11 Halloween Costumes I Made From Stuff Already in My House

At 6:12 p.m. on October 30th, I was standing in my laundry room holding a half-empty bottle of OxiClean like it was going to solve my entire life. My middle kid had just informed me—casually, like he was telling me we were out of bananas—that he “needed” a costume for school the next morning. Not for Halloween night. For school. Of course.

So I did what any slightly frazzled mom of three does: I started opening closets like a raccoon behind a gas station. And honestly? Some of these turned out weirdly good. The first one happened because I couldn’t find the hot glue.

1) UPS Driver: my husband’s old brown Carhartt jacket + a USPS Priority Mail box (whoops)

I grabbed my husband’s beat-up brown Carhartt jacket from the coat hook graveyard and shoved my kid into black leggings. For the “package,” I handed her a USPS Priority Mail box because that’s what was on top of the fridge, and I wrote “FRAGILE: MOM’S SANITY” in Sharpie. Halfway to school she goes, “Is UPS the red and blue one?” Not my proudest branding moment. I salvaged it in the parking lot by covering the USPS logo with painter’s tape and scribbling “UPS-ish” on it. One dad laughed so hard he snorted.

2) Wednesday Addams: Target Cat & Jack black dress + a white office printer paper collar

I found my older daughter’s black long-sleeve Cat & Jack dress (Target, size 8, linty but fine) and made a collar out of plain printer paper because we’re fancy like that. I cut a wide semicircle, folded little pleats like a sad accordion, then stapled it to a ribbon from a gift bag. The hair was two braids held with those tiny clear elastics I always find stuck to the bathroom counter. She practiced deadpan blinking at her brothers for ten minutes straight, which was honestly the most committed acting she’s done all year.

3) “Cereal Killer”: Cheerios box + Ziploc snack bags + a red Crayola marker situation

This one was for my middle kid, who wanted “something scary but also funny.” I taped empty Ziploc snack bags to an old Cheerios box like little trophies and wrote names on each bag: “Cap’n Crunch,” “Froot Loops,” “Rice Krispies.” Then I drew drippy red “blood” with a Crayola washable marker and immediately regretted my confidence because it bled through onto the kitchen table. A wet paper towel and a quick prayer fixed most of it. He carried around a plastic butter knife from the play kitchen and whispered “snap, crackle… POP” at people like a tiny menace.

4) Statue of Liberty: teal bath towel + a DIY crown made from a Costco cereal box

I wrapped my youngest in a teal bath towel and cinched it with a belt that used to belong to a cardigan I no longer own. For the crown, I cut a strip from a Costco cereal box, taped it into a circle, then added seven little spikes because I remembered that fact from a fourth-grade trivia phase. I hit it with leftover green craft paint from my “I’m going to be a Pinterest mom” era, which is still sitting under the sink. The torch was a paper towel roll wrapped in aluminum foil with yellow tissue paper stuffed in the top. He kept yelling, “I’M THE LIBERTY!” like it was a superhero name.

5) Tourist Dad: fanny pack + White Claw koozie + socks pulled up like it’s 1998

I took my husband’s ancient black fanny pack (the zipper sticks, which felt on-brand), clipped it around my waist, and wore a neon yellow T-shirt I got free at a 5K in 2016. I put a folded map printout in my back pocket and carried a White Claw koozie filled with grapes because I was still parenting, technically. The key is the socks: tall white athletic socks pulled up to mid-calf with my clunkiest sneakers. My kids said I looked “accurate in a sad way,” which I’m choosing to interpret as excellent costume work.

6) Rosie the Riveter: red bandana + my husband’s Milwaukee work gloves + a thrifted denim shirt

I didn’t buy anything new, but I did steal my husband’s Milwaukee work gloves from the garage shelf where everything smells like grass clippings. The denim button-up was already in my closet from a Goodwill run in March ($6.49, still had a mystery button missing). I tied a red bandana around my hair, rolled the sleeves, and did the “We Can Do It!” pose in the mirror while a child yelled, “MOM, I CAN’T FIND MY OTHER SHOE.” Honestly fitting. I added a little smudge of brown eyeshadow on my cheek like “grit” and accidentally made myself look like I’d lost a fight with a cinnamon bun.

7) M&M Candy: oversized solid-color sweatshirt + a white poster board “M” taped on with Scotch

My youngest had a bright green sweatshirt from Old Navy and I had a sheet of white poster board left over from a science fair that ruined a weekend. I cut a big “m” and taped it on with Scotch tape because I couldn’t find the double-sided. It fell off twice before breakfast. I finally safety-pinned it through the fabric and told him, very seriously, that he was “premium chocolate.” For the finishing touch, I used a clean makeup sponge to dab a little brown blush on his cheeks so he looked “candy-ish,” which is a word I just invented. He insisted on talking like the green M&M, which mostly meant sarcasm.

8) Harry Potter: striped tie from a drawer + a chopstick wand + a Sharpie lightning bolt

I found a red-and-gold striped tie in my husband’s “wedding stuff” drawer and looped it over a white button-down my kid already owned. The wand was a chopstick from a takeout set we’ve had since 2021, slightly bent, still functional. I drew the lightning bolt on his forehead with a black Sharpie and then spent three minutes trying to make it look less like a weird checkmark. His glasses were real, which helped, and he took his role seriously enough to tell his brother, “You’re a Muggle,” in the most judgmental voice I’ve ever heard from a seven-year-old.

9) “Old Person” (his words, not mine): reading glasses chain + bathrobe + a cane made from a Swiffer handle

My middle kid demanded to be “an old person,” which is how I know karma is real. I put him in my plaid bathrobe, slid fuzzy socks on his feet, and gave him my reading glasses with one of those beaded glasses chains I bought at CVS and forgot I owned. The cane was the real triumph: I popped the mop head off a Swiffer handle and wrapped the bottom with duct tape so it didn’t scratch the floor. He hunched over and said, “Back in my day we had dial-up,” which is a phrase he learned from me complaining about our Wi-Fi.

10) Bob Ross: blue button-up + a $2.18 paintbrush from my junk drawer + aluminum foil palette

I already had a soft blue button-up shirt that never gets worn because it’s “dry clean only,” and Halloween is not a dry-clean-friendly holiday. I stuck a cheap paintbrush (I found the receipt later: $2.18 from Walmart, crumpled in the drawer) in his hand and made a “palette” by wrapping aluminum foil around a paper plate. For hair, I teased his curls with a wide-tooth comb and a little kids’ detangler until he looked like a tiny art teacher. He walked around saying, “Happy little trees,” and at one point patted the dog’s head like it was a landscape.

11) “Bag of Jellybeans”: clear Hefty storage bag + balloons + a printed label from my inkjet printer

This was my most chaotic success. I used a big clear Hefty storage bag (the kind you’d put blankets in) and filled it with inflated balloons in neon colors. I printed a “Jelly Beans” label on my cranky HP inkjet printer that always claims it’s out of cyan, taped it on, and cut arm holes with kitchen scissors. It made that loud plastic crinkle every time she moved, so she sounded like a walking snack aisle. She was delighted until she tried to sit down and the balloons aggressively resisted, which felt like a lesson in physics. We compromised: she stood dramatically all evening.