DIY Life

Are you a Halloween procrastinator? Never fear! You can still whip up a last-minute homemade costume for tonight's festivities. Surfing around, I discovered that Fox News has posted some make-it-yourself costume ideas complete with photos and instructions. Among the suggestions: all-in-black dancer from the iPod commercial, mummy, jellyfish, Hershey's Kiss, bag of jellybeans, spam monster and sudoku.

Okay, okay: the downside? Their photos shown are most definitely of nicely-made costumes. They are not of people sporting the last-minute, homemade costumes described in the article. Let's get real. You are probably not going to look that fab unless you are a Martha Stewart clone. However, if you follow the instructions and aim for the look depicted in the snapshots, you will most definitely look suitably festive.

Time is of the essence here, so pick one that's really easy to do with materials you already have on hand. For that reason, I'd suggest ruling out more involved ideas like mummy or jellyfish in favor of the super-easy spam monster costume. Here's what you do:

SPAM MONSTER COSTUME
You will need: one old hoodie sweatshirt, scissors, duct tape, printer and paper.

Print out about forty spam messages from your junk mail folder. Trim them to varying sizes and crumple some up a bit to make them look lived-in and worn. Use scissors to fray the edges of some. Tape them all over the sweatshirt until the material is completely covered. Lastly, print the word "Inbox" in very big letters and tape that to the center of your shirt.

American University's The Eagle Online also has some awesome last-minute costume ideas. Here are the easiest ones on their list:

ID CARD
Cut a piece of cardboard box into a rectangle about 1 1/2 feet tall by 2 feet wide. Cut a hole for your face. Use a marker pen or paints to decorate your card, copying the design found on one of your own local id cards that everyone will recognize. Your state drivers license, for example, or a college id. Dress all in black and hold the card up to your face (with your face in the cut-out, of course!) as you walk around.

CALIFORNIA RAISIN
Use a black trash bag to dress up like the little singing and dancing claymation raisin from those old ads. Cut holes in the bag for your arms and head. Next, put on a pair of big, black, plastic-frame sunglasses. If you can, bring along a portable stereo playing the track associated with our little fruity advertising icon: Marvin Gaye's "I Heard it Through the Grapevine."

Happy Halloween!