn't get around to taking advantage of any of our Halloween deals there's no need to worry. With a bit of ingenuity and scavenging, you can still come up with a Halloween costume that's cheap, easy and will allow you to stand out among a sea of sexy pirates, sexy witches and sexy zombies...

Over at Mainstreet they had a bunch of easy homemade costume ideas and BargainBabe got a slew of great suggestions from her readers.

I decided to poll my co-workers at Savings.com for their ideas figuring that if anyone knew to do Halloween on the cheap, they would. Here's what they came up with:

David suggested a time-honored classic: 1 white sheet, cut eye holes = ghost. This is all well and good if you happen to have white sheets. In my case, I would end up as either a mustard gold or sage green colored ghost.

Not cool.

Marc's idea: Costume for football fans

Materials: 1 paper bag.
Instructions: Place over head. Congratulations, you are now an Oakland Raiders fan!

Not one to follow football, I assume this suggestion is because the Raiders aren't doing well this season. (Really? Worse than the Washington Redskins? I find that hard to believe...) If this idea doesn't do it for you, you could always take said paper bag, stomp on it, crumple it up and spatter with (ketchup) blood and put it over your head and go as Marc--after a run-in with an Oakland Raiders fan.

Speaking of paper bags, you can cut two eye holes and go as the Unknown Comic from The Gong Show...

My other coworkers were a bit more creative. Ray's contributions:

"One year i went as Carlton Banks and just wore khakis and a flannel shirt. The next year my roommate and I wore white underwear and white socks and wrapped our selves in saran wrap. Then we people asked what we were, we simply responded, "Damn it, the invisible man costume didn't work-- I want my money back!"

Clodagh hails from England and offered:

"My mum once stuck aprons on me and my big sister, gave us a duster and a dishcloth, and sent us off as MiniMum and MaxiMum...It doesn't really work over here 'cos you guys say Mom, not Mum. Another time she cut head and arm holes out of a brown paper bag, added a couple of shallots, and sent us out as onions. We weren't very well off growing up in England in the 70s!"

I think the onion idea is adorable! And hey, an even better use for paper bags...

Speaking of England, another easy idea (especially for guys...) is to dress up in a tight black t-shirt and "Dad" type jeans and go around at the party mocking everyone else's costume in a British accent. Volia! You're Simon Cowell!

Jacob S. had another use for a black shirt: "Cut out a white piece of paper and write the number "8" in the middle to make yourself an "8 Ball."

Hmm...and if you attach a piece of paper with the words, "Reply hazy, try again" to your butt, you'd be a Magic 8 Ball!

Clarice suggested this simple costume idea: Cut out three black circle and tape on a white shirt and go as a "Three-hole punch." (That one is courtesy of Jim on The Office.) Her other idea was echoed by Heather M.:

"Snag an old sweatshirt, plastic knives, empty cereal boxes, ketchup and glue and go to town--stab cereal boxes left and right, glue them to the sweatshirt and squirt ketchup all over the place. Cereal Killer. Get it?"

Pretty amusing. You could also take an oversized white t-shirt, write "80% Off!" in black marker, spatter some ketchup on it and go as a Savings.com standard: The Killer Deal.

Okay, only us DealPros would probably get that one...

Katie offered this fun idea:

"I liked this one costume I saw a few years back--the guy called it "windblown." He wired and glued newspapers and misc garbage like paper cups, McDonald's bags, etc., to his pinstriped suit so that it looked like he was walking through a wind tunnel. It was really funny."

You could also add egg cartons, wire hangers, soup cans and misc. auto parts to the newspaper, garbage bags and paper cups and go as "Landfill." Bonus points if you hand out flyers on how to recycle...

Lindsay's idea: A yellow shirt plus a roll of duct tape, equals a bee.

Sounds cute. And if you use an entire roll of duct tape (or maybe two or three...), you could go as the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz.

Sheryl's suggestion is cheap and easy--but may require a run to the drugstore:

"I once went as a bag of jellybeans. I wore a black leotard & black tights from my ballet/gymnastic days, cut leg holes in a giant clear plastic garbage bag and filled it with colored balloons. Off to the Halloween party I went, thinking it was an awesome idea. And it was. Until the boys starting popping my costume! Thank goodness for the leotard and tights."

You could also alter this idea to go as a bunch of grapes or bag of peanut M&Ms. Other cheap and easy ideas: Fluffy white bathrobe plus green facial mask = "Spa client." Black attire plus nylon stocking pulled over face = "Burglar." Or you could pull out your most exquisite finery, get dressed to the nines and when anyone asks, tell them you "dressed up" for Halloween...

Got any cheap and easy last minute Halloween costume ideas? Share them with us in the comments! And have a safe and fabulous Halloween...