Halloween is fast approaching. Whether you’re looking for costume ideas, tips for spooking up your home, or frighteningly delicious party treats, we’ve got you covered.
Costumes
DIY thrift-store costumes are the most fun to make – plus they’re usually more affordable. Get your costume materials at Vicinity-member thrift shops (search Vicinity for one in your neighborhood) to find an awesome costume and collect points at the same time!
- Bat costume: a black hoodie and a broken umbrella are the main components of this inspired getup from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories.
- Rubik’s cube: it’s probably easier to make the costume than solve the puzzle though we’ve found both a simple and complex version – the choice is yours.
- Ghostbuster: the Ghostbusters remake (starring a mostly female cast) is coming in 2016 – another reason why this costume is a great idea for almost everyone.
- Optimus Prime: cardboard, duct tape, hot glue and paint come together in this awesome costume that’s fun to make.
- Pumpkin Pie: find a plain orange shirt and use a black marker to draw the mathematical symbol “pi” on the front. Voila.
Décor
Bring out your pumpkin-carving skills and get your creative juices flowing to turn up the eerie in your home.
Outside ideas:
- Ditch the usual jack o’lantern and try something different, like a pumpkin totem pole made with different sizes, colours and faces. Or go pretty instead of spooky with lacy white white pumpkins – you can even use a drill to carve out fancy patterns or turn a pumpkin into a vase. Or find a free pumpkin design template that tickles your turnip.
- Treat your neighbours to a spooky front yard with illuminated ghostly figures made from chicken wire or floating ghost heads. Wrap your house in a gigantic spider web or have the Headless Horseman greet trick-or-treaters at the door.
Inside ideas:
- Spook up your home’s interior with a haunted terrarium or repurposed thrift and dollar store items you can easily Halloweenify with paint, glitter and other craft supplies. If you really want to freak people out, try making a preserved head in a jar.
- Drape all the living room furniture in white sheets and put out candelabra with black candles.
- If you’re having a Halloween dinner party, use plastic vampire teeth as napkin-holders at the table.
Party food
Whether you’re hosting a Halloween bash for kids or adults, or both, it’s a great excuse to get creatively creepy in the kitchen.
- Spike the punchbowl with a ghostly hand.
- Put chills up the spines of your guests by serving frozen banana ghosts.
- Bring some pumpkin spice to the bar with a cool Halloween ice bucket.
- Lay out a buffet of eerie edibles that includes dead finger sandwiches, stuffed pepper heads, devilled egg newt eyeballs, and other fun Halloween food ideas.