We are now a week away from Halloween, do you have your costumes ready yet? Sure, you can brave the epic lines at your local party store. You can order something from Amazon and in two days, a UPS driver will hurl it at your doorstep. You can also tell your kids that Halloween was cancelled this year because their room isn’t clean or they didn’t do their homework or they colored on their chair at school which resulted in their teacher calling you in for a conference. (not that I’d know that from personal experience or anything…)

The minutes are ticking away and if you are a procrastinator, I’m here to hold your hand and tell you that it’s all going to be ok. I have a few costume ideas that are easy to accomplish in a short amount of time.

Clark Kent

Superman Under shirt, a white button down shirt and fake (or real) glasses. Leave several buttons undone so that the Superman symbol is peaking out. Bamn! You’ve got a Clark Kent in mid-transformation-cheap, easy and creative.

Head on a Platter

My mother made this costume for my brother back in the 70s. To this day, it remains to be one of my favorite costumes that I’ve seen. Procure a fairly large, flat piece of cardboard. Cut out a hole big enough to fit your kid’s head through. Take an old tablecloth, cut another hole and place the covered cardboard over your child’s head on onto his/her shoulders. Then, take some leaves of lettuce and place them (or hot glue them) around the hole to help hide your handiwork. Feel free to make your “head on a platter” look realistic by using some makeup to finish the whole look.

Zombies Make EVERYTHING Better

Give your basic costume a twist by zombie-fying it! Zombies are in and kids love them. Maybe your kid wants to be Ariel for the 3rd Halloween in a row? That’s ok, if he/she can still fit into last year’s costume, take some scissors and start ripping it. Add some zombie looking makeup and you’ve just saved yourself the argument of why it’s boring to be the same costume over and over again.

Creative Cardboard Box Costumes

I’ve seen anything from a garbage truck, firetruck, a rocket ship, instagram frames, iphones, a popcorn box, emojis—let your inner kid come out and play.

Hollywood Starlet

Fancy dress up clothes paired with a great coat, fabulous shoes and sunglasses make for a fun and easy Halloween costume. Bonus points if you have a faux fur coat lying around to use.

A bunch of grapes

Blow up several purple or light green balloons leaving plenty of room for you to tie a knot. Pin the balloons to a black shirt and black pants. Remember to pin more balloons at the top than the bottom so that they resemble a bunch of grapes. Take a piece of green felt cut out into a leaf pattern, then bobby pin it to the top of a bun or use double sided tape if there’s not enough hair to use for a bobby pin.

Crazy Cat Lady

I created this costume in about 10 minutes earlier this week for my two year old daughter. Comfy pajamas under a robe, fuzzy slippers, curlers in the hair and cats hanging off of the robe. I didn’t have cat eye glasses so I used some other play glasses to complete her look. She was a hit and best of all…she didn’t complain about it being itchy or uncomfortable. It was a win, win for everyone.

Bring the creativity back to Halloween! Store bought costumes are fine but Halloween costumes don’t need to be a hassle or expensive. If you procrastinate any longer though, you’ll be forced to head out to a remote area in the desert on the best night of the year all because you had to follow thru with the “Halloween was cancelled” idea.