The irony of a store bought hippie costume is that it’s brand new! Go to the source and you can create a stunning hippie costume with genuine vintage clothing. Thrift stores can usually supply everything you need but even if you want to shop online and don’t consider yourself a vintage buff, we’ll help you out.
Get inspired by some amazing vintage costumes ideas…

Any costume ideas that promise to be “easily put together from either thrift stores or your friends’ closets” are always going to be winners. Especially when they’re movie costume ideas and the how-to is jam packed with amazingly styled photos. Check out these fun and detailed costume ideas from the BrightestYoungThings:

The Royal Tenenbaums
Home Alone
Beetlejuice
Heavy Metal Parking Lot

Welcome ladies and gentleman to Dr. Snake Oil’s Internationally Acclaimed Traveling Exhibition of Medicinal Wonderment! Here you will find the most amazing tutorial, designed especially to show how you too can create a traveling Medicine Show costume! We’re reviving the classic Snake Oil Salesman that used to travel the country selling a magic elixirs along with a host of fantastic circus and sideshow acts.

It’s an easy one (like most of our tutorials) because we know you don’t have gobs of time or money to spend on a Halloween costume. So step right up and take a taste of Dr. Snake Oil’s magic elixir…

Dr. Snake Oil Costume How-To: Create an easy old tyme costume from an old suit, a hat and mustache, some magic elixir, and a unique sales pitch to peddle your snake oil!

Gory decorations and pet costumes: how’s that for an unusual combination of themes?

The folks at Halloween Forum and Pet Butler recently let us know about the contests they’re running. They’re perfect for Halloween fans and Howl-o-weenies alike, so it’s time to get creative!

The first contest is hosted by Halloween Forum and the objective is simple. Create the scariest scene. All experience levels are encouraged to enter. So far there are simple entries like this yoga skeleton all the way up to a “blood” splattered bathroom like this chilling “Hot Dose” entry. 3 winners will be chosen and will receive prizes from BodyBag.

ENTRIES DUE: August 12, 2008
Full details here

The other contest is hosted by Pet Butler and …

Remember the Yip Yip Martians from Sesame Street? Yep yep? Unh huh unh huh? Instructables user sliny shares a pretty easy tutorial for making this costume idea. It’s almost no-sew except for the mouth area where a needle and thread can be used. k7lim also documented a version of the Yip Yip costume on Flickr which makes for a great photo reference.

Below are some more completed DIY Yip Yip costumes for inspiration. Like the first image shows, this makes an easy group costume idea since you just need to choose different color “fur” for everyone. When making several at one time should be easy to set up an assembly line style of production. Although the idea comes from a kid show, this is definitely an adult costume due to the visibility. The black mouth opening uses …