The Costume Party! (Halloween or Not, Loads of Fun!)

Funny Halloween Costume Ideas - Some Are Absolutely Sharking! 

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You can get a lot of ideas for creating your own costume here... (or, if you don't have time or you don't want to fool around with doing the molding, taping, shaping, cutting, stitching, gluing, painting, fitting, and so on, you can just buy one from some of those offered here).

When I was a student at the University of Guam Marine Laboratory, we had an annual Halloween costume party that many of us planned for almost 6 months ahead of time. The party was usually pot-luck-- or pizzas... or barbeque on the beach... and the costumes were always amazing. The costumes sometimes reflected what we were studying while at the Marine Lab...

For this particular costume, I found an old refrigerator crate outside my apartment building... and then came up with the idea (because I found myself snorkeling a lot around the island and I had encountered occasional sharks).

I first sketched some ideas on a piece of paper to keep from straying too far from what I'd manage to put together. Once I figured out where my hands, legs, and eyes would be, I started.

I bought large spray cans of flat grey paint and flat white paint, a roll of duck tape, and a black permanent marker... then, using a half-gallon milk-carton experimented a bit on the cuts and shaping before using an X-acto blade knife to cut the refrigerator crate in the right places and to shape the refrigerator crate the right way. Some of the left-over cardboard cut off the crate was used to create the dorsal, caudal, and pectoral and pelvic fins--which were inserted into slots cut into the main crate "body" of the shark in the anatomically correct locations and fastened with duck tape.

Once the shark "body" was assembled and sealed with duck tape, I hauled the contraption outside... where I propped it up against some foilage... and I painted it in the normal great-white colors... grey on the dorsal side (top) and white on the ventral side (bottom). I let the assembly dry for a few days... and then painted in the eyes with the permanent black markers. Finally, I added "teeth" cut from white styrofoam and fastened those in with duck tape.

I had fastened straps from an old backpack to the inside of the shark... and then arranged it so that I could look out of the hole I had cut for the shark's anus (black screen covering it so that I could look out, but folks wouldn't be able to look in).

I drove to the party with the "costume" in the back of my small Datsun pickup truck--and created quite a stir as I drove to the party through some of the island villages with what looked like a huge Great White Shark in the bed of the truck. It got a lot of "double-takes".

I couldn't wear the costume the whole time at the party--to eat at the pot-luck, I had to remove the costume... so left the swim fins in its mouth for "safe-keeping" while I enjoyed the food.

Here Are Some Links Below That May Inspire Your Creative Instincts! -- Check them out!

Make It Yourself Halloween Projects! Costumes, Decorations, Food! Oh My! 

Always Good for More Ideas!

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Little Red Riding Hood and Cowboy Bob? Home-made Costumes

Instead of buying a costume at a store or online, you can express your creative self and make your own costume! When I have to accompany my wife into a "Joann's" Store or "Michael's" crafts store... rather than being totally bored (well, maybe a little bored), I'll wander over to the large bolts of fabric... it's easy to imagine how you could fashion different costumes from the wide varieties of fabrics available. We've used some of the fabrics found there or even stuff we've found in our closets or garage to make fun costumes that don't cost a Pharoah's Ransom!

Fabric Possibilities:

Silvered fabrics:
A spacesuit , robot costume, diving suit, "tin man"

Leather/scaled patterned fabrics:
Crocodile, Alligator, Fish, Lizard, Snake

Camouflage fabrics:
Hunter, Soldier, Tree, Forest.

Animal skin pattern fabrics:
Leopard, Cheetah, Appaloosa, Giraffe, Tiger

Preprinted Halloween/Superhero costume fabrics:
Superman, Spiderman, Aquaman, Batman, Supergirl, Catwoman, etc.

And then, there's cardboard. As in Carboard Boxes!

Don't forget the duct tape (Duck Tape), glue, staples, paint, styrofoam, and other supplies you might need!

Now that you've read this introduction, check out the sites below for further inspiration!