Halloween Ideas How-Tos
How To: 9 Insanely Lazy Last-Minute Halloween Costume Ideas Using Only What You've Got
I'm one of those types of people who waits until the very last minute to find a Halloween costume, and thanks to last year's attempt at buying one at a local costume shop the day before Halloween, I will just settle for the things I have lying around in my house from now until eternity. It's like Black Friday chaos, only with more gropers.
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.
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: The Candy Hunter's Guide to Scoring Bigger, Better, & Boatloads of Sweet Treats on Halloween
While most people were worried about having the scariest costume when I was younger, I was always more interested in the candy. While everyone wasted time trying to perfect their costume, I was busy mapping out every detail in my city, finding the most efficient way of getting the most candy in my pillowcase(s) before the night ended. Although I'm long retired from the game, it's about time to pass along all of the tips and tricks I've learned from my youth for getting treats. So, here I pres...
How To: 10 Truly Last-Minute Halloween Costumes That Don't Totally Suck
With only a few days left until Halloween, your options might be rather limited if you still don't have a costume. You may have laughed while some people spent the entire month of October painstakingly crafting their ridiculously detailed costumes, but now that the big day is so close, the joke's on you because you still have nothing to wear.
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?
Say No to Slutty: 10 Creative Women's Halloween Costumes That Won't Sacrifice Your Self-Respect
Some women see Halloween as a once-a-year opportunity to dress in something skimpy without dealing with as much scrutiny as usual. That can be fun, but not everyone is comfortable enough wearing so little, and the costumes are so boring and repetitive. Some of us just don't feel like freezing.
How To: Turn a Cute & Innocent Teddy Bear into a Man-Eating Grizzly Zombie for Halloween
Humans aren't the only ones who get to take part in the festivities on Halloween. We give our pumpkins human faces and dress up our pets, so why not include toys and stuffed animals in the fun?
How To: 11 Clever Candy Wrapper Crafts You Can Do After Binging on Halloween Chocolate
Halloween night for most people with kids means tons of candy. That translates into tons of trash from candy wrappers. But even though you probably wouldn't think it, there's no shortage of alternative uses for those wrappers, from clothing and accessories to home decor.
How To: Carve an Amazing Halloween Pumpkin: 5 Sinister Jack-O’-Lantern Designs
Need help with some last-minute pumpkin carving? This guide will show you 5 different jack-o'-lantern designs just in time for Halloween.
How To: Double Your Treats This Halloween with a DIY Two-Face Makeup Look
If you're undecided on a Halloween costume, embrace your indecisiveness with a split personality Two-Face look, or go one better as an amalgamation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the epitome of multiple personality disorder. Or, you could literally give yourself another face, which is pretty much what German artist Sebastian Bieniek did in his recent DoubleFaced series. They're like a long-lost Picasso painting of conjoined twins on a living face, and in some cases, conjoined triplets. You can s...
How To: Chia Pet Pet Costume, Plus 9 More Adorable DIY Halloween Costumes for Dogs & Cats
Halloween is only a few short weeks away, and most people are scrambling to get their costumes together before the big night. The secret to a great getup is all in the details, and including your pet in the fun can be exactly what you need to take your costume to the next level.
How To: 8 Nerdy Halloween Costumes That Even the Geekiest of Geeks Wouldn't Touch
Nerds get a bad rap most of the time, but on Halloween, everyone wants to be one. However, not everyone knows how to geek it out without going too far. There is a limit, even for nerds, and these eight Halloween costumes are nerdy times pi.
How To: Be a Human Pincushion for Halloween: DIY Voodoo Doll Costume & Makeup
Voodoo you want the best costume this year? You're probably laughing so hard right now that you need to hold yourself together with pins and needles, right?
Quick Tip: Make Your Halloween Treats Glow in the Dark with Tonic Water
If you're throwing a party for Halloween or making homemade goodies for trick-or-treaters, there's no shortage of spooky foods and drinks you can cook up. But if you want to take it a step further, you can make anything glow under a black light by adding a little tonic water. Camber Wilson over on Recipe Snobs was asked to come up with a recipe for glow-in-the-dark cupcakes. After playing around with the frosting a bit, she found that tonic water made white frosting glow, but the effect was d...
