There are some costumes that are nearly impossible to buy used; this year’s blockbuster superhero costumes for instance. You’re going to have to pay retail and the costume will always have that fresh-from-the-factory polyester smell. On the other hand, hippie costumes are much easier to buy vintage and at a discounted price. Since the “costumes” are authentic clothing from the 1960’s-70’s the quality is always higher and you’re likely to end up wearing a more comfortable natural fabric instead of the itchy stuff that new costumes are usually made of. When you take a look at the styles of store bought “hippie costumes”
, the choice is pretty much a no brainer.
How easy is a vintage hippie costume to put together? After choosing an awesome vintage outfit, it just depends on how detailed you want to get. With the right accessories you can really win some costume contests. For women, you can ride the boho trend with tall boots, ethnic jewelry, and a headband worn across the forehead. A more simple hippie girl look can be achieved in barefeet (weather permitting) or sandals, a pair of comfy bellbottom jeans, some fresh flowers in your hair, and yes even some peace-loving face paint.
For men, look for anything patchwork, tie-dyed, fringed or “ethnic” looking. Vests, bellbottoms, dashikis and ponchos are good outfit staples. Long hair is a must so if you don’t have your own, look for a long wig
.
Since hippies were trying to start a revolution, why not use this costume as an excuse to spread your own message of change? Carry around a sign with your favorite slogan about peace. Or use John and Yoko’s: War is Over (if you want it).
Remember, hippies did their own thing and defied conventions so get creative with your costume. We can look to the past for inspiration, but there’s no “wrong” way to create this look. If you’re even considering a hippie costume, your friends are all too young to know what a “real hippie” even looked like: you can easily get away with mixing early 60’s with mid 70’s styles.
Oh, and one more cool thing about buying a vintage costume? Reusing is always more eco-friendly than buying new, and a great way to make this year a green Halloween.
Your local thrift stores are always the best place to start looking for vintage clothing, but eBay has some amazing finds, too. Below are some of the most popular hippie costume auctions to get you inspired or get your costume started.
More authentic
vintage hippie costumes for
Women or
Men
For the most unique and spectacular Halloween goodies you really can’t do better than handmade. The diversity, quality and imagination beats the pants off any of the mass produced Halloween items. Etsy – the epicenter of handmade items sold online – has put together a spooktacular Halloween gift guide that features quite an array of treats; costumes, decorations, jewelry and accessories, toys, cards, spooky art, and even food. Now you can support independent artisans while decking out your haunted mansion in style.
We’ve talked about October being Fair Trade month before, and this year we’ve unearthed a clever new way to integrate that into your Halloween celebrations: Reverse Trick-or-Treating! Showing that kids are capable of making immense change in our world, they will be handing adults a sample of Fair Trade chocolate. The tasty treats will be accompanied by a card that talks a bit about the child labor and poverty problems in the cocoa industry. The solution is deliciously simple: don’t cut cocoa out of your life, just swap the commercial stuff for Fair Trade chocolate. Thanks to some awesome Fair Trade companies, the chocolate and cards are FREE (you just pay for shipping). If you want to participate, just register by October 13, 2008. If your wee monsters will be out candy collecting anyway, why not add Reverse Trick or Treating to the night and create a wonderful new family tradition?
Want more Fair Trade chocolate options? Check out the extensive lists of manufacturers at Trans Fair USA, and New American Dream. As featured above, there are Fair Trade Halloween kits that make treat-giving on The Big Night super easy. In addition to the 42 delicious chocolates, you get 42 Halloween postcards to hand out that explain how cool and easy Fair Trade is.
Not feeling very colorful this season? Like the sleek contrast of black on white? We’ve put together a list of some unique and vintage inspired costume ideas to make this Halloween a blast from the past.
Check out all the photos and desaturated fun on the Black and White Costumes page…
And a big thanks to everyone who entered our contest to win a free costume. Congrats again to Alyssa, Brandy, and Melissa Z. who won their choice of costume from Halloween Party Store.
We’ve got lots of contests lined up for you so be sure to bookmark 365 Halloween and subscribe to the RSS feed.
This conceptual “bloody table” design by French designer John Nouanesing would make a killer Halloween decoration. It’s not available for purchase, but you could probably make your own version.
Either start with an old table you already have and remove the legs or get a piece of plywood. Attach some skinny wooden dowels as table legs. For the blood effect try liquid latex or spray foam (expanded polystyrene). Around the edges of the table it looks like craft foam might be the best option for easy shaping.
But as with all DIY Halloween projects, there are probably many methods of making it look amazing. Just experiment and see what you come up with. If you make your own Bloody Table, leave a comment and let us know how it turned out!
Alexa at SwellDesigner let us know about a weekly Halloween Craft and Idea project that she’s working on this year. She has been posting a tutorial each Tuesday for a variety of Halloweeny decorations and goodies. Here are some great ones;
In addition to her own projects, she is now adding a Halloween Crafts and Ideas Roundup that will include other spooky projects from around the Internet. If you’re the DIY type, be sure to check back weekly for more creative inspiration.
