How to Make a Halloween Wig for Cheap
8:14:00 PM
I got into a discussion on Facebook the other day. A friend had asked for ideas on how to make a costume. I gave some ideas where most of the items could be reused. Another well meaning friend commented that I was not being accurate in thinking that you could make a costume cheaper than one on sale, especially since you would be ruining the clothing you were making into a costume. She also felt that as a working mom, the time invested was not worth the outcome.
I took her points as a challenge:
- That I couldn't make a inexpensive, easy costume, that cost less than a pre-made costume on sale.
- That I couldn't re-use the items that I purchased for such a costume
- That it wasn't worth my time to make such an item--it is so much easier to go to Target or order a costume online.
So this is what I am going to do. I am going to make matching costumes for my twin girls. And I am going to tell you exactly how much I am spending on this costume. The key to this is to have a plan and keep it simple.
Oh, and as an added surprise, this is a two part series. I'm making the wigs in this post. The next craft post will be the rest of the costume. Can you guess what I'm turning the twins into for Halloween? I promise, it's not a stretch. I'm guessing someone will figure it out with no other hints other than the wigs.
So here's how you make a wig. For literally $2 a pop.
For each wig, go to your local dollar store and pick up a knit hat. Down in the south, we call them toboggans. I took an informal poll of some coworkers, and they also call them beanies, winter hats, or toques/tuques. Whatever you call it, try to get one about the same color as the final wig will be. I needed a blue hat:
While you're at the dollar store, grab a boa of the color that you desire for your wig. Depending on the size of your head, you may need more than one boa. My twins will only be 18 months for Halloween, so I just went with 1 boa per head.
And then I made sure I knew how the hats would fit on my girls. I actually got adult hats thinking I could just take them in, but when I cuffed the hats, they fit them fine.
I took some blue thread I had on hand to attach the boa to the top, and then I just wrapped the boa around the hat, taking a little stitch here and there to keep attaching the boa to the hat. You can use a glue gun to attach the boa, as well, but if you want to reuse the hat as a hat, thread is easy to snip to go back to the original state.
This is way cheaper than a purchased Halloween wig. And the materials can be reused (I'm seeing a blue wreath in my future...). Now the only question is time--is it worth it. Only you can decide if this project is worth your time. But for me it was a fairly quick project, and I could blog about it, too...so definitely worth it.
And my girls look so cute in the wigs...At least, the one that kept it on did!
So...Anybody have any guesses as to what my little ones will be for Halloween?
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18 comments
That's so brilliant! Popped in from SITS to check out your crafty goodness! :)
ReplyDeleteThing 1 and 2???? Just my guess! Super cute and easy!
ReplyDeleteVisiting from Whimsically Homemade!
Great idea! I'm needing to make monster costumes and our fabric stores don't carry the colored fur. So guess I'll be looking to do something similar to this! Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness what a great idea! And this way, it would actually fit the kiddo instead of being so big. Brilliant. Now, if only my daughter liked hats right now :)
ReplyDeleteCutest wig ever!!! Awesome idea. I’m so glad you linked this up at One Creative Weekend! I love it! Hope your weekend is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! I wish I had seen this when my kids were still little. I'll be filing it away for possible future use. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteDebbie
Great idea! And nice and cheap too, which is always the way to go! I'd love for you to share it here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.oneartsymama.com/2012/10/shine-on-fridays-49.html
That's way cute! I would love to have you stop by 'Or so she says...' today and share some of your great ideas with my readers! The 'Your Great Idea' link party runs every Sat through Tuesday. Hope to see you there! www.oneshetwoshe.com
ReplyDeleteAwesome idea! That wig is super cute and I bet it's super comfortable with the hat. Stopping by from Sundae Scoop and I'd love for you to share this at my Fun In Functional link party: http://practicallyfunctional.net/2012/10/the-fun-in-functional-link-party-20/
ReplyDeletecool! great idea!
ReplyDeletebrilliant and quick! love it ;) I'd love for you to post this project on my new link party! Impatiently Crafted Sundays ;) http://impatientlycrafty.com/2012/10/13/craft-link-up-impatiently-crafted-sundays/
ReplyDeleteThing 1 and Thing 2!!! Love it!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations. This post was a fan favorite (and one of my favorites) at One Creative Weekend on OneCreativeMommy.com. I’ll be featuring it tomorrow. Feel free to stop by to grab a featured button and check out the other projects. I hope you'll link up again this week!
ReplyDeleteI would have to guess...Thing One and Thing Two. I'm sure it's gonna be adorable.
ReplyDeleteWould love for you to share this at my very first linky party. My sister and I are working together over at "Think Tank Thursday"...would love to see you there!
http://www.saving4six.com/2012/10/welcome-to-think-tank-thursday-1.html
I love thing one and thing two........that's my guess. Visiting from the Inspiration Friday blog hop!
ReplyDelete<a href="http://sadieloohoo.blogspot.ca/=>Connie from Sadieloohoo</a>
Such a great idea!! I totally love it!!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! How cute!
ReplyDeletehmmm...grover?
ReplyDelete