Original Halloween Costume Ideas for Teens

Looking for simple and original Halloween costume ideas for teens?

Between school, extracurricular activities, work and social life most teenagers don't have time to sew an elaborate costume. Store-bought costumes can be boring or expensive, and spiking your hair and calling yourself a punk just isn't very unique.

Try one of these creative Halloween costumes or come up with your own costume ideas, starting with the simple bed sheet poncho!

Begin with a plain white sheet, preferably flannel or flannelette. Cut a hole in the middle of the sheet big enough for your head to fit through. Stitch down the sides of your 'bed sheet poncho', leaving holes at the top big enough for your hands to fit through. Your sheet should be short enough that you don't trip on it, and narrow enough that your hands stick out when you hold your arms out straight at the shoulders.

Tableau Vivant (Living Picture)

These are original Halloween costume ideas for artistic teenagers. Choose a favorite painting and use fabric paints, oil paints or oil pastels to recreate the painting on your 'canvas' – the front of your sheet costume. Draw a piece of picture wire strung between your shoulder blades on the back of your costume, and sew or paint a brown (wooden) border around your canvas, so it looks like a frame. Keep your hair and face plain, or wear a lampshade on your head so it looks like you're lighting the picture!

Halloween Habitats

Dye your bed sheet poncho blue. Paint or appliqué clouds all over your blue 'sky'. Add a couple of birds or an airplane, and trim the bottom of your sheet with trees, a city skyline or telephone poles. Paint your face and hair yellow, and mold your hair into spiky sunrays.

A similar costume idea is to also dye your poncho blue, but to paint or appliqué fish to it, making a marine Halloween habitat. Trim the bottom with seaweed and the odd crab or reef, and make yourself a paper hat, painting it so that it looks like a boat. For a fun and gruesome Halloween twist on this costume idea, wear a mask and snorkel and paint the neck of your poncho blood red, so it looks like you are just a disembodied head. If somebody asks what you are, say you are a 'shark attack'.

The best habitats for original Halloween costume ideas are your own habitats. This will probably take more time and work than the sky or marine costumes, but it will be worth it knowing that your costume is genuinely one of a kind. Take a photograph of your bedroom, your school, your house, your pet or your hangout. Try to keep it simple unless you are an ace at drawing, painting and/or sewing appliqué. Recreate your photograph on your 'canvas,' your bed sheet poncho. In the case of your house, dog or school, it is possible to do both a front and back view!

Simple and Original Balloon Costume

For these costumes, you will want to narrow your poncho enough that the 'arms' are the length of t-shirt sleeves. Imaginative teens can think of new versions of these original Halloween costume ideas!

Dye your bed sheet poncho purple. Blow up lots of small, round purple balloons, tie them and fasten them all over your costume. A simple sewing stitch or staple works well - just make sure not to pop the balloons! Paint your face and hair green, or wear a green cap for the stem of your bunch of grapes, and curl some green ribbon and fasten them to the neck of your costume, so they look like tendrils from a grapevine.

Keep your sheet white. Blow up lots of small, round white balloons, tie them and fasten them all over your costume. Carry a rubber ducky and wear a shower cap - you're a bubble bath! So easy, yet so original!

Qing Gu is a party planning expert, freelancer, and owner of a few websites about celebrating holidays and special occasions. These ideas above are only a few of the terrific original Halloween costume ideas you can find on his site. Check out more unique teen Halloween costume ideas.