The best last minute Halloween costumes are the ones already hanging in your closet. Nearly every idea here starts with clothes you own plus one cheap addition, black tape or a printout or a blue wig, which is what separates easy Halloween costumes from the sewing project you won’t finish by Friday. I once cut a giant Valentine’s love bus gift card holder out of matte board in a single all-nighter, so I have opinions about what one night can actually produce, and it’s more than you think. Want more DIY Halloween costumes and a little more time to make them? We’ve got you covered there. Don’t skip the Halloween makeup either, because a good face carries half a costume on its own. Going as a pair? There are ideas for couples too. Then dress the house with cheap DIY Halloween party decor and these easy Halloween decor ideas for the truly out of time.

Last Minute Halloween Costumes

1. Jelly Bellies Costume

modernkiddo My daughter and her best friend needed a last minute costume and we did not even have time to go to the craft store. The girls were really getting very discouraged and just when we were about to give up, I had a bolt from the blue. I had some clear trash bags and we wrote our nutrition facts on the side with a sharpie. We then blew up a bunch of multi-colored balloons left over from Bubba’s birthday party a couple of months ago. We cut leg holes in the bottom of the bag and put our girls inside and stuffed the bags with the balloons. Twenty-five minutes max to make this and the girls got first place in the couples costume category. Best of all Halloween was a smashing success and it didn’t cost a dime, an easy costume that is so cute it just may win the best costume contest.

2. Bulletin Board Costume

womansday Do you ever just want to let it all hang out and be yourself? Not bothered with glamming it up, not in the mood for hamming it up? Do you just want to tell them all, “Look, I have stuff to do, I’m lucky to be here at all”. It’s really easy to take that idea to complete tongue in cheek level by writing a bunch of post-it notes with all your chores, tasks and errands and sticking them all over yourself. This hilarious Halloween costume idea made my friends laugh for a year and it made me ease up on worrying about my to-do list excessively. I saw that my nervousness about accomplishment could be a source of immense entertainment and as a direct result, I got more done.

3. Gumball Machine Costume

DIY Joy

Pom poms glued to a tee turn anyone into a walking gumball machine – a colorful costume you can pull together the night before.

4. Google Maps Costume

wonderhowto My boyfriend and I always get lost, whether it’s driving in town traveling out of town, traveling out of town or on the hike and bike trail. Google Maps is our best friend when we travel anywhere outside our home. When I saw this Halloween Costume idea on Pinterest, I knew instantly it was for us, we laughed the entire time we put these costumes together. We got a red poster board and yellow duct tape at Michael’s and wrote our favorite street names on them. He was A and I was B, we have never had a more romantic Halloween. A quick idea when you need DIY Halloween costume ideas for men, couples or a group of friends, this fun and easy cotume is sure to get some laughs at the party.

5. Runaway Bride Costume

womansday If you are a girl who likes to change her mind and doesn’t bow down to anyone’s wishes the runaway bride Halloween costume is perfect for you. You can find an old wedding dress at your local thrift store and just make a little tulle veil and the very last thing you will need is a good pair of sneakers to make your quick exit from whatever alter you encounter this spooky Halloween night. A pretty costume idea for women, you get to wear the look of a beautiful bride while wearing this funny Halloween costume idea. Borrow a friend’s old dress, rent one or pick one up in a thrift store and you have an almost instant costume.

6. Thunder and Lightning Costume

hercampus My boyfriend and I are just one of those couples who seems to have an explosive time wherever we go. I saw this Halloween costume idea on Pinterest that summed up our relationship so well, lightening and the aftermath. We went to a Halloween costume party at our favorite club and everyone who knew us was truly thunderstruck and loved our ingenuity.

7. DIY Minion Halloween Costume

onecreativehousewife My twins Beryl and Daryl are in love with the minions, there’s nothing they wanted more than to be minions for their school Halloween party. So we did some quick thinking and got out their Osh Kosh overalls and yellow hoodies. We managed to find the minion glasses at a local costume shop and added pipe cleaners to the top of their heads. beryl and Daryl were so cute they really stole the show this Halloween and stole everyone’s heart too.

8. Felicity Smoak Costume

awellcraftedparty Comic book costumes usually die in photographs, because real clothes have real shadows and comics don’t. A Well Crafted Party gets around that with a black paint marker: she puts on the thrifted blue button-down and black pencil skirt first, then outlines every seam and shades the creases while they’re actually falling on her body. Blonde wig, a tablet, a name badge on an old conference lanyard, and that’s Felicity Smoak. Use a real acrylic marker (Posca is my go to, bargain ones go on thin and gray) and don’t skip the tiny white dots on the face. Halftone printing on skin is what sells it.

9. DIY Instagram Halloween Costume

thirtyhandmadedays Here’s a last minute DIY Halloween costume that takes exactly one errand. Thirty Handmade Days prints a real Instagram screenshot on an 18×24 inch sheet of foam core, about $12 at a local print shop, then cuts a square out of the middle so your face becomes the photo. Mark that square with a ruler and go around the perimeter about three times with a utility knife instead of forcing it in one pass, or you’ll end up with a chewed edge and a bent board. Write your own caption, too. That’s the part that gets the laugh, not the board.

10. Peter Pan Shadow Costume

tikkido Say happy Halloween with a Peter Pan costume. This instructional link can be used for a regular Peter Pan or a really spooky shadow Peter Pan. The shadow Peter Pan just requires a morph suit, which is really comfortable I’m told. I got some felt and fabric glue from Michael’s craft store, cut this out and glued it together in 30 minutes. It was the most simple, most rewarding DIY Halloween costume I’ve ever made, my daughter loved it. If you want a DIY costume idea that is a little spooky while not being scary, try this fun shadow costume.