Thread: help with scary ghost costume

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My 7-year-old son wants to be a scary ghost this year. (yeah! No more cutsie cartoon characters!!!!) I'm trying to think how to make a plain, white ordinary sheet look "scary". Cut holes for eyes then circle them deeply with a black marker? What about some type of "Frankenstein" scars?? What do I do with the arms??? I was thinking of actually using 2 sheets and shred the top one so that there are shredded pieces hanging down. Trying to visualize here....

Any and all suggestions will be much appreciated!

TMama

Maybe something like this?



I like the idea of shredded sheets over top. It's easy to think of grotesque things that we could do... but for a 7 year old, not sure. I'll think about it.

Hey TarantulaMama,

Personally I'm not big on the use of sheets for a ghost costume; I've always preferred the look of a realistic ghost as opposed to the archetypal white blob-like apparition. In my childhood I watched a lot of "scary" shows and I recall once seeing a little boy ghost that scared the hell out of me. His costume was nothing more than pale, faded, and distressed clothing with a very good makeup job. His face was pale (including the lips) and his eyes were sunken with hues of purple and blue. It was a simple and effective look that isn't hard to accomplish.

If you want to go that route you can easily find tutorials on "dead" makeup online, however I would keep to a palette of cool colours. If you go too warm he'll appear to look more like a zombie than a ghost. I also wouldn't suggest using blood if you do makeup, or go heavily with white or black, these generally don't give the impression of a wandering soul. For clothing you need to look no further than your local thrift store; just take your son out shopping for some white or faded clothing, the more distressed the better. If you wanted to be gruesome (which I'm not sure your son is ready for, only you can gauge that) you could discuss his "cause of death" with him to see if he wanted to build off of that.

If he's not terribly interested in being a realistic ghost and would prefer to have a more whimsical almost storybook-esque look I would suggest acquiring a simple cheap ghost costume to start with. They're usually tattered and I've seen them sell for ten dollars (or even less depending on where you go). This would act as a base that you can amp up using cheesecloth. I love cheesecloth, it looks fantastic for ghosts and it can make really good mummies too. You could add spiders, bugs or chains to it. He could wear a mask or just makeup...although masks usually don't go well with kids. These two pics are good examples of what you can try and do with cheesecloth:




These are relatively cheap ways of making a ghost costume, you can find most of what you need second hand or in the dollar store. I would show your son some photos of different ghost costumes and see which ones he likes best so you can use them as a reference. Good luck!

-SS

Both of these ideas are great!

sossamonster: I LOVE that ghost picture! I will definitely show that to my son. The mask might be a bit much for him, but who knows. He may love it. I like that this costume has arms and a hood.

SS: I agree - just a plain white sheety-blob is NOT what I envision as a Halloween ghost. I never thought to use cheesecloth - that's fantastic!! I could use a sheet as the base and build up with shredded cheesecloth.
You're right - I don't think he wants to wear a mask so white-gray make-up would go on his face.

Thanks!!

TMama