Because I am cheap, green, and love a challenge, I love to DIY Halloween. It’s particularly challenging because I can not cut a straight line or properly sew, so I rely on a glue gun and ingenuity. Last year I pulled off two Jake and The Neverland costumes for $2. This year I plan to dress the whole family, including the dog, as the cast of Teen Titans Go!
THE PLAN:
Sam = Robin
Cut sleeves off red shirt and put over long-sleeved green shirt. Construction paper for the accents. Old Super Why cape gets turned inside out. It’s green instead of yellow but will work. Yellow belt also from old Super Why costume. Black mask made from cutting up a black fabric bag.
Evelyn = Starfire
She already owns purple shirt and shorts and silver leggings. I inadvertently inherit a suitcase full of princess costumes, and some wide, silvery ribbon from one of the dresses does well cut into pieces and stitched up into arm bands and a neck piece. I have no large green buttons, so I use a magnatile.
Mommy (Paige) = Raven
Blue hoodie clasped with a brooch to serve as cloak. Batman mask slightly altered.
Daddy (Mike) = Beast Boy
Green wig courtesy of Yerdle ($4 for shipping). Mike’s long sleeved black shirt under a purple T-shirt with the sleeves cut off, courtesy of Buy Nothing Group. My black leggings, silver belt, and purple shorts (I don’t know how to feel about the fact that they fit him). Some eco-friendly green face paint.
Dog (Gizmo) = Cyborg
Random Robot Mickey Mouse ears someone once bestowed us and his Darth Vader T-shirt.
Total spent = $4 for the used wig shipping only.
HOW THINGS ACTUALLY TURN OUT:
Evelyn has been telling me for the past couple days that she wants to be “a pizza and a cookie.” Sadly she is too late. She immediately tears off the magnatile, refuses the belt, and there is no way in hell I’m getting pink ribbons in her hair. She spends the entire evening in a coat so she is pretty much dressed as herself.
At the last minute I fear being too cold and swap out my dark blue hoodie for my husband’s warmer light blue hoodie with no zipper. I improvise with construction paper, but, looking at photos later that night, see that in my haste I’ve pasted the whole thing on upside down. So I look like I am wearing a Nazi concentration camp badge.
Mike is a great sport and his legs look way better than mine. He does, however, refuse the face paint. And he thinks the wig may have given him lice. Everyone thought he was dressed as The Joker.
The dog barely accepts the costume long enough to take one picture.
But, ultimately, Halloween is all about the six-year-old. And he rocked it.
Paige’s Books
As Seen In
