Halloween is in just two short weeks, and with a desperate need to attend costume parties and contests, how can you come up with a costume so quickly? Spirit Halloween is close to selling out of a majority of their trending, high-demand stock, so how can we get cool, Pinterest-worthy costumes?

First and foremost, as many know, Spirit Halloween is not the most convenient for costumes. They’re overpriced for cheap, low-quality attire, they sell out of costumes fast, and overall, they just don’t look great. Spirit Halloween is fast fashion, especially considering the costumes typically only last 1-3 wears before sitting in your closet all year and ultimately contributing to the overwhelming amount of clothing in landfills. So, with this information in mind, how can we come up with interesting, ethical, high-quality, and unique costumes?

Step one, find inspiration. The best places to find inspiration are Pinterest, TikTok, Instagram, and other social media that provide images, descriptions, and ideas. While these help plenty, do not feel limited to just social media! You can find inspiration from your favorite movies, TV shows, books, bands, songs, video games, or even simply walking through nature. A few examples of things in nature may be an animal, or even something unique, like the personification of an element or a location. There are endless possibilities!

Step two, decide your costume components. If you decided to dress up as a moth, you simply wouldn’t paint your body a solid color and wear fake wings. While this is definitely a concept, it feels lifeless and makes things more complicated than they need to be. Instead, a good moth costume may consist of a detailed top, a skirt, tights, moth wings, a pair of dainty shoes, elaborate makeup, and an antennae headband tucked into styled hair. You could take the costume in nearly any direction and express creativity in your visuals to make the costume exactly what you want.

Step three, gather your resources. You can use close to anything for your costume! If you’re more on the crafty side, you may want to sew a costume from scratch and add personal, intricate details. Maybe you want to collect pieces one at a time to create an elegant, well-processed finished product. If you settle on the former, craft stores and funky fabrics will be in your best interest. If you choose the latter, the best locations would be thrift stores, antique shops, and even finding some smaller components on Amazon. 

Step four, final details and accessories. Do any of your costume pieces need to be dyed a certain color? Will you be walking around a lot, or staying mostly in one place, so you can plan the right type of shoes? Will you need to incorporate something to hold your important belongings, or something to collect candy with should you decide to take your siblings trick-or-treating? If you plan this in advance, you could even coordinate a cute bag with your costume!

Step five, makeup and hair. While neither of these are necessary, they’re also fun elements to incorporate! You may decide to temporarily dye your hair, or even buy a wig. Maybe your costume requires elaborate makeup, or maybe something more simple and delicate. Pinterest and TikTok typically have great reference images and helpful tutorials.

Step six, assemble! Now that you have either crafted or collected your costume pieces, it’s time to finally assemble them into one concluded costume. Add some base pieces to ensure your comfort, decide if you’ll need to bring a coat of some sort, and make sure every detail is just to your liking.

Now that you’ve completed your costume, you can relish in your originality, take iconic photos, and enjoy your spooky evening!