Around mid October of last year, my Colonial New England History professor told the class we could come in costume to class on Halloween since class was from 6-9pm. I love costumes. I never dressed up for Halloween as a kid, but I did dress up on normal days. Oh how I love costumes. I'm so weird. Anyway. The syllabus said that we would be discussing Native Americans on that night so, of course, I decided to dress up as Princess Tiger Lily from the live action version of Peter Pan. Though the character was fictional, the actress playing her is Iroquois and I always loved her in that movie. I did not want to spend $60 on an already put together costume. Costumes for girls/ women above the age of 9 tend to be tight, short and modeled on the package by someone with a seductive look on her face. I'm sure there is a time and place for that, however class is not one of them. I was able to make my entire costume (using the word make loosely) for under $20. It was wonderful.
- Huge brown men's shirt-- Clearance for $2
- Brown corduroy pants which can be reused-- $10
- Tube of face paint-- $1
- Hair clip with leather string, beads and feathers-- $2
- Headband-- a strip that I cut off the shirt
- Shoes-- moccasin slippers I already owned
How to make it look like a costume instead of an awkward outfit gone wrong:
The shirt had a picture and some words on it so I just turned it inside out. I cut the bottom into a V shape so that the sides were shorter than the front and back. I then cut strips into the bottom (they can vary in length depending on the length of the shirt). I also cut off the collar (keeping it in once piece for later) and added a v-neck shape. For the face paint, I used a foam makeup applicator spongy thing and dabbed it onto my face. I put more towards my forehead and then dabbed down so that it was darker at the top and blended and got lighter towards the middle of my face. I braided my hair, stuck the clip onto the collar, and then used the collar as a headband. It was nothing elaborate or fancy but it worked. (Not the best picture I could have taken but this was before I decided to share it with you)
I came to class and realized that I was the only person who actually dressed up but I didn't mind. It was a tiny class and everyone loved my costume plus I had a lot of fun with it. Try making your own costume sometime!! Whether it is similar to mine or not, I'd love to hear about it!!
