Easy costumes you can make with what you already have in your wardrobe

Every year about 35 million costumes are thrown away after Halloween. That is an insane amount of trash and it is 100% avoidable. Of course, as Halloween costumes are seen as something disposable, the quality of these isn’t the best.

While renting or thrifting your Halloween costume is a better option than purchasing a new one, we prefer costumes that can be made with clothes we already own or with clothes that we can keep wearing for years as every day clothes.

We have over 15 eco and budget-friendly costume ideas for you:

The classics:

1. doll

You can never go wrong with the Doll costume, it doesn’t have to be pretty. As easy as grabbing a shirt and layering it with a flowy dress, or just wearing the dress on its own.

The trick here is all on the makeup you wear and you hair. Remember, you don’t have to be an expert in Halloween, every mistake can look intentional.

2. Scarecrow

All you need for this costume is a flannel and an overall, maybe some boots and a hat and that’s it. The truth is, you can make it your own and it will look good without trying too much.

3. Vampire

Grab your favorite black dress, and mix it up with dark red accessories and that’s all you need to create your Vampire costume. Don’t forget to add red lipstick and red or black nails!

Iconic Characters:

4. Luke from Gilmore Girls

All you need is a pair of jeans, a plaid shirt and a blue cap. Done! You can be Luke this Halloween and wear the most comfy costume of the party.

Wear the cap backwards, and add a coffee mug, it will be perfect.

5. Your favorite character from friends

A cliché indeed, but c’mon! Who doesn’t want to dress like their favorite character from Friends at least once? Here’s an example of Rachel’s & Monica’s costumes.

6. Boo from monsters, inc.

This is basically like wearing pajamas and it is the simpliest thing ever. Just put on some purple leggings or yoga pants and a pink t-shirt. If you don’t have any of these, you can borrow them from someone.

iconic people

7. Marilyn Monroe

We made a tutorial for Marilyn’s pants so you can make your own. Pair them with a turtleneck and black flats and you’re ready to go! Actually, no. You need some red lipstick and vintage hair, but you will keep wearing these items for a while.

8. Audrey Hepburn

All black outfit. I recommend wearing some capri pants as they will give you the 50’s vibe. If you have long hair, you can always put it up on a ponytail and maybe add a hairscarf and sunglasses.

9. Madonna

You can get inspired in her 80’s outfits, specifically. Madonna had a grunge, urban, sexy, kind of style at that time. She added a lot of drama to her looks.

Use a lace top like a corset, bodysuit, or bralette with a mesh top. Look for a blazer or jacket with shoulder pads, it was all about these back then. For accessories add a belt, a pair of white gloves, black boots, and chunky jewelry.

10. Harry Styles

Harry Styles has a lot of iconic looks, so you can find your favorite and try to replicate it. This is just one of many options.

11. Lana Del Rey

Choose your favorite Lana era and be that for Halloween. There’s a lot to choose from, so feel free to rock whatever is your favorite!

12. Any Taylor Swift era

Any Swifties here? This is a great idea for a friend group costume. Each one of you can be a different era, of course if you’re lucky to have a lot of friends, but if you don’t, you can be your favorite era by yourself!

just for fun:

13. pantone

Not feeling creative but you don’t want to look generic? Dress as a pantone this Halloween! All you need is a monochromatic outfit and you’re going to have to print your code, and that’s it! (You can do this on Canva).

You don’t even need to do your hair or put on makeup.

Plus: You will be able to reuse this costume next Halloween, just change the color of the garments and the code.

14. a grandma

I mean… wouldn’t you like to wear a cardigan and some comfy shoes as a costume? Remember grandma’s are all about coziness and comfort.

If the items are vintage they will look more on fit with the theme here.

Indoor Hallogreen

For 2020 we organized an Instagram Challenge where we dressed as our favorite things for 6 days. As those were days where we couldn’t go out because of covid, we shared our costumes through Instagram and lots of you joined us, remember?

Well, those costume ideas could work too this Halloween, so here’s the Indoor Hallogreen Challenge and what we wore back then: