Autumn is a beautiful time of year. The trees look amazing with all their shades of oranges, reds, and yellows, and the weather feels wonderful. There’s a refreshing crisp, clean feel in the air.
Many people celebrate Halloween during this time of year and attend Halloween parties, but the Bible is very much against any type of witchcraft, which Halloween is often associated with. Read our October Friends article for more facts about Halloween.
Instead of celebrating the witches, goblins, and gore, why not celebrate the autumn season with a fall costume party? Bob for apples, roast marshmallows and hot dogs over a fire (use hay bales instead of chairs for seating), make caramel corn, and have good, clean autumn fun.
In previous Style Sense articles, we’ve discussed the importance of modesty, and as Christians and soldiers for Christ, we are to set an example and be the shining light for the world (Matt. 5:14). Autumn, and costume parties, are supposed to be fun, so make sure your modest costume reflects that. Use your imagination and be creative. Encourage your friends to dress modestly too. A good way to do that is to pick a theme for your group, such as a fruit basket or pigs in a blanket. If you are hosting the party, you can make the entire night a specific theme, such as influential people in history, favorite Bible characters, favorite (clean) movie characters, favorite candy bars, or anything else clean and fun you can think of.
Cheap and Easy Individual Costumes
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1950s Woman: Wear a tea length black dress with black pumps. Dress it up with pearl earrings, a necklace, and white elbow-length gloves. Use mega hold hairspray to style your hair into that classic 1950’s look. Add bright red lipstick and you’re ready to go!
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Strawberry Shortcake: Wear blue pants and a blue skirt with a pink and white striped shirt. Borrow or
buy a really big hat and tape cut-out strawberries onto it. -
Princess: Wear an old formal or bridesmaid dress and heels and simply add a tiara.
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Gymnast: Buy or borrow a leotard, throw gym pants over it, wear your hair pulled back into a scrunchie, and wear a medal around your neck.
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Pippi Longstocking: Purchase a jumper from a thrift store, then hot glue square fabric remnants to the jumper. Put on a solid t-shirt under the jumper and wear mismatched knee socks. Shape a wire hanger to your head and braid your hair around it to make your braids stand out, then spray it orange with temporary spray die.
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Ballerina: Wear a leotard with a knee-length tutu, ballerina slippers, and pink tights. Put glitter on your face and wear a tiara!
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Bunch of Grapes: Wear black sweats as a base. Find a small remnant of green fabric and cut out leaves as you would with paper dolls. The leaves will come out in a long strand that will wrap around your neck. Then take a brown paper lunch bag and attach it to a party hat with staples. Twist the bag to make the stem. Use purple face paint to make your face a grape. Blow up about 20 purple balloons and attach them to the sweats with safety pins (through the lip of the balloon).
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Raining Cats and Dogs: Sew stuffed dogs and cats onto an umbrella.
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Black-Eyed Pea: Put black make-up around one or both eyes, and hot glue a letter “P” cut from felt to the front of your shirt.
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Cowgirl: Put on jeans or a knee length denim skirt, boots, and a cowboy hat. Bonus if you use yarn and
a marker to make a face on a paper bag and put the bag over the straw part of a broom for a horse. -
Kindergarten girl: Wear jeans or capris with a pink shirt and pigtails. Put on a pink backpack or grab a pink lunch box and you’re ready to go!
Cheap and Easy Group Costumes:
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The Seven Seas: Sew a length of sailing rope to the front of a blue shirt in the form of the letter C. Put on a sailors hat, and enlist six friends to do the same.
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Pigs in a Blanket: Buy pig snouts from a costume store, and have everyone wrap themselves in a blanket.
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Forest: Make costumes out of refrigerator boxes and washer boxes. Tall people can be different sized trees and shorter teens or younger siblings can be bushes. Paint the boxes to look like trees with holes cut out for the eyes. Supplies needed: cardboard boxes (trunk), paint (to paint the trunk and leaves), brown shirts, and crepe paper (leaves).
Have a happy autumn, and feel free to e-mail us with pictures of your costume!
By Alicia Sargent
This is a great idea! With nothing to do around here, this may be happening in a couple weeks! lol
Last year, my pastor’s family hosted a costume party for one of his kids’ birthdays. It was Alice in Wonderland themed and around Halloween-time, so we could get to dress up without celebrating the holiday. (I was the White Queen)