Halloween lands in the middle of midterms, right when the semester has already eaten through the money that was supposed to last until December. A costume that needs a $40 order and three separate craft store runs isn’t happening this year, and it doesn’t need to.
Everything below comes from a closet, a roommate, or a single trip to the dollar store. Some ideas lean into the fact that everyone reading this is broke and tired, because the best costumes usually do. Others just need one prop and twenty minutes.
Twenty-nine ideas are grouped below by how they get made: from what’s already owned, from one cheap bag of supplies, from a roommate’s closet, and as a pair or a whole floor. Start with whatever matches how much time is actually left before the party.
Straight From Your Closet, Zero Shopping
These use only things already hanging in the closet or shoved in a drawer. No scissors, no glue gun, no store.
1. Backpack-Wearing Bedsheet Ghost
Cut two eye holes in an old white sheet, but keep the backpack on underneath it instead of leaving it in the room. The straps push through the fabric at the shoulders, so the ghost looks like it’s still rushing to a nine a.m. class.
It reads as a joke instead of a plain sheet costume, and it solves the actual problem of where to put keys, a phone, and a water bottle for the rest of the night. A regular ghost costume has nowhere to carry anything.
If the sheet is too long to walk in, hem it with safety pins instead of cutting it. A sheet with cut edges is harder to return to bed duty come November.
2. All-Nighter Hoodie and Pillow
Wear the hoodie already worn to three exams this week, pull the strings so the hood sits crooked, and tuck a pillow under one arm like it never got put down. Add a mug from the kitchen cabinet if a coffee-branded one exists.
The whole costume rests on the under-eye circles, so use whatever’s already in a makeup bag. Smudge grey or purple shadow underneath instead of trying to draw perfect circles with liner.
3. Static-Cling Sock Explosion
Safety-pin ten or twelve mismatched socks across a plain black outfit: shoulders, sleeves, one down the leg, like they came out of the dryer and never let go. A few clipped into the hair sells it from across the room.
This works because almost every college laundry room has already produced the raw material. Raid the lost-sock pile by the machines the week before if the closet doesn’t have enough on its own.
4. Human Power Bank Costume
Wear all black, then tape a white charging cable down the front of the shirt so it looks plugged into the stomach. A percentage number written on an index card and pinned to the chest finishes it.
It photographs well because the white cord is the only thing that stands out against the black, and it’s one of the few costumes here that costs nothing but a strip of tape.
Swap the percentage card for a red “low battery” warning glued to a phone case for a second person, and it turns into a two-person set without any extra shopping.
5. Spa Night Cucumber Face
A bathrobe, slides, and a towel wound into a turban cover most of it. Tape real cucumber slices over the eyes, or use paper circles cut from a green folder if produce feels wasteful.
Carry a face mask jar or a nail polish bottle for the last ten percent of the look. It takes less than five minutes to put together, which matters if the party started twenty minutes ago.
One Bag From the Dollar Store
One stop, one bag, usually under ten dollars for the whole costume.
6. Fun-Size Candy Bar Cardigan
Blow up a dozen small balloons and stuff them under a brown or orange cardigan so it bulges like a wrapper about to split. Tape a printed candy name across the chest; a made-up flavor works better than an actual brand.
The bulk does the work here, so the cardigan should be a size too big to start with. A regular-fit one won’t hold enough balloons to read as “stuffed” instead of just lumpy.
Balloons pop over the course of a night, so bring three or four spares in a pocket and a straw for quick refills between rooms.
7. Group Project Sticky-Note Blazer
Cover a thrifted blazer edge to edge in yellow sticky notes, each one with a fake to-do item: finish slide four, email the professor, ask who’s presenting. Leave one note half-peeled so it looks chaotic instead of staged.
This one lands specifically with anyone who has ever carried a group project alone, which by October is most of a lecture hall. Write the notes the morning of so the handwriting looks rushed instead of neat.
8. Paper Plate Halo Angel
A white paper plate with the center cut out, wired to a headband, sits above the head like a halo. Pair it with anything white already in the closet: a slip dress, an old button-down, a plain t-shirt.
Spray paint the plate gold if there’s a can left over from another project, but plain white works fine under indoor lighting. Add wire hanger wings only if there’s time; the halo alone reads clearly without them.
9. Dollar-Store Devil Horns
Clip a pair of dollar-store devil horns into the hair and wear a thrifted red slip or dress with them. A pitchfork isn’t necessary. The horns and the red carry the whole thing on their own.
Red lipstick a shade darker than usual finishes the face without needing a full makeup look. This pairs naturally with the paper plate halo above for a two-person costume that costs about six dollars combined.
