3 Eco-Friendly Halloween Costume Ideas

It’s spooky season! You know what that means - time to decide what you want to dress up for Halloween. Oftentimes, Halloween costumes are packaged in plastics and are only worn once. Don’t get me wrong, I love dressing up for Halloween and have absolutely bought brand new costumes before, but I’ve learned how to still have fun dressing up in a more conscious way that ends up helping me save money too! Below are 3 of my favorite ways to have a more eco-friendly Halloween costume:

Thrift it!

So many thrift stores have awesome Halloween costumes! It’s so much fun to thrift costumes and feels like a bit of a treasure hunt. You can always go in to see what they have or you can go in with a specific costume in mind! Maybe you’re looking for red and green shirts to be Mario and Luigi or a fun 20s fringe dress - get creative with it and have fun!

Make it + Use what you have

If you love sewing or crafting, this is your moment to shine. Have fun sewing a costume, altering things you have, or crafting fun accessories for your costume! I made this flower crown pictured here and the rest is clothes I already had! Another year I paired a Minnie Mouse hat I've had for years with a thrifted skirt and top I already had! If you’re not much of a sewer, get creative with some crafting! Even if you’re missing a few accessories that you need to thrift, buy, or borrow, that still helps to reduce waste by using what you already have.

Had to include this throwback with my friend Darcie when we dressed up as Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner. We used what we had and I borrowed her shoes instead of buying new ones!

Costume Swap

In college I didn’t have just one costume for Halloween, I had at least 3… I loved Halloweekend but putting together that many costumes every year was a lot, especially on a college budget. One of my best friends had a big container full of costumes and every year our house would go through and swap costumes! Even if it was using someone’s angel wings and halo and dressing the rest with clothes you had, it was so much fun, is better for the environment, and saved us all money! Shoutout to my girl Emma for having the best costume box! This is such a fun idea for families and friend groups.