A last-minute Halloween costume from what you already own: pick the minutes and the clothes you have, and get a costume with no shopping trip.
Minutes to build against the time you have. Anything left of the dashed line you can start now.
Next: a planned costume · face paint timings · couple ideas · the Halloween guide
Work backwards from the time: five minutes means a silhouette change (a sheet, a black outfit, a hat) and nothing that needs drying. Fifteen minutes adds face paint and tape. Half an hour buys you cardboard and foil assembly. The tools ranks by minutes first and by how many things you are missing second, so the top idea is always something you can start now.
A cape, a bat wing, a bin-bag dress, or the body of a spider if you stuff it. Bin bags are noisy and non-breathable, so cut arm holes and never cover the face. The finder treats bags as a separate item: tick the box and the cape-based ideas move up the list.
The list still works — it will show the ideas with the fewest missing items and price them. An old sheet is the cheapest whole costume there is; a black outfit plus eyeliner is second. The "cost to finish" tile adds up only what you do not have, at supermarket prices.
Wash and dry the face first, skip moisturiser, then build thin coats and set with powder. Water-based paint plus a setting spray lasts a party; oil-based lasts longer but is harder to remove. Keep it away from the eyes and do not share brushes.
Only with eye holes cut wide, and never over the mouth and nose for a child. Keep the sheet short enough not to trip, and avoid candles — a trailing cotton sheet near a real flame is the one genuinely dangerous costume on this list. Use LED tea lights in the pumpkin.
Last reviewed: 2026-10-20. Costs are UK supermarket estimates and exclude anything you already own.