Two days til Halloween and you’re still undecided? I stumbled upon a fun article that suggests costumes based on your Astrological Sign. So you don’t have to read the article unless you want to, I’ll give a rundown of the selections.

Ares: Mythological characters. Zeus will need a cardboard lighting bolt. Athena should have a stuffed owl perched on her shoulder and carry a shield. Do a quick search to learn more about the gods and goddess.

Taurus: Exquisite. I wish I could find pictures of my Cleopatra when I was 13. Try on your costume jewelry. Exaggerate your black eyeliner. Make a crown from cardboard and attach fan shapes to it to make it unique. Paint it gold with turquoise accents.

Gemini: Superheroes. Batman and Wonder Woman are great examples. If there’s no time to find the superhero costume, go as their secret identity. Wear black framed glasses and a suit slightly open with a superman t-shirt visible. These days Wonder Woman is a an agent. Wear a black suit and her gauntlets. Maybe have a golden lasso (curtain cord is great for this) hanging out of your pocket.

Cancer: Accent your water temperament as mer-people, pirates, or King Neptune. If you need a quick fish tail, go to the grocery store. Pick up several packets of the foil baking cups. Overlay them on one another to create a scale look. For Neptune’s trident, get a cheap Devil pitchfork and spray paint silver.

Leo: Be legendary. A big-shot sports hero or iconic movie star like James Dean. White shirt, jeans with rolled cuffs, a jacket with popped collar and a pout. If you like risque, be Elizabeth Taylor from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She wore a full slip, stockings (thigh highs are fine), heels, and red lipstick. Don’t forget to thicken your brows.

Virgo: Theatrical. If you can’t get a group theme together, play up Halloween as a witch. Go all out. Black hat, black robes, and lots of cackling. Don’t wash your hair tomorrow so it will be stringy and unkempt. Keep a broom or frog with you to really play it up.

Libra: Biker folk. Wear torn old jeans. Boots or heavy shoes. A t-shirt with a devil-may-care attitude. And of course, a leather jacket. A bandanna to tame the fly away hair is a good idea too. Don’t forget the temporary tattoos.

Scorpio: Cool factor. Why do Scorpios get to be cool? James Bond and a Bond girl. This is great if you have a tux handy. Women can get out an old evening gown and a garter that holds a small toy gun. Carry an empty plastic martini glass.

Sagittarius: Be yourself…the Archer. Any archer will do. Keep it easy with a toga and toy quiver. Wear some green and be Robin Hood. There are lots of archer superheroes: Green Arrow, Speedy, Arrowette, and Hawkeye. Have fun with a crossbow as Huntress.

Capricorn: Casual and comfy. Wear black PJs and a robe or smoking jacket to be Hugh Hefner. I don’t even think he owns anything other than PJs. Dress as the Darling kids, clad in their PJs and off on a fantastic adventure.

Aquarius: Apparently, you’re the candy givers of the universe. That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. Dress as a Halloween homebody. Elvira or a vampire. Maybe be the headless horseman and chase the kids away from your door. Is that too scary? You can tone it down as a creepy scarecrow.

Pisces: Dark arts. You are the fortune tellers and magicians of the universe. Wear a chains and padlocks as Houdini.Carry some tarot cards and wear a peasant top. Have a bit of fun and dress up as the flighty Professor Twelaney.

Does that help anyone? You can dress as your sign. Wrap a gold boa around your head and be Leo. Or maybe use your element as inspiration. Fire signs can be dragons or a camper with marshmallows on a stick. Air elements can glue cotton to an old sweatshirt and be a cloud. A water sign can be a lifeguard. Good luck. Two days to go!

Halloween is days away. I’m willing to bet a few of us haven’t selected a costume yet. Time is not on our side, nor I suspect is money. I have a few eye-rolling suggestions that are easy on the pocketbook.

1. Black eyed Pea(s): A Classic and easy pun. Wear a giant letter P or several small Ps. Then give yourself a black-eye. Not a real one of course, just paint your eye black with face paint or eyeshadow.

2. Pink I: Easy peasie. All you need is a large pink colored letter I on your person.

3. Static cling: One of my favorite pun costumes. This one requires safety pins and socks. Wear your normal clothes: shirt, pants, maybe even a jacket. Next up you’ll want to pin mismatched socks to your clothes in various hard to see places. Put one on the back of your shoulder, one on your bum, a few on your pant legs, and then few more on your shirt. You can go light or heavy with the socks. It’s all up to you.

4. Dust Bunny: First, you must be a bunny. Wear white sweats, a cotton ball tail, and a set of bunny ears. Next up, you need a feather duster. Since feather dusters are a bit out of vogue these days, you can opt for a rag and a bottle of furniture polish.

5. Coat of arms: First things first, find a coat. The next part is a bit trickier. Gather up the all the gloves in your house. If you only have a pair or two you can find $1 gloves at the local discount store. You we will need as many athletic or knee high socks as we have gloves. Attach a glove to one end of a sock. The final step is pinning the socks (arms) to your coat. Now you have a coat of arms.