10. Vending Machine Snack Vest
Cut a poster board into a vest shape, front and back, and tape it at the shoulders. Tape on rows of snack wrappers, chip bags, candy, a granola bar, like the front glass of a vending machine, with a coin slot drawn at the bottom.
This one photographs better than it sounds, because the rows of tiny snacks read clearly from a few feet away, which is about the distance most Halloween photos get taken from.
Save actual empty wrappers for a week beforehand instead of drawing them. Real ones stick down flat with tape and look more convincing than marker outlines.
Borrow One Thing From Your Roommate
Each of these needs exactly one item from someone else’s closet, not a full costume swap.
11. Flour-Handprint Chef Apron
Borrow any kitchen apron, tie it over regular clothes, and press two floury handprints onto the cheeks and one on the front of the apron. A wooden spoon in the back pocket finishes it.
Cornstarch works as a substitute for flour and brushes off more cleanly if the party is somewhere that matters. Either way, do the handprints last, right before leaving, since flour doesn’t hold on skin for long.
12. Chalk-Dust Coach Jacket
Ask to borrow a letterman jacket or any team jacket hanging in a closet down the hall, add a whistle on a lanyard, and rub a little chalk dust or white eyeshadow along the jawline like it’s been a long practice.
A clipboard held under one arm sells the rest without needing anything else. This works especially well on someone who already gets mistaken for an athlete and finds it funny.
13. Backward Cardigan Librarian
Button a cardigan backward so the buttons sit at the spine, tuck it into a long skirt or pants, and add reading glasses pushed halfway down the nose. A red pen tucked behind one ear is the detail that sells it.
Carry a stack of index cards with due dates scribbled on them instead of an actual book. It’s lighter to hold all night and reads just as clearly in photos.
14. Bath Towel Toga
Fold a large bath towel diagonally over one shoulder and pin it at the hip over gym shorts or leggings underneath. A gold or silver headband stands in for a laurel wreath.
This is one of the fastest costumes on this list, under two minutes once the towel and a couple of safety pins are in hand, and it works on any body because the draping isn’t fitted to a shape.
Use a towel in a solid color rather than a pattern. A striped or printed one reads as “wearing a towel” instead of “wearing a toga” from across a party.
Duo Costumes That Split the Cost
Two people, one shared prop, and the cost divides in half.
15. Wired-Together Earbud Hoodies
Two people wear white hoodies and tape a white cord running from one person’s ear down to a shared circular case worn on a string. Each hoodie gets a big “L” or “R” taped to the chest.
The trick is staying near each other all night, since the cord only reads as a costume when both people are close enough for it to stretch believably between them.
16. Salt and Pepper Ponchos
Cut a head hole in the bottom of two white pillowcases, paint one with black dots and “PEPPER” and leave the other plain with “SALT,” and wear them over black leggings or jeans.
A plain grey beanie on the pepper half and a plain white one on the salt half rounds it out without buying anything else. This is one of the cheapest duo costumes on the whole list: two pillowcases and a marker.
17. Umbrella Weather Forecast Duo
One person wears blue with a cardboard raincloud pinned to the chest; the other wears yellow with a felt sun pinned on. Both share one open umbrella between them all night.
It works as a costume mainly through the prop. The shared umbrella is what makes two people in solid colors read as a matching pair instead of two random outfits.
Skip a spray bottle indoors or anywhere carpeted. A cotton-ball raincloud glued to the cardboard gets the same joke across without getting anything wet.
18. Cardboard Ramen Cup Duo
Wrap a large cardboard cylinder or a poster board cone around the torso, painted like an instant ramen cup label, with yellow yarn spilling out the top like noodles. The second person just carries two oversized cardboard chopsticks.
This one gets recognized fast on a college campus specifically, since everyone in the room has eaten the real thing at 1 a.m. more than once. Keep the cardboard shell light; it needs to survive being danced in.
Group Costumes for the Whole Floor
Split these across a hallway or a friend group so nobody covers the full cost alone.
19. Crayon Box Floor Group
Each person rolls a piece of poster board into a cone for a hat and wears one solid color head to toe, a different crayon color per person. A strip of brown poster board wrapped around the waist like a peeled label finishes each one.
The costume only reads as a group once everyone stands together, so plan on taking the group photo before anyone splits off for the night. Six or seven people is the sweet spot; fewer than four just looks like people in colorful outfits.
20. Cereal Box Vest Squad
Cut the front and back panels off actual empty cereal boxes, punch holes at the shoulders, and tie them together with yarn to wear as a vest over a plain shirt. Everyone picks a different box from the dining hall or a communal kitchen shelf.