Lazy Jack-O'-Lanterns: 11 Creative Ways to Decorate a Halloween Pumpkin Without Carving
A well-executed jack-o'-lantern can be pretty damn impressive, but some of us lack the carving skills necessary to pull it off and end up disappointed. Sometimes you just don't want to put in all the time required to cut open a pumpkin, gut it, and chisel an elaborate face or cool design into it.
How To: Make a Katy Perry "Roar" Costume for Halloween
There are two things I can definitively say about Katy Perry. One, she makes extremely terrible but catchy songs that I end up hating myself for singing in the car. Two, she single-handedly made Elmo the most popular Sesame Street character ever for males 13 and up (though, Kevin Clash ultimately made him the least popular shortly thereafter). Needless to say, Ms. Perry knows how to show off her assets. How can we forget California Gurls and whip cream breast cans?
How To: Make Your Jack-O'-Lantern Shine Lite-Brite Bright This Halloween
I loved my Lite-Brite as a kid. There was just something about using those little multicolored pegs to make my own designs, and it's not exactly a secret that kids love anything that lights up (LED sneakers, anyone?). So how do you combine the old-school fun of Lite-Brite with pumpkin carving?
How To: DIY Call of Duty "Ghosts" Skull Mask: Halloween Achievement Unlocked
Call of Duty may be one of the best video game franchises ever, but I doubt you'll see very many people dressed up as COD characters this Halloween. As awesome as the games are, there just aren't any memorable characters when it comes to looks—besides one.
AHS Asylum: How to Make a Crying White Nun Costume for Halloween
American Horror Story might just be the craziest TV shows out there, with its absurd plot twists, creepy, over-the-top characters, and wicked storyline. It's gained a cult following ever since the first season, Murder House, and has even earned some Emmys along the way.
Day of the Dead: DIY Sugar Skull Halloween Look with Rick Baker, Horror Makeup FX Master
Day of the Dead, or Día de Muertos, is a Mexican holiday celebrated on November 1 or 2 each year to honor the dead. It's often lumped in with Halloween, and while some people do dress up in costumes, the day is much more focused on remembering the lives of friends and family members who have passed. People who are unfamiliar with the holiday sometimes consider one of its most pervasive symbols, the sugar skull, rather morbid. And special makeup effects artist Rick Baker is no stranger to the ...
How To: Get Meta This Halloween with a Lazy, Last-Minute DIY Selfie Costume
Selfies have been around for quite a while, but with the popularity of social media (in particular Instagram) they've become ubiquitous in our culture. There's even mobile apps dedicated solely to selfies. If that and your news feed isn't proof enough, just check with the Oxford Dictionary.
How To: Yard Waste = Free Halloween Costume: How to Make Creepy Masks from Fallen Palm Tree Fronds
I want my Halloween costume to take as little effort as possible and be cheap—extremely cheap. That means I don't want to pay 50 bucks for some costume online or spend all day playing with liquid latex, and I most definitely do not want to visit a super crowded costume store in Hollywood.
How To: Do Lady Gaga's Creepy "Applause" Clown Makeup for Halloween
Lady Gaga's fashion choices are... interesting, to say the least. I mean, she wore a dress made of raw meat to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, and don't even get me started on that giant egg from the Red Carpet for her arrival to the 2011 Grammys.
Give Mummy Love: How to Make a Mummified Halloween Prop
This mummy Halloween project was inspired by the fear of answering the phone when mother calls. So, instead of getting wrapped up in frustration, get wrapped up in this easy DIY prop...and give your mummy love.
How To: Make a Perched Nighttime Owl Prop for Halloween
Afraid of the dark? You're only afraid of things you can't see. Just like an owl, see through the darkness, light up your imagination, and use your own owl eyes to make your very own Halloween hoot. To make this owl, you'll need black foam board, an X-Acto knife, LED lights, battery-powered closet light, and curtain rod.
