My Halloween Costumes!

So I ended up wearing 3 different costumes this year.  All of which I already had in my closet :)  The first costume I decided on was a "Hipster Pirate" which I wore for our school's "Safe Trick or Treat" Event for kid's from the neighborhood. 

Then, I went to OSU's High Ball that Friday night before Halloween and I went as a school girl :)







And on Halloween, I just went to my friend's house to pass out candy and went as a hipster cowgirl by wearing a button-up flannel, pigtails, a mini skirt, boots, leggings, and plastic glasses frames and a little purple scarf.  Sadly, I didn't think to take a picture, so you will have to use your imagination for the most part.  It is very similar to what I wore to the Miley Cyrus concert 2 years ago though which I do have pictures of!  I wore a white skirt, grey boots, and no cowboy hat though.

Cheap Costume Ideas!

As a college student, I do not like spending a lot of money especially on something I will wear one night.  With Halloween right around the corner though, I have been trying to decide on a costume to wear while volunteering for the Safe-Trick-or-Treat hosted at my school.  We are planning to have a costume contest among the volunteers too, so I want to put a lot of thought into my costume without too much of the cost in COSTume (teehee I made a punny!). 

Obviously, one idea is to recycle an older costume from high school that people at college probably haven't seen me in.  Unfortunately, I only actually purchased one costume in high school and I am letting my sister borrow it.  The rest of the times I've dressed up, I've just made up costumes out of clothes and such I already had.  Some costumes I wore using my own everyday clothes and accessories over the years include:  cow girl, Native American, a boy, and Tinky Winky the teletubby.  I bought a FrenchMaid costume my freshman year of college, but I never got the chance to wear it and I decided it is not an appropriate costume to wear around little kids anyway lol.  It is actually pretty modest for a French Maid costume.  I just think the whole idea of it isn't very wholesome haha.  As a backup costume, I have the children's fairy costume I wore two years ago, but it is missing the wings, so I will need to transform it into a forest nymph costume or something instead I guess... haha.  But hopefully, I will come up with something cool as I brainstorm through this blog :)

One easy idea is the Princess.  To just be a generic princess, all you need is a fancy dress and a tiara to be honest.  I have lots of tiaras at home, but I didn't think to bring any to school, so I might go out and buy a plastic one if I decide to use this costume idea.  They can be found for as little as a dollar at party stores or Five Below.  Or if you want your costume to be a little more "legit" and don't mind spending the extra money, Claire's has some more "real"ish tiaras for under twenty dollars.

I could potentially go as a cowgirl again, but I think I left my straw cowboy hat at home also, but this costume is really simple if you have cowboy boots and some kind of flannel shirt and a cowgirl hat.  You could add a rope belt or carry a lasso around with you if you so choose for some more fun accessorizing.


I also noticed that Five Below has some pretty fun wigs for only five dollars which leads me to the following ideas:
(Insert profession) Barbie-  All you need is a blonde wig and you can pretty much wear whatever you want and call yourself Barbie.  For example, you could combine one of the previous costume ideas with a blonde wig and be "Princess Barbie" or "Cowgirl Barbie".  I highly recommend watching the movie Never Been Kissed if you need a good visual of what a Barbie costume could look like.  Here is a clip of the specific scene though if you don't feel like sitting through 2 hours of a great movie:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRpaEi3iKaE (You can skip to 4:22 to see the costumes!).

Five Below also has some fun colored wigs (pink, purple, green, etc.) which would be great for an ALIEN costume if you paired it with some crazy fun glittery and metallic makeup and shiny spacey-clothing. 

Long-haired wigs are great if you want to go as a hippie and pair it with bell-bottom jeans and tie-dye or bright floral prints and giant earrings and tinted sunglasses and flowers in your hair and maybe a nice flowy top or a fringed vest.  There's a lot you can work with here and you probably have stuff in your own wardrobe that you can use for this kind of costume.   

I also found this site which has a lot of really awesome costume ideas.  Some of them are really original and fun too!  I especially liked this section:  http://costumeideazone.com/A9eShopYourCloset.htm

Have fun with your costumes and make it your own!  I hope everyone has an awesome Halloween with some really fun costumes :)

Fun and Free Things to do this Summer!

Mkay so I am trying to not a lot of money this Summer since I want to save up for a car, so here are some fun things I've been doing/plan to do that are completely free! :

Have a PhotoShoot!! Get a camera or a cell phone with a camera or even a laptop with a camera (whatever you can find!) and get your friends together and have your own fashion show/photoshoot.  You can do it by yourself with a tripod and a timer or get a big group of friends together and take turns playing photographer.  You can even try on multiple outfits and do different themed photos and have breaks for wardrobe changes.  It's really fun and can take all day if you want it to!! You can go to the park or beach or your own backyard and get some rays while you get awesome pictures for your facebook, blog, portfolio, whatever you want to do with them!  And they'll make great gifts for friends' birthdays and such later on when you have some really cool pictures to frame for them or make a photo album with.

Go for a walk/run.  It's something you do alone or with friends.  It's great for helping you to relax and keep in shape while still getting some of the summer fresh air and working on your tan a bit.  It can be for as long as you want.  You can listen to an MP3 player as you walk/run or you can invite a friend or your sweetie for a long talk while you stroll about town.

Start a blog or journal. It's a great way to de-stress or feel creative.  It helps me reflect a lot on my own life and share my thoughts with others when I feel so inclined.  It can be really fun and even therapeutic depending on how you do it.  Another great idea could be to write letters to a friend who you don't see often and become pen pals.  This is something a friend from school and I are planning to do since I'll be in Ohio this summer while she's in Michigan for some of it and Minnesota for the rest.

Have a movie night!  You don't have to go spend a ton of money and go out to the theater!  You can just watch movies you have at your own house or have your friends come over and have them all bring their movie collections and then, you can all vote on movies to watch.  There's also always Hulu.  If you can't find any movies to watch, maybe you can find a show you all like and have a marathon night. You can also ask your friends to bring popcorn and candy and such from home, and you can all drink water since it's much better for you and basically free if you just get it from the tap!

Have a clothing exchange party!  Want to shop, but just don't have the mula?  It's likely you have some old clothes in your closet that just don't fit anymore or just don't go with anything, etc.  Chances are, your friends have a few items of clothing too that they haven't worn in ages.  Call up your friends and suggest an exchange party where you can each bring any clothes you  no longer want and give your friends the opportunity to trade with you, so that you'll all get some clothes that are new (to you at least) without spending a dime!  And anything that goes unwanted can be donated to charity or sold to a thrift store or Plato's closet for some extra cash.

Go to the Zoo.  I'm not sure if all zoos have free-entry days, but in Cleveland, the zoo is open admission every Monday, so you can take a friend or the family and go to the zoo for free for the day and get your exercise walking around and get to see some cool animals!

Check out an art gallery or museum.  Many galleries and museums are open to the public without any admission cost.  Find one near you and invite some friends or go alone.  You might learn something new about yourself or about history/art!

Go to the beach!  An obvious summer plan.  Head to the beach to play frisbee or volleyball or catch.  Or just lay and catch some rays.  Maybe have that photoshoot.  You could also go for a run.  Or go swimming!