One of the most important traditions on Halloween is costumes. Whether we base a costume on a character from a movie or to try to make the scariest costume we can come up with, costumes play an important role in celebrating Halloween. While circumstances do exist that make trick-or-treating and Halloween parties unlikely, it doesn’t mean we can still celebrate in costume.

Buying a costume isn’t always the wisest choice. With the average retailer costume being priced around $45, it’s debatable if it’s worth spending that kind of money for something we might end up using for a night or two. This doesn’t have mean that wearing a costume for Halloween isn’t out of the question; there are many other ways to enjoy a costume for Halloween, especially if you decide to make one yourself! When thinking about making your own costume, you might think of a bedsheet you cut two holes in to try to be a ghost or some old clothes you scraped together look like a historic figure or a hobo and, while some Do It Yourself (D.I.Y.) costumes are like this, you have the potential to be so much more.

Making a good D.I.Y. costume doesn’t require hours of work either. There are many ways to make your ideal costume, whether it is complex or not, and the benefit of being able to share it with your friends online and it turns out well, it is worth more than buying a high priced retail costume, whether you get to go out for the evening or not. If you’re confused on how to start or need to find inspiration, you can often find it in D.I.Y. costumes made by others online. Take for example this of a man pretending to be cut in half by Instructable Craft. It can really get your mind wandering about the possibilities you can achieve trying to make a clever costume to fool people with while not being too difficult or expensive to make, this costume was only $15.

Or even this zombie costume from Livin’ Generic. It is made with materials that you can find around the house or for cheap in the store. With such a small amount of materials to make a costume that looks better than what you can find in the store making something similar to this, or something different idea you think of won’t be too expensive or hard to make.

D.I.Y. costumes don’t always have to be an absolute hassle to make. Creating a unique costume can be fun and rewarding. Try to make your own Halloween costume this year, so you yourself can learn the benefits.