Real boxes look better than drawn ones here. The printed logos and mascots do the work without anyone needing to be good at lettering, so start saving empties from the recycling a week or two ahead.
21. Power Strip Cord Group
One person wears grey or white and holds a cardboard power strip with slots drawn on the front. Everyone else wears a different solid color with a matching cord, drawn on with marker or made from ribbon, running from their outfit to the “strip” person.
This scales to almost any group size, since a power strip can plausibly have four plugs or eight. It also gives everyone their own color instead of forcing the whole group into matching outfits.
Keep the “plugged in” person close to the group for photos. The joke depends on the cords visibly connecting to one central point, not on everyone spread across a room.
22. Pajama Floor Meeting Squad
Everyone wears their actual pajamas, mismatched is fine, that’s the point, with a handwritten name tag sticker reading something like “Floor Meeting, Mandatory.” One person carries a clipboard for attendance.
This is the lowest-effort group option here, since it needs zero shopping if everyone already owns pajamas, which they do. It works best with a group that actually lives on the same floor, since the joke is specific to dorm life.
Dining Hall and Dorm Prop Costumes
Built around the props already sitting in a dorm room or a dining hall tray stack.
23. Cafeteria Worker Lunch Tray
A hairnet, an apron borrowed from anyone in the building, and a lunch tray worn on a string around the neck like a sandwich board make the whole costume. Draw a sad-looking meal directly onto the tray with marker.
The hairnet is doing more work than it looks like it should. It’s the one detail that reads as “dining hall” instead of just “apron.” Skip it and the costume gets vague fast.
A real serving spoon tucked into the apron pocket beats anything else as a prop, and most campus stores sell them cheap if one isn’t already lying around a kitchen.
24. Foil Pizza Slice Costume
Cut a large triangle from cardboard, cover it in foil for the crust edge and painted yellow and red for cheese and sauce, and wear it like a sandwich board over a plain shirt. Glue on a few paper pepperoni circles for detail.
This one is instantly recognizable and needs almost no skill to make. The triangle shape alone does most of the communicating, so keep the cardboard light enough to sit through a night of standing around.
25. Sold-Out Meal Swipe Vest
Wear a thrifted vest or apron and hang a handmade sign around the neck reading “Sold Out” or “Insufficient Funds.” A student ID on a lanyard, worn backward, adds the last detail.
This one is funniest to anyone who has actually run out of meal swipes two weeks before the semester ends, which on most campuses is close to everyone. Keep the sign specific, a dining hall name, a dollar amount, rather than generic.
26. Red Solo Cup Necklace
String a few red plastic cups onto a length of ribbon or cord and wear it like an oversized necklace over a plain varsity-style tee. A homemade medal cut from cardboard and foil, reading “Champion,” hangs alongside the cups.
The cups are the whole joke, so keep the rest of the outfit plain. Jeans and sneakers, nothing competing with the necklace for attention.
Rinse the cups before stringing them. A costume built from actual leftover party cups smells exactly like what it is by hour three.
Thrift Store Finds Under $10
One trip, one store, everything found secondhand for less than the cost of a movie ticket.
27. Thrifted Flannel Scarecrow
A thrifted flannel, overalls or jeans with a few strategic patches, and a straw hat cover the whole costume. Stuff real straw or shredded paper into the cuffs and collar so it pokes out visibly.
A simple triangle nose and a few painted stitch marks around the mouth finish it without needing a full makeup kit. This is one of the warmer options here too, which matters for anything happening outdoors in October.
28. Thrifted Referee Stripes
A black-and-white striped shirt shows up in almost every thrift store’s men’s section for a few dollars, and it needs nothing else besides a whistle on a lanyard and a yellow “penalty flag” made from a bandana.
Hold up a cardboard scorecard with a number written on it any time something happens at the party, a spilled drink, a bad dance move, and the costume plays itself for the rest of the night.
29. Thrifted Neon Aerobics Look
A neon leotard or a bright tank layered over leggings, a sweatband, and leg warmers usually turn up together in a thrift store’s workout or throwback section. A slouchy off-shoulder sweatshirt over the top completes the layered look.
The whole thing photographs best in a group of two or three, since the color clash reads stronger with more neon in the frame at once.
Real leg warmers can be hard to find secondhand. A pair of thrifted knee socks with the feet cut off works as a stand-in, and nobody will notice the difference in photos.
Final Thoughts
None of these need a costume store trip or a card statement that stings in November. A closet, one roommate favor, or a five-dollar bag from the dollar store covers almost everything on this list.
Start with whatever’s already within reach, the pillow under an arm, the cardigan already in the drawer, before deciding a costume needs buying anything at all.