There’s one simple formula for a good homemade costume, and it takes virtually no time if you’re in a pinch. Let me take you step by step and teach you how to make your own mummy costume! 

First, gather all your materials.

All you need is:

Base clothing (white shirt, shorts, leggings, pants, dress, or skirt) 

An adhesive (hot glue, safety pins, or double-sided tape) 

Scissors 

Detail material (an old T-shirt, bedsheet, gauze, or streamers) 

A little determination 

Next, grab your detail material and scissors. If you have an old white or off-white shirt or sheet, cut strips about two inches thick—cut a lot! These are going to be your mummy wrappings. (You can skip cutting altogether if you have gauze or streamers.) 

Now, grab your base clothing, adhesive, and the strips you just cut out.

Take the strips and lay them on top of your base. Arrange them how you like before you glue or pin them down. Layer the strips, leave some dangling, or keep a few loosely attached to make sure you look like a true mummy.

Finally, put it all together! Put on your mummified attire, make your hair a little messy, or even add some dark eyeshadow or eyeliner to look extra spooky. Pair with any shoes, whether that’s heels or sneakers, and if you have any strips of fabric left, wrap them around your head or tie them on your arms! 

How easy was that? In no time at all, you just made your own costume! The best part is that this is just one example of the simple costume formula; where you can be anything you want.

Change your base clothes to red, add spots, and make antennae from pipe cleaners and a headband, and you’re a ladybug! Switch to yellow clothes and black stripes, and you’re a bumblebee. Go all black, cut out white fabric “bones,” attach them, and you’ve got a skeleton. It’s as simple as that—just use your imagination! 

So, if you’re feeling spooked or running out of time, just grab what you have, add a few clever touches, and you’ll be ready to trick-or-treat, hit a Halloween party, or show off your creativity at any spooky event this October 31st. 

Mummy costume (Cora Smith)