6. Cereal killer: You’ve probably seen this one a time or two. Gather your empty cereal boxes. Now have fun mutilating the boxes. Perhaps you can add a bit of blood in the form of markers or paint. String up the dead cereal boxes like you just caught a lot of fish. Use some non-toxic school glue to attach some cereal bits to yourself. Wear some old clothes and glue the cereal to them as well. The last touch is a bloody spoon. Have fun!

7. Butter fingers: Two ways to do this one. The easy way is to tape empty butter wrappers close. Then stick the wrappers on your fingers…not your thumbs. The other version will probably require a trip to the store, a power tool or two, and a bit of effort. Purchase a small block of yellow foam padding. You’ll find it with the the fiberfill and pillow stuffing. Break out the ruler and mark one inch widths across the block. Cut the foam with an exact-o, or better yet an electric, knife along the your marks. You should have long blocks now. Mark and cut the blocks so they are one inch by one inch…they should still be long. Measure your fingers. Add one inch to that length and cut your blocks down to this number. Probably 5 inches long and 1×1 around. Go out to the garage and find your drill and make a tunnel in the blocks. Place your yellow logs onto your fingers. Voila, butter fingers.

8. Ceiling Fan: This one is for the crafter and sports fan. Paint “ceiling” onto an old shirt using block letters or stencils. Paint a #1 on your face like an enthusiastic fan. Look around for a “We’re #1″ foam finger. Last step is to make a small sign using poster board or construction paper. Have it read “Ceiling is #1″ or other such enthusiastic phrase. Now you’re ready to cheer on your favorite ceiling.

9. Bird flu: Craft a small beak from yellow or orange construction paper and stick it to your nose. If crafts aren’t your thing, pick up a cheap bird beak from the dollar or discount store. Add some red spots to your face and arms using makeup or washable marker. Wrap an empty ice bad to your head with an ace bandage or gauze. Last thing you need is a thermometer in your mouth. You can get crazy and clip a few feather to your hair or clothes if you like.

10. Speed bump: I stole this idea from my mom. Wear all yellow. This can be a sweatsuit, pants and a shirt, whatever you have. Roll a tire in black paint then roll it over your costume. Or…If you’re lacking in a yellow outfit, wear all black. The all black costume will need foot wide yellow diagonal stripes across your body. Use scarp fabric and pin it or quick stitch it to the black. Add black bric brac to the yellow area of your costume so that it looks like tire treads. All done. Now, don’t go too fast.

I hope this has helped you think of a few other punny ideas. Have fun being creative.

Let’s talk inexpensive, yet uncommon, home-made costumes.

1. Logan’s Run. This one’s easy. All it requires is a monochrome costume. I’m basing this color break down on the movie, but you can use the book. If you’re over 24 wear red. You wear green from 16 to 23 and yellow or blue for children. Something lose in a tunic style is best. A Sandman needs black pants and a black shirt. Then pin or sew a 4 inch wide strip of gray across the chest.

The one costume item that cannot be leftout is the age jewel. Glue a small round rhinestone in the middle of your palm. Either school glue or spirit gum will work for this. If you’re past Lastday (30 years old), your jewel should be black.

2. Pushing Daisies. Ned, Chuck, Emerson and the gang. Ned the pie man needs a black tee, jeans, and a white apron. Maybe carry a toy pie for good measure. Chuck (Charlotte) should wear a retro dress, big glasses, and a head scarf. Check out thrift stores if you don’t have an old dress in the closet.

Emerson Cod, the knitting P.I., loves gaudy dress shirts with vests or jackets. Keep a pair of knitting needles in your pocket. There’s style for everyone in this show. Check out cast pictures for more ideas.

3. Homer Simpson. Not just the white shirt and blue jeans Homer, but Quiz Master Homer. For this you’ll need to wear a robe over your clothes. Purple would be ideal, but not necessary. Next up is the traffic cone hat. A few sheets of orange construction paper should do nicely. Make a cone and tape the edges. Then create the flat rim with a hole in the middle the size of the cone base. Tape the cone to the rim. Attach strips of paper to the inside to add stability. A white question mark is on the center of the cone. Draw, paint, or glue paper to the front center of the cone. Keep a pair of reading glasses in your pocket and an old quiz filled magazine in your hands and you’re done.

4. Masterpiece. Pick a painting with a main feature. This can be a person or a thing. If it’s a person, try to pick one that you can easily dress as. A black dress for Mona lisa, a black robe for Munch screamer, or an ear wrapped Van Gogh. Now you need a frame. Cut up a box and glue or tape it in the shape of a frame. Glue on decorations, like precut foamies, then add a coat of paint. You can choose gold, silver, black, whatever color you want your frame. Add a few coats to cover completely. Distress the look if you’d like. You can carry the frame, it should be rather light since it’s cardboard, or you can make a light harness from leftover cardboard, wire hangers, or scrap fabric.

Get creative by recreating a famous magazine cover or photograph. You can even branch into fantasy literature and interact with people like a magical painting from the Harry Potter stories.

Have fun raiding the closets and craft room for costume bits.

