Traditionally we don't observe Halloween here in Barbados, although the younger crowd is getting into it.

My 16 year old DD has been invited to a costume party and is trying to come up with an inexpensive costume idea. 

Previous costume ideas she's used include
(1)the year she and her look-alike best friend went as "identical twins" 
(2) "Macy Gray" - big afro (her own hair), a tie-dye top, platform shoes that were given to her that I would never allow her to wear otherwise. 
(3) Cheerleader - a pleated skirt she already owned along with a tank top embellished with a fictitious school name
(4) angel, using the wings I made for other DD's appearance in the school Christmas play

This year she's looking for something cheap/ free.  Did I mention that she's a bit of a fashionista/ diva? There's no way she'll dress up in a sheet as a ghost! LOL!  Any costume suggestions or websites that I can check out?

Last year some schoolmates went to a party dressed as pole dancers (they even brought their own poles), "naughty" Catholic school girls, and French maids and other equally unsavoury costumes.   Ugh!!  I can't imagine allowing my 15 or 16 year old or her friends to leave my house dressed as pole dancers!!!! This year, one of her girlfriends intends to go dressed up as a pimp!  I wonder what the hey is going on in these girls' heads??!!??

Besides the obvious ban on risque/ suggestive costumes, I will not allow her to wear anything to do that's witch/ghoul/vampire related, gruesome or politically insensitive.  That's a no-go in my household.

Youngest DD10 is so much easier - she's decided that she'll portray an Olympic medallist.  She's already got a track suit in our national colours from her stint on a junior national swim team, a ton of medals of her own and of course, a bunch of artificial flowers for the bouquet!  Problem solved, no money spent! 

I suggested a Beauty Pageant contestant - dress and shoes from the existing wardrobe, a tiara (a throwback from youngest DD's "princess days") and a "Miss Universe" sash that can be easily done with fabric and paints already in my craft stash.   Her response "Are you kidding?  To have people point at me and say, "Look at her, she thinks she's all that! - I'd be setting myself up for ridicule"

Your ideas will be greatly appreciated. 

How about a cowgirl? She could wear a checkered/plaid top, jean skirt, cowboy boots and hat, and maybe pigtails and fake freckles drawn on with makeup. I think most of those things would be available in thrift shops, although I'm not sure what is available in Barbados.

Dressing from different time periods is always fun. An old out-of-style prom dress, some hairspray, tiara, and bright makeup, and she could be an eighties prom queen. Or bellbottom jeans, tie dye shirt, and long hair with a flower headband and she could be a hippie. 

one of the costumes I saw last  was a girl and she was in his brother suit and had pin little ceral boxes on her coat with plastic knifes in she said Cereal Killer .

another was on a crayon .. 

and one girl came in her PJ said with a pillow when someone asked she what she was she said tired.

Thanks but she's already nixed the cowgirl idea, as well as the cereal killer!  She wanted "something different"

Maybe she'll go for my "Miss Congeniality" idea.  She enjoyed the Miss Congenialty movies with Sandra Bullock.  She can dress up as a beauty queen and add fake police badge, handcuffs and maybe a water pistol for the gun! 

If she gives me anymore stress about it, I just might give her a Santa hat and tell her to go as Mrs. Claus.  All she'll have to do is wear something in red & white, a wide black belt, and take a clipboard with the Naugthy or Nice list!   Entirely doable and free, since we have everything at home already!

Another idea - she can go as an I-pod.  Dress in a monochromatic outfit (her i-pod is blue); and maybe we can replicate the screen and click wheel with fabric or felt and fabric paint.  For the headphones, I'm thinking of white cord (two lengths of cord, glued/ taped together at strategic poiints) and two large white pom-poms or cotton balls for the earbuds? 

 

some ideas normally from the younger set but  hobo,  dress like a nerd, clown,  as a bunch grapes (purple balloons pinned/taped to a shirt or garbage bag.  as a cat or superhero.  doctor or nurse.

When dd#1 was her age she got her hands on an old pink prom gown, a cheap tiara from the costume shop the and a couple bottles of water souible red paint from the dollar store and when as Carrie.

On a side note when she was 13 and had her paper route (pennysaver route that she had had for a year at the time) she didn't dress up at all but waited till time to go tricker treating and took her bag full of papers when she came to the door people thought she was another trick or treater and she would say "Trick" then hand them their paper. That year she had 2x as much candy and a few cash tips.

My oldest dd went as a gypsy one year, had a cheap, coal-black curly wig, big hoop earrings and lots of red lipstick and drawn-on black eyebrows.  She got a bright yellow satin blouse from a thrift store along with a long, brightly-colored, swirly skirt and wore it with a tambourine tied with a sash around her waist.  Lots of noisy jewelry and a second sash tied in her hair and it was a fun outfit...Liz

 How about a "celebrity"?  have her put some glitter in her hair, wear BIG sunglasses, lots of bling, shiny bright lipstick, etc.  Do you have a glitzy purse she can put a little stuffed dog into also?  Also, glitz on the "dog" too. 

 

She can buy a plastic tablecloth, hot glue paper plates, plastic silverwear, cut out colored paper food, cut a hole in the middle and be a picnic.  

Buy a large clear plastic bag, little ballons, step in the bag, fill with ballons, label, and go as a bag of jelly beans or jelly bellies.

My kids have used the crutches to go as an accident victim, fake blood and stitches.

Scaracrow, with old clothes, straw, and yellow face paint.

Fortune teller, same clothes as gypsy, but with a clear ball or magic 8 ball.  Lots of makeup, blue eye shadow.

Stuffed bird, glasses, wand and scar made with eyeliner to be Harry Potter.

Roll of tp to be a mummy. Enhance with white face paint and black face paint around the eyes and mouth.

I have dressed all in black clothes, taped on white dots and tied a white cloth around my waist to be a domino.  

Your 16 year old may or may not go for this, but I dressed up as a gift one year for our church's Fall Festival. I took gobs of various colored curling ribbon and made a headband. I wrapped it around my head and just let it go crazy. I took more curling ribbon and wrapped it around one of my wrists. Around my wrist I also made a large gift tag that said, "For the wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:8" The only money I spent was the curling ribbon, which I already had in my present-wrapping stash.

Stacie