Last minute Halloween costumes ideas for Dads.

Dads, with Halloween a few days away do you have your costume ready?  I remember when I was younger Halloween was a big deal for my family.  We would drive to the local costume stores and spend a few hours looking for our costumes. My sisters and I would choose our costumes and could not wait to go trick-or-treating.

Being a father has reinvigorated the fun that I used to have as a kid during Halloween. Seeing pumpkins and houses all decorated gets me pumped to see all the fun costumes that will be available for my kids. 

I get excited hearing what my daughter wants to dress as for Halloween, although her choices keep changing everyday, it's fun to find that perfect one.  After choosing her costume there is always the joy (or hassle) of trying to find it in stores and if the first store we visit has it in stock, it's like winning the lottery. 

Does this seem like a familiar story to you dads? If the answer is yes, then maybe you're like me and spend all your time getting your children's costumes that you don't have enough time to get something for yourself or you forget about your costume entirely. 

Now I don't want to say that I am an expert at making costumes, but I am good at making a costume out of whatever I find laying around my house. This started years ago when we were invited to a Halloween party at my friend's house. My wife borrowed a costume from a friend and I looked in my closet to see what I could wear and that lead to this......

You could call it Jason from the 2nd Friday the 13th or just psycho killer ("Qu'est-ce que c'est", sorry I had to do that) but I just used a few items to create this look. 

1. A pair of overalls
2. Plaid flannel shirt
3. Burlap sack. I got this sack from a video game magazine to promote Resident Evil 4, but if you have a potato sack that would work too. Cut out one of two eye holes.
4. Big red plastic baseball bat
5. Small stuffed teddy bear with a rope tied around it and tied to your overalls.  
6. Fake blood or a red marker to dirty up the overalls and potato sack. 

The entire night I stayed in character and would not talk to anyone. A few times during the night I would caress the teddy bear and talk to it in a high-pitched spooky voice. It was a fun night and a few of the guests were literally scared of me and kept asking me to take off the sack from my head.

One year after coming home from work my daughter was waiting for me so we could go treat-or-treating and I had to come up with something quick. After a check in the closet I came up with this...

Yep, I was a loan shark.  Here's how I did this outfit. 

1. I was already dressed up from work, so I was wearing a dress shirt, pants and a tie.
2. A shark costume for dogs. I remember we bought this because it was on clearance and thought our dog would love wearing it....boy, were we wrong.
3. A sheet of construction paper folded in half with the word "Loans" written on it.

Pretty easy, right? Now I know many of us don't have a dog costume laying around, but it doesn't hurt to think outside the box and just come up with something a little literal or abstract. While going door-to-door with my daughter I was asked "What kind of shark are you?" when I answered a loan shark they replied "That's the worst kind of shark." 

This takes us to a couple of years ago when my family decided to do the Wizard of Oz. Now I do not want to say that I am cheap, but the thought of buying a costume for myself that I will probably only wear one night doesn't justify paying X amount of dollars for it. I know my daughter will wear her costume a few times because children like to play dress up. Being that I was the Scarecrow I had an idea on how to make the outfit myself...again. 

Here is what I used to make my Scarecrow costume.

1. Yellow construction paper
2. One flexible finger band-aid 
3. My wife's hat

As you can see in the picture, I just cut strips into a sheet of construction paper and put those inside the wrists of my shirt. For the stuffing coming out of my shirt I made a small hole in the construction paper to squeeze my button through to button up my shirt. I colored the band-aid brown and cut it in a triangle shape to cover my nose. Lastly, I taped a few pieces of construction paper to the inside of the hat and carefully placed the hat on my head. 

Hopefully you can get some ideas from these costumes or at least it can get you thinking about what you may have on hand to create something for Halloween.

Another reason that I like this season is because it always reminds me how we announced that our family was expanding.

Maybe next year we will go back and recreate this picture with our son. 

Now that you have your costume and are ready to go out with your family make sure you visit your local comic book store for Halloweeen ComicFest! 

What is Halloween ComicFest? Well....

The annual free comic book event Halloween ComicFest will be taking place this Saturday, October 31st at participating comic shops across the US, Canada and Internationally. 

• Over 1.75 million comics will be given out for FREE!
• Over 1,900 comic shops are participating across the US, Canada and Internationally
• There are 21 designated Halloween ComicFest titles to choose from for FREE great for both adults and kids 
• Comic shops give away free comics, candy, host games, giveaways, costume contests, and more for the whole community to enjoy!
• The mini comics are available to purchase in bundles from comic shops and are a healthy alternative to candy to pass out to trick-or-treaters!  
• "The Greatest Halloween Costume Contest Ever" is taking place now through November 10th where adults and kids can enter to win a $500 or $100 shopping spree to their local comic shop! 

So make yourself a costume, go out trick-or-treating, visit your local comic book shop and enter the Greatest Halloween Costume Contest Ever. Most importantly, have a safe and fun Halloween. 

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