Old bedding or sheets and clothes can be use in many different imaginative ways. Think about building forts on rainy days, becoming an instant ghost, simply by tossing a sheet over your head or one of a hundred different pretend characters playing dress-up.
Children, tweens, teens and adults can easily make their own eco-friendly Halloween costumes this year out of old sheets and clothes. With a bit of imagination items that are readily at hand can be turned into unique, green Halloween costumes.
Halloween Costumes from Old White Sheets
Old sheets are one of the more versatile resources for creating Halloween costumes. Some costumes that can be created from old white sheets include:
- A ghost – One of the classic and fastest to create from an old white sheet. Cut holes for eyes and toss over the head.
- A specter – A version of the ghost, more like Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol or the other visiting ghosts. Wear white clothes, cut or tear the white sheet so it is more raggedy. Wear like a cape draped over the head.
- A mummy – Another one of the classics from an old sheet. Rip up the sheet and attach to or wrap around white clothes.
- Go Greek with a toga – Another fast and easy costume from an old sheet. Tie up the toga and go.
- A trauma patient – Rip up the sheet. Wrap up injured body parts. Add fake blood if desired.
Halloween Costumes from Colored Sheets
Colored or patterned sheets add more options to the sheet-inspired Halloween costume.
- Wear a colorful toga – Tie on a sheet into a toga and you are ready to go.
- Large strawberry marshmallow – Wrap in a pink sheet (or white dyed sheet), stuff with old packing materials.
- Fruit of the Loom Guys – Old colored or dyed sheets can be used to create fruit from the fruit of the loom e.g. apple, green or purple grapes and leaf. Stuff with old packing materials.
- Creature from the Black Lagoon – Make your own version with dark sheets covered with leaves, cattails and vines.
Halloween Costumes from Old Bedding and Curtains
With a bit of sewing skills, colorful bedding and curtains can be turned into old-style costumes, inspired by many of the classic films.
- Scarlett O'Hara's curtain dress in Gone With the Wind.
- Carol Burnett's spoof version of Scarlett O'Hara's curtain dress from the old Carol Burnett Show wearing curtains on a curtain rod.
- Children's play costumes for the Von Trapp children in the Sound of Music.
Brocade bedding and curtains could be turned into topcoat and tails and made into pirate, patriot or pioneer styled costumes.
Halloween Costumes from Old Clothes
One of the simplest ways to cut down on Halloween costume expenses is to reuse someone else's costume from a prior Halloween. Moms may get together to pool old costumes and swap them for 'new' reused costumes.
Using or reusing old clothes is a bit like playing the old game of dress up. Making a costume out of old clothes will depend a lot on the clothes that you can find. Old clothes can be turned into retro looks from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s. Here are some ideas of costumes that could be created from old clothes:
- Chemist
- Doctor
- Lumberjack
- Construction Worker
- Disco Queen
- Bobby sock girl
- Pirate
- Sport Hero
- Love Child, Hippie or Peacenik
- Tourist
- Teacher
- Police Officer
- Members of Armed Forces
- Politician
Other ways of reusing old clothes to create your own Vampire, Wizard and Zombie Halloween Costumes. Old prom dresses, cheerleader outfits or sport uniforms can be easily turned into Zombie versions. Old top hats and top coats can be made into several versions of the Mad Hatter Costumes.
Once the Halloween costumes have been used and they are not going to be used again, consider recycle the costumes by turning old sheets or blankets into a Animal Shelter.
For even more ideas for costumes Easy Halloween Costumes from Recycled Items has ideas for making Halloween attire from boxes, packing materials and newspapers or other articles in this series for making Halloween costumes from plastic garbage bags, trash bags and shopping bags.
Kirsti A. Dyer - Kirsti A. Dyer MD, MS, FT is a respected physician, health educator, professor, author and lecturer.