Coming soon: Pun Costumes

Ah, the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Rocky Horror Show. Lots of great costume possibilities and crazy characters. Check local listings for special Halloween showings and regular monthly events. The audience participation makes for a memorable experience. Neither the movie or musical is for kids.

I’m not sure what you mean, Guest 3204. I don’t have any Columbia costumes since I don’t sell costumes. Do I know where to find a Columbia costume? Right here. The costume you’re most likely to find is the satin shorts, sequined bustier, and top hat. If you want one of her other costumes from the movie, you’ll have to assemble it on your own. Or you can do your interpretation of Columbia. When theaters put on Rocky Horror shows, they often put their own artistic (costuming) spin on the characters. Why can’t you?

Let’s see, her other costumes include the mouse ears and men’s pajamas, lab apron with mask, and the floor show lingerie. Make sure your mouse ears don’t have a logo or embroidered name. The apron is worn over the bustier and shorts. Instead of a bow tie, she is now wearing a small dog collar. I’m at a lost for the mask. I don’t know where you’d find one. On to the floor show: panties, corset, fishnets, boa, and glove. You’ll need one red sequined gauntlet. Columbia’s corset is tied at the top. Basic black corset with sequins along the top edges and some along the bottom. Look for the red scrunchy garters at lingerie stores. The boa is the trickiest part of her floor show costume. I’m not aware of any black, red, and yellow tulle boas on the market. Look around, you never know where you’ll find one. Worst case: you make it yourself.

The makeup. Columbia has pencil thin eyebrows. This will require you to cover your eyebrows (I assume you don’t want to remove your eyebrows). One way it to smooth down your eyebrows using spirit gum. Brush your eyebrows down then cover with the first coat of spirit gum. Let this dry completely for about 4 minutes. Press down on your eyebrows to make sure they’re flat and add another coat. Use your discretion with the number (about 4) of spirit gum layers (brow wax, appliances, and latex are other options). Once the eyebrows feel and look smooth, you can begin to add the makeup. Powder is a good start and will help the makeup set. Use a base that is one color lighter than normal, or concealer, for the first coat. Then use you normal base to blend the eyebrow to your skin color. Stipple on another round of powder. Lastly, draw on the curved eyebrow. Once you’ve applied the rest of your makeup, set everything with more powder. You don’t need to buy expensive spirit gum remover. Baby oil should do just fine.

Powder is important. Never forget it!

And you simply cannot go without the big gaudy fake eyelashes.

Mouse Ears: Magical Memories, Treasure Kingdom,
A Pinch of Pixie Dust.

Check out the RHPS livejournal for more help from a community of Rocky costume lovers and performers.

We’d love to see pictures of you dressed as Columbia.

I’m pleased that so many of you are using the shoutbox to ask questions about costumes. Today’s post is about answering some of those questions.

Last week I covered the question of Wendy Watson. Since then, I’ve been searching stores for the green vest and have failed to find anything other than charcoal or black. Perhaps you could find one of the black ones on clearance for less than $10 (similar price of a pattern). Take apart the vest and use it as a pattern for a green Wendy vest. Good luck.

On to the scrappy Laura Ingalls Wilder. I wore a calico dress when I was ten and played pioneer girl and young Annie Oakley. Here are a few nice patterns from Simplicity and McCall’s that can be used to make a Laura-style dress. You can keep it simple with just the dress or add a cotton pinafore. Look for calico patterns with small flowers. To play the Mrs. Wilder version, use a similar adult pattern or put together a conservative blouse with a cameo and skirt. Wear your hair in a period adult style like a braided bun. If sewing isn’t your thing, hit the western wear store nearest you and ask for suggestions on where to look for a prairie dress.

Looks like Jem is next in the tag. I found a commercial costume available. It’s not cartoon accurate, but it’ll work if you want ready-to-wear. CandyApple Costumes has some fun rocker wigs. Check out the cartoon wardrobe for costume ideas for Jem and the other characters. Jem’s memorable concert attire is a pink wrap dress. That should be an easy pattern to find and sew. Get your friends together to round out the Holograms, the Misfits, and the Stingers. Don’t forget to have a Rio. Nothing like a purple-haired man to up your 80s cool factor.

The human piñata is a great idea, Guest_3348. I’ve pondered this a bit. Party stores carry wigs that are made of paper or plastic strips. Usually they come in mascot colors like yellow, green, or blue and marketed on the sports fan aisle. Its a great example of wig possibilities. Pick up a cheap bald cap and glue strips of construction paper to it. I worry tissue paper is too weak to hold up for long periods of wear. As for the mask, I don’t recommend gluing paper, tissue or construction, to your face. Craft stores sell mask blanks. Use the blank as a base for the piñata mask. Since some piñatas are made of paper mache, the paper mache method would also work for a mask. Finish the paper mache mask with markers or paint.

Last up for today is another person in need of a Dr. Horrible costume. Before Dragon Con I posted a quick how-to. Queza7 wrote a detailed sewing how-to by modifying a Matrix jacket pattern. PJ Otaku left a helpful comment.

Keep the questions coming. I’m having fun and I hope you are too.