Turn a Prom Dress into a Halloween Costume

Don't let that prom dress, bridesmaid dress or cocktail dress languish in the back of the closet. Pull it out and use it as the base for a fabulous, unique Halloween costume.

Depending on the style of the dress, you have a variety of costumes you can create. I'll get your imagination started with some prom dress Halloween costume ideas here.

All you need are a few props and the prom dress or bridesmaid dress and you are off to the Halloween party or the fancy dress ball. Have a great time.

(Photo shows me in a bridesmaid dress turned into Little Bo Peep and a friend in a wedding gown turned into Glinda the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz)

Is it more traditional or more modern?

Check the categories below for ideas to work with each style of dress. You can even get out the wedding dress for some costumes (if you don't think it would be disrespectful). If you are divorced, then you may no longer have sentimental attachments to the expensive dress going to waste in storage.

Graphic Credit: from Zazzle, Fashion / Seamstress Card

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You can go campy like this (Scarlett made a ball gown after the war from some green velvet curtains) or more traditional southern belle. Usually the skirt would be quite full, rather than form-fitting like this sketch.

Curtains-Poster from Zazzle by 3coolechix

Check for an inexpensive or shabby wedding gown at Goodwill to repurpose for this costume, as you probably won't want to distress your own wedding gown for it. Get some make-up and gory looking accessories.

Check out the videos which give some tips for a great corpse bride look. Don't forget the dead flowers for a bridal bouquet. You could get some plastic flowers at the dollar store and spray paint them black.

Tips from the videos: use a sheer curtain or a lace curtain for the veil. You can probably find some lace curtains fairly cheaply at Goodwill.

Strange contact lenses can help give the properly dead look to the wearer. Be sure not to wear these for too long each time. You don't want to hurt your eyes just for a costume.

Watch the movie, Bride of Frankenstein, so you'll know the moves to go with the wig shown above and the make-up demonstrated in the video tutorial.

The suggestions below work well with a white or pastel dress or one that has ruffles.

To carry through on the fairy theme, make a wand with a painted dowel and attach a dollar store butterfly and some ribbons.

Remember all the glamorous women in the James Bond movies? Get your fellow to dress up as James Bond to complete your look.

You can get a temporary tattoo (click through to Amazon on one of these photos). How about an Asian dragon tattoo? Perhaps a mysterious tattoo will tip James Bond off to your affiliation with the bad guy. Maybe the tattoo is really a map to the secret headquarters for CRUSH.

Check out the ways to get this look on the Audrey Hepburn Costume site. You'll want the long, black cigarette holder (you don't actually have to smoke it.)

You'll want the right hair style to finish the look. I've found a great video, featured below, to help you with this.

Don't forget the tiara. Check out the lovely gloves I'm featuring here for your costume. While you are at Amazon, take a look at the wigs, tiara and cigarette holder.

Any sleek black dress can serve as the base for this look.

You can also check the local thrift shop or Goodwill store. If you are ripping it up for a zombie look or doing some alterations to the dress, look for damaged ones that you can get dirt cheap.