How To: Bee-Do, Bee-Do! 5 Awesome DIY Minion Halloween Costumes from 'Despicable Me'
Last summer, Universal Pictures released the sequel to the popular 2010 animated film Despicable Me, bringing back everyone's favorite characters—the Minions. They're adorable, yellow, and they speak a gibberish "Banana Language." What's not to love? If you're planning on dressing yourself (or your kids) as Minions for Halloween this year, you'll be in good company. There are tons of costumes out there you can buy or make, and here are five of the best DIY options for you.
After Halloween Guide: How to Remove Makeup, Face Paint, Fake Blood & Body Glue from Skin & Clothing
Becoming someone else for Halloween is a lot of fun, but it can take a ton of tools to accomplish. An elaborate costume can require you to slather yourself in all kinds of makeup, paints, and glues, and putting it on is only half the work. The real fun starts when the party's over, and you have to remove it all.
How To: DIY "Blurred Lines" Halloween Costume: You Know You Want It
The video for Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" got its fair share of attention due to the three topless models who star in it. In the second version, they're covered up, but just barely. Both the song lyrics and the lack of clothing sparked plenty of debate, controversy and even parodies.
How To: Shh… How to Make Yourself a Silent Film Character for Halloween
2011's The Artist was the first silent film to win an Academy Award since 1927. It was old school versus new school, and it won in unprecedented fashion.
How To: The 5 Most Timely Costumes for Halloween 2012
Timely costumes for Halloween are awesome—especially really obscure ones—because they're indicative of social awareness. In 2010, I remember seeing several Chilean Miner costumes, which I thought were great. 2012 brings new stories, new characters and more importantly...new Halloween costumes.
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 Candy Corn Vodka Cocktails for Your Halloween Bash
Do you like candy corn? Do you like vodka? Well, then this candy corn vodka cocktail will be a huge hit at your Halloween party (at least, with you).
How To: DIY Decapitated Head Drinking Fountain: The Perfect Way to Serve Blood-Red Punch on Halloween
Costume parties are in full effect this weekend, so with that said, how cool would this look at your Halloween party? Instructables user castor009 made two holes in the head (one for inserting the PVC tube, the other where the liquid will spew out) and insert the pipe and tubing, then stuffed it to secure everything. He then fit the bottom tubing through a pencil holder and attached it to a water pump. Then just add whatever you want to serve at the party (I would suggest anything red or blac...
How To: Build an Arduino-Based Voice Changer for Your Costume
If you're dressing up as someone iconic for Halloween, having the right voice can make or break your costume. Think about it—having a Darth Vader lookalike walk up to you and start talking like Alvin the Chipmunk would probably ruin the effect (and possibly be a little creepy).
How To: Carve a Styrofoam Stormtrooper Helmet for Halloween
Stormtroopers were once the elite soldiers of the unstoppable Galactic Empire that ruled the Universe. Then little ol' Luke Skywalker came along and destroyed the Death Star, ending the evil empire forever. Since then, poor Stormtroopers all over the world have been left without work (maybe it's the economy). Out of the entire year, Stormtroopers have only a few select days of recognition, such as Star Wars Day and Halloween, where they come out of the woodwork to celebrate their once beloved...
How To: These DIY Animatronic Jack-O'-Lanterns Sing Any Song That You Want
You can carve a pumpkin that smokes, has an LED display, or even one with the President's face on it, but if you want your jack-o'-lantern to really stand out—make it sing the Ghostbusters theme.
The Thing-O'-Lantern: How to Build the Fantastic Four's "Thing" Out of Smashed Up Pumpkins
Of all the ways you can use pumpkins for Halloween decorations, this has got to be one of the most creative. Redditor wizardtig used pumpkin shards to construct a 6'4" replica of the Fantastic Four's Thing. Does this technically count as a jack-o'-lantern? Under the eleven pumpkins that got smashed to bits for this project is a wooden frame wrapped in chicken wire, with the pumpkin pieces attached to the wire. You can check out more photos of the build process on his Imgur album.
How To: Make a Flaming Pumpkin
Make a flaming pumpkin—great for your Halloween party! Watch the video for a step-by-step guide to create a really cool flaming Jack o' Lantern!