The weeks before Halloween can be extremely busy for students, and often, it isn’t until the night before Halloween that you realize you have no time — or money — to get a costume. Here are six easy costume ideas for starters.

Jane Goodall:

In a rush for a cheap Halloween costume? Throw on some khakis and carry around a stuffed chimpanzee to be British anthropologist and primatologist Jane Goodall. Extra points are awarded if you bring a banana, safari hat and some binoculars with you as props.

The Purge:

“This is your emergency broadcast” if you’re wanting something a little bit scarier for Halloween. Why not dress up as people from the dystopian horror movie The Purge? This is a great costume for a couple or a group of friends.

You can wear a long white T-shirt with stockings and heels or a suit, but the main things you need for this costume are a purge mask, fake blood for your clothing and some fake weapons.

Cactus and cactus victim:

Have you ever pricked your finger on a cactus so bad that it bleeds? If you are looking for a couple’s or best friends’ costume idea that is both cute and crafty, then this is perfect for you. All you need is a green outfit, faux pink flowers, a hot glue gun and hot glue, a fabric marker, scissors and fake blood.

For the cactus, draw spikes with your fabric marker all over your green outfit. Hot glue the faux pink flowers anywhere on your costume. For the victim of the spiky cactus, cover your clothes in fake blood. You can also carry around a sign that says “victim of cactus.”

Smartie pants:

All you need for this punny costume are smarties and pants — and hot glue to glue the candies all over your pants. To really complete the joke, you can also throw on fake glasses for that clichéd nerd look.

This is the perfect costume if you just finished an extremely hard midterm and are finally going out to celebrate.

Guess Who:

Get white posters from a craft store, along with red or blue markers, stencils, a red or blue shirt, scissors and white fabric paint. Cut out the posters to look like frames, and write “Guess Who?” on the top and your name on the bottom, using a red or blue marker. On your shirt, paint a white question mark using the fabric paint.

To add to the look, you can wear accessories like glasses, a wig or a hat to make your character distinct. This costume is best for a squad of sleepy studiers looking for a unique, last-minute costume idea.

Spice Girls:

Are you and your friends stumped on what to be for Halloween? Why not be everyone’s favourite ’90s girl band, the Spice Girls, but with a twist? Print out pictures of your favourite spice jars, and iron them onto plain white shirts using iron-on transfers, then you’re all set for Halloween! Say hello to Bay Leaves Spice, Mint Spice, Basil Spice and more.

It’s important to keep things simple when deciding on a last-minute costume. When you are scrambling to find a costume at 5:02 p.m. on Halloween night, you’re not going to have time to make a show-stopping outfit. However, you’d be surprised at what you can come up with just by looking at the clothes in your closet.

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Sophia Lagimodiere

Graphic: Jaymie Stachyruk