Halloween Costume Ideas and Makeup Tutorials
| Face Painting Videos | Legendary Human Monsters |
| Classic Literature Villains | More Costume Ideas |
Halloween Makeup Tips: Face Tattoo Patterns
Use the patterns in the following video as inspiration for creating your own Halloween face tattoos. The video star used only black and white paint, but you can get creative and use whatever colors you want. Painting a face for Halloween isn't difficult, but the problem is coming up with a great design. The artist in this video shows many different patterns, which should make your artistic endeavor a little easier.
Tim Burton-esque Corpse Bride Makeup Tutorial
This is a great, easy to follow tutorial that ends with an awesomely scary final product. Your face will have a fabulously scary corpse bride look that is bound to win a halloween costume contest!
Zombie Face Tutorial
Everyone loves zombies! Well, love might be the wrong word, but everyone wants to BE a zombie for Halloween! Here's an awesome video tutorial that shows you just what to do to zombify your own face!
Legendary Human Monsters Straight From History
What about a costume that is more "real life"? You could base your Halloween costume on a real historical human monster this year, such as Jack the Ripper. Get some ideas at the Halloween in DC Fright Night at the National Museum of Crime & Punishment site. You'll find some pictures in their media section that depict some scary looking human monsters from the distant past. Throw in a good prop and you can be completely unique this year.
Below are four of the most legendary real-life human Monsters who ever walked the earth. These serial killers would make great inspirations for your next Halloween costumes. Truly Frightening!
Gilles de Rais Legendary Nickname: Bluebeard Number of Kills: 80-200 children Time Frame: 15th century Monster Status: This military man who fought alongside Joan of Arc had a darker side. Interested in alchemy and satanism, he sodomized, dismembered and decapitated scores of children. |
Countess Elizabeth Bathory Legendary Nickname: Blood Countess / Countess Dracula Number of Kills: 80 - 600 young girls Time Frame: 17th century Monster Status: This Translyvanian countess hired hundreds of servant girls, in order to torture and then kill them. Legend claims that she bathed in her victims blood to retain her youth and beauty, earning her the nicknames of Blood Countess and Countess Dracula (which may have had an influence upon the story of Count Dracula). |
Albert Fish Legendary Nicknames: Gray Man, the Werewolf of Wysteria, the Brooklyn Vampire, and The Boogeyman Number of Kills: 3 - 100 children Time Frame: 1800's - 1934 Monster Status: This child molester and cannibal claimed that God commanded him to torment and castrate little boys. Fish's confessions included graphic details involving dismemberment and cannibalization of children. Legend says that it took two jolts in the electric chair before Fish died, because it was short-circuited by the needles he'd previously embedded into his own groin over the years. |
Joe Ball Legendary Nickname: Alligator Man Number of Kills: 20+ women Time Frame: 1930's Monster Status: This Texas honky-tonk owner dug an alligator pond, then charged people to view them at feeding time (feeding them live cats and dogs). It was later discovered that the waitresses, girlfriends, and wives that had gone missing had been killed and fed to the gators. |
Villains From Classic Literature
Classic literature is a great place to get ideas for Halloween costumes. Without villains, there can be no heros. Think of your favorite villain and base your costume around him - or her! Here are a couple to get your ideas flowing.
The Queen of Hearts from The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland loved to shout the order "Off with her head!" A classic quote from the queen: "Who's been painting my roses red? WHO'S BEEN PAINTING MY ROSES RED? Who dares to taint - With vulgar paint - The royal flower bed? - For painting my roses red - Someone will lose his head." This would be a really fun costume to make and wear. |
Professor Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes - Final Problem), the "Napoleon of Crime" was Sherlock's nemesis. This one would be great to use as part of a double-costume, in which you would be Moriarty and your friend would be Holmes. At one point, Moriarty said to Holmes, "I'd like to retire; crime no longer amuses me." |
More Halloween Costume Ideas
Here's a super-simplistic approach to Halloween costume ideas like FamilyFun has done with the black-eyed peas face makeup). :D This look is obviously easy to achieve. Grab some black face paint and draw big P's around the eyes. If you really want to make sure that the general public "gets it", you could always buy a Tshirt depicting the name of the band, Black Eyed Peas. You might *still* have to explain the face makeup to a few people though. :) In any case, this is an easy, cute idea that could serve as a last minute costume. If you need more last-minute costumes, check out our free printable halloween masks.
Of course, you can always get Halloween costumes online, but first you'll need to decide what you want to be!
The following is a list of more ideas to help you decide what to wear this Halloween! Most of these would be appropriate for either kids or adults.
| Ghost | Hannah Montana |
| Mummy | Dorothy (Wizard of Oz) |
| Witch (good or bad/ ugly or beautiful) | Devil (girl or boy) |
| Frankenstein | Minnie/Mickey Mouse |
| Angel | Pocahontas |
| Superhero | Geisha |
| Harry Potter | Star Wars Character |
| Police Officer | Hippie |
| Fireman | Gypsy |
| Castaway | Greek Goddes / Roman Toga |
| Medusa | Disco Dancer (ala John Travolta) |
| Ballerina | Flinstones character |
| Clown | Anime character |
| Evil Clown | Angel |
| Scarecrow | Biker / Biker Chick |
| Pirate/Wench | Zombie Bride / Groom |
| Wizard | 50's (ala Grease) |
| Princess | Fairy |
| Construction Worker | Gorilla |
| Cowboy / Cowgirl | Robot |
| Hula Dancer | Tarzan/Jane |
| Skeleton | Viking |
| Pumpkin |
Great Halloween Costumes - Hurry!
The following article presents more great ideas for Halloween fun.
20 Low Sew / No Sew Halloween Costumes That are Fun To Make