With AMC’s show ‘The Walking Dead’ gaining popularity, opt for a zombie costume this Halloween. Credit: Courtesy of MCT

With AMC’s show ‘The Walking Dead’ gaining popularity, opt for a zombie costume this Halloween.
Credit: Courtesy of MCT

With Halloween coming up this week, many people are scrambling for last minute costume ideas or the missing pieces of their almost-perfect costumes. Buying a pre-made getup can easily drain your bank account, and it will likely fall apart before you’re even able to get your money’s worth. Why not show off your creative side this year with a fabulous do-it-yourself costume? Chances are you already own plenty of basic pieces that can be transformed into something great. Read on to get some general ideas and those creative juices flowing.

Oh, deer

You can become this adorable animal — or any woodland creature, really — with a plain dress and some creative makeup. For a deer, just throw on a brown sweater dress, black tights and black shoes. Then transform your face by lining your eyes with white liner, heavily bronzing your cheeks, and drawing a black nose on the tip of your own. You can then add some white spots to the apples of each cheek to emulate the speckling of a deer’s fur, and some nude lipstick to pull the whole look together. If you’re feeling up to it, you can even make your own deer ears with a headband and some brown felt; just cut and glue. This formula easily works for any other animals you might be considering dressing up as: a rabbit, a cat or even a squirrel costume can all be well within your reach.

‘The Walking Dead’

Pop culture’s current obsession with zombies makes this costume all the more popular, but it’s still incredibly simple to put together. First, find some clothes that are already pretty worn and you don’t mind ruining, and slash them up. Next, you can use costume makeup to make yourself look like a human flesh-craving being. Use white makeup to make yourself as pale as possible, then use black to create a gaunt silhouette by swiping it directly under your cheekbones and on each side of your forehead, as well as around your eyes. When you think you look ghastly enough, add as much fake blood as your heart desires to your face, hands, clothes — you name it. Want to show off your creativity a little more? Go ahead and become a zombie ballerina, a zombie football player or any other zombie fill-in-the-blank you can think of. Depending on your resources, you can be as complex with this as you want.

Rosie the Riveter

Do you own a pair of blue jeans? Great, your costume is already halfway there. Now all you need is a red bandanna to tie your hair back and a navy button-up shirt to become this feminist icon. Adding some winged eyeliner and red lipstick easily completes this look. Some combat boots add a lovely touch of toughness that exudes the general idea of Rosie even more — now maybe you won’t have to keep your arm bent to show off your guns all night like she does in the iconic picture.

Jabbawockeez crew member

Remember this insane dance group from the first season of MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew?” For many of the Jabbawockeez’s performances, members simply wore hoodies, sweatpants and other clothes they could dance in — but were considered such an iconic group on the show because of the plain white masks worn for every single performance.  Since that mask is the most recognizable part of this costume, you can take absolute creative liberty with the rest of it. If you want to go with the real deal, wear baggy sweats tucked into high tops and an oversized T-shirt or hoodie. You can even make it a bit more feminine with sleek black leggings and a colored zip-up sweatshirt — this costume is really what you make it. Though you will have to purchase the mask (unless you already have one lying around), they can easily be found online for less than $20.

Creating your costume this year doesn’t have to be stressful for your wallet — just work with some of the things you already own to create something amazing. Besides, being able to put something together with limited resources is a sign of a true sense of style.