DIY Halloween Costumes « Halloween Ideas

How To: Transform into Eleven from 'Stranger Things' for Halloween (Costume & Makeup Guide)

Since its debut, retro thriller Stranger Things and its characters have become ingrained in our popular culture — especially the telekinetic Eleven. For cosplayers, it didn't take long before they grabbed their boxes of frozen Eggo waffles, blonde wigs (or bald caps), and pink smocked dresses to transform into El herself.

How To: Recreate Snake Eater's Costume from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

If you're a fan of the Metal Gear video game series, an obvious Halloween costume choice would be Solid Snake, the protagonist of nearly all of the games. However, an even better option would be Big Boss, aka John, Ishmael, Vic Boss, The Man Who Sold the World, and Naked Snake, among many other aliases. He's was once a good man, but better known as the nemesis to Solid Snake. The below costume by YouTube user Erick Zeros showcases Naked Snake in his good era, in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eate...

How To: Create a Mad Hatter Costume Inspired by Tim Burton

The Mad Hatter from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland not only makes a great costume but a great project. The hour-glass shaped hat, the striped pants, the fingerless gloves, and the Hatter's signature scarf are the most important components in this costume. If you're fairly skilled with costuming already, this shouldn't take more than four or so hours.

How To: 10 Costumes That Will Get You Laid at Your Next Halloween Party

To steal a quote from Mean Girls, Halloween is the one night when a girl can dress like a total slut and no one can say anything about it—but why do girls get to have all the fun?

How To: Build a LEGO Man Costume for Halloween

If you need a Halloween costume posthaste, you really can't go wrong with a LEGO man costume. And one made from cardboard that is fully functional, well, you'll probably win the "Best Costume" contest hands down. Not only will this mecha-esque costume wow everyone you meet, but it eliminates the need to apply Halloween makeup, style your hair, and get your outfit just so. With a LEGO man costume, you're ready to roll.

Be Maleficent for Halloween: DIY Horns, Dress & Makeup for Cheap

Casting Angelina Jolie as Maleficent was a no-brainer on Disney's part. No one else could project beauty, elegance, and fear simultaneously just like the animated villain in Sleeping Beauty did. But what sets the character apart from other evil witches, or any other Disney character for that matter, is the sinister, yet gorgeous-looking horns and headdress. And with news that a Maleficent sequel is currently in the works, this will surely be a great Halloween costume this year.

How To: Build Ant-Man's Helmet & Suit for Halloween

Ant-Man isn't one of the most famous Marvel superheroes. In fact, with the news of his individual movie came great doubt that the comic book legends could succeed in telling the tiny story of an oddball hero on the big screen. Yet with its humor and unique story, Ant-Man has become a hit movie in its own right—and the hero will most certainly make a hit Halloween costume.

Double-Take: 11 Optical Illusion-Based Costumes for the Creative & Crafty

Every year, some overly ambitious neighbor down the street amazes the crowds with his DIY illusion costume. While these costumes certainly require more work than pulling a mask over your head, they do have that wow factor that others lack.

How To: Make a Cardboard Captain America Shield for Halloween

As if Captain America: The First Avenger wasn't awesome enough, Marvel hit us with Captain America: The Winter Soldier this year, and it was even more spectacular than its predecessor. Grossing nearly $260 million in domestic sales, it's safe to say America loves Captain America and we'll probably get a heavy dose of Captain costumes this year for Halloween. Anyone can buy a costume from the store, but what will help set you apart from everyone else is a badass DIY Captain America shield, unm...

How To: Make a Menacing Kylo Ren 'Star Wars' Costume for Halloween

Kylo Ren, conflicted villain of the new Star Wars trilogy, will surely be a major presence again this Halloween, with The Last Jedi fast approaching. His costume, all black and layered, complete with dark-side helmet and crossguard lightsaber, seems quite perfect for Oct. 31 — as well as your next DIY project.

Last-Minute Halloween Quickie: 100+ Free Printable Masks

If you've run out of time for all of our more time-consuming Halloween costume ideas, here are some places on the web for free, downloadable paper masks. There must be at least 100 options among these links to satisfy your last-minute costume needs! Just download, print, and cut 'em out to the appropriate size, then either glue a stick/handle on or tie some elastic string on.

How To: Make an Easy, Last-Minute Polygon Mask for Halloween

Halloween is one of those things that always seems to sneak up on you before you're prepared, so if you don't have tons of free time to make your own kickass costume, you might have to throw together something a little more last minute.

How To: Make a Living Rorschach Mask with Morphing Inkblots

Watchmen may be old(ish) news, but cheap and legit costumes never go out of style. Easily the most sought after character for Halloween (it might be a little cold outside if your hoping to pull off Dr. Manhattan), Rorschach with his trench coast and splotch-filled mask make for a cheap, easy, and instantly recognizable costume for this coming Halloween.

How To: Print Out These Emoji Cutouts for the Easiest Halloween Costume Ever

Emojis have transformed the way we laugh and cry, tell stories, give responses, and express excitement to get a drink after work — without any actual text required. Heck, in an incredibly meta move, the Oxford Dictionary even named the "Face with Tears of Joy" emoji as their word of the year at one point. So how could you not want to be an emoji character for Halloween? Emojis are everywhere. The ubiquitous symbols are already on smartphones, tablets, and social networks, so why not help them...

How To: These Free Printable Masks Are About as Lazy as Halloween Costumes Can Get

You told yourself you wouldn't be one of those lame people who throws on a mask and shows up at costume parties, but here we are a day before Halloween and you still have nothing. Unless you want to endure endless ridicule, you can't skip dressing up altogether, but if you don't want to buy a pre-made costume your options are pretty limited.

How To: DIY Princess Anna Costume & Makeup from Disney's Frozen

Despite being the main character, Princess Anna from Walt Disney's animated film Frozen does not have the most visually recognizable outfit. That means that the streets will be crowded this Halloween with kids and adults dressed up as the more visually unique characters, like Elsa (the Snow Queen) with her ice gown and Olaf, the living snowman.

How To: Build the Ultimate DIY RoboCop Helmet with Cardboard

"Dead or alive, you're coming with me!" That iconic quote from the 1987 movie RoboCop was repeated by kids like me for years. The 2014 reboot introduced the baddest robot-cop on the planet to new audiences worldwide. While it didn't live up to the amazingly high expectations set by its predecessors, RoboCop 2014 did show off some newly upgraded gear. The modern look is cool and all, but rolling to a party rocking the 1987 helmet with the retro visor cannot be beat. With Halloween coming up, i...

Be Yourself for Halloween: Enlarge Your Head with This Bigheaded DIY Self-Portrait Mask

Have you ever come across somebody on the streets looking like this? Pretty freaky, especially if it's not Halloween. But you know what, Halloween is almost here, so freaky is good. Thanks to creative folks like Eric Testroete and Bhautik Joshi, you can now create an awesome papercraft portrait of your own head for Halloween this year.

How To: 24 Last-Minute Halloween Costumes for Procrastinators

Are you one of those people that waits until the last minute to come up with a costume for Halloween? Unless you're a makeup artist, have a ton of money, or are ultra-crafty, coming up with a good Halloween costume is always a low-priority task. That is, until it's Halloween and you're having a panic attack.

How To: These 6 Cheap & Easy DIY Masks Are Perfect for Last-Minute Halloween Costumes

With only a day left until Halloween, a full and detailed costume is too much to throw together for most people. But you still have to dress up as something, right? No one will give you candy or let you into a Halloween party if you don't even put in some effort.