Homemade Halloween costumes that are scary cute

Updated: Nov. 1, 11 a.m.

For the record, there’s nothing wrong with buying a Halloween costume. But there is something special about a costume you were able to make with the help of craft supplies, thrift store finds and a whole lot of creativity.

Here are a few families who, when confronted with a costume request that couldn’t be found in a store, took Halloween into their own hands.

Frank the Combine

My son wanted to be an obscure character from the “Cars” movie! Frank the Combine. Hardware store for the win — spray paint, plumbing tubes and joints and ducting! — Emily Colaizy

Brave Little Toaster, and friends

My daughter Nahla as the Brave Little Toaster when she was 1. I went as the radio and her dad went as the AC unit. — Ashley LeMay

Homer Hankies

My mom used pillowcases to turn my sister and I into Homer Hankies in 1987, the year the Twins won the World Series. This was back when you had to use a projector and transparencies to enlarge images for tracing.

We always walked up and down our grandparents' street trick-or-treating. But this was the only year grandpa, a long-time Twins fan, took us. — Elizabeth Cisar

We see you, salamander!

I make costumes for community theater, so it's been a natural transition for me to make Halloween costumes for my kids. This year my 6-year-old asked to be a tiger salamander, so he now has a salamander costume complete with removable tail.

His little brother is a snake, so I guess we've got a bit of a theme going on. — Heather Pearson

Sweet costume

My daughter wanted to be a candy machine so she made her own costume. — Michelle Schmidt Salfter

Who ya gonna call?

My dream Halloween costume was to be “Ghostbusters,” and my wife and kids and I made this dream come true with help from some excellent finds at Goodwill.

We found old Northwest uniforms, a Stay Puff Marshmallow costume and handmade other pieces and it turned out awesome! — Jessica Teitelman

Going up

My son is obsessed with elevators. So two years ago my husband made him an elevator costume, taking his input on the shape of the buttons, what the “in case of fire” sign looked like and said ( both of extreme importance). — Dana Gilbert

Berry nice

She wanted to be mountain ash berries! This is after the carnival where we lost a few balloons. — Clare Shirley

Happy little Halloween

We helped our son with this rendition of Bob Ross, this year! The trick-or-treat bag was hand-painted by my bride while watching one of Bob Ross' videos. — Aaron Skogen

John Deere dream come true

When he was 3, my son insisted on being a John Deere lawn tractor... so I got to work! — Sara Smit

Trick-or-Tardigrade

I have made a costume for my daughter almost every year she’s gone trick-or-treating. She’s now 10, and this year she wanted to be a tardigrade. It was a tough costume to make. And it was a lot of fun! — Nicole Heaton

I speak for the treats

I love making costumes for my son. We usually start designing and planning during the summer. I can't pick a single favorite.

The Wolf costume for my son Miles was hands down a favorite. It became the prize dress-up costume in the costume box. He continued to wear it for every day play for years!

One final favorite, the Lorax. I always tried to make something that would be really warm for Minnesota trick-or-treating. This was the last year I got to pick his costume. He started choosing his own. I read the book to him daily to fully indoctrinate him to his role. — Laura Kamin-Lyngaard

Have a costume you want to share? We’ll keep adding to this feature through Nov. 1! Submit your favorite homemade costume here.

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