Halloween can be a magical day for people of every age. It's all about freeing your imagination and stepping outside of yourself to become something or someone else. There's no limit to the possibilities.

Cardboard and Styrofoam can suddenly be transformed into wings or robotic parts. Glitter becomes fairy dust and ketchup becomes thick monster blood. Homemade costumes seem to hold the most lasting memories because the fun starts long before trick or treating. Kids love to make their own costumes in the weeks leading up to Halloween and it truly is amazing what a little glue and some imagination can create.

We asked our Canadian Living Online readers to share some of their favourite costumes and we got a plethora of creative and thoughtful responses.

Here are some of the best costume suggestions for both children and adults:

"Our 9 year-old daughter designed and made her own "Autumn" costume! She was a smash hit in our neighbourhood this Halloween. It took half an hour to make her costume (with no help from Mom or Dad) and all items were purchased from the local dollar store – at a total cost of less than five dollars! This costume worked well for indoors (over regular clothes for school party) and for outdoors (over a warm jacket)."

Instructions:
1. Cut circle from the centre of a plastic orange tablecloth to place over head.
2. Trim about a foot from the edge to hand on both sides and keep scraps to use as a belt.
3. Fringe edges all the way around tablecloth and ends of belt in 2-inch snips - trim them in leaf-like shapes.
4. Buy two packages of cloth leaves (12 in each) and staple leaves at random, all over tablecloth (easy to do because tablecloth is thin).
5. Create a round wreath-like halo from copper-coloured tinsel garland to fit head size.
Ready to go!
Mary Meister, Alberta

“I once saw two children at my door for Halloween. They wore their winter jackets and mitts so they were warm and cosy. Over their necks they wore cardboard boxes with a hole cut out on top for their heads. They had painted the boxes white and painted black dots on each side so that the boxes now looked like a pair of dice. It was a quick and easy costume and I'm sure they got raves at every house."
Susanne Craig, Ontario

“We've had a lot of great costumes for our kids over the years, but one of the easiest ones that got the most comments from people was the LEGO block. My husband, Lionel, simply took a rectangular box that was about the size of our child's torso, cut out a hole for the neck at one end and two arm holes on the sides and left the bottom open. He then glued six 500 g yogurt containers (evenly spaced) on one of the wider sides of the box. He then spray-painted the whole thing red. It was great - the kids loved wearing it and everyone (adults and kids) could identify with it immediately."
Deb Durocher, British Columbia

“Halloween is a very special time for my son. He is autistic and his communication impairment makes it difficult for him to express himself. Halloween comes along and it's time for him to cut loose. He loves dressing up and I try very hard to find him a costume that encourages his make-believe. This year he wanted to be a robot astronaut. He loves space stuff. To make this costume I went to the No Frills and picked up two boxes (one big, one little). Then off to Canadian Tire to buy a can of silver spray paint and white dryer ducting. I cut holes for his arms and a hole in the smaller box for his helmet. I used lots of duct tape to attach helmet to body, spray it silver, use duct tape to attach arms. I dug through the recycling box for tops of juice containers or water bottles to glue on as knobs. This costume took no time at all to put together and most importantly, my son loves it and is ready to go trick or treating."
Tracy Simons, Ontario

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