Halloween is now on the horizon–so get ready to think up some spooky and creative Halloween costumes this year.

Finding a costume is not always the easiest due to time and money. And, as a college student, our time and money are both very valuable. Here are five creative and fun do-it-yourself costume ideas that will save you a few extra coins and possibly time this Halloween.

Cereal Killer

This cereal (or shall we say serial killer costume) will cost you no more than 15 dollars, and here is what you will need.

You will need: 

• A plain white t-shirt 
• Red fabric paint 
• A paint brush 
• Mini cereal boxes of your choice 
• Plastic knives 
• Black adhesive letters
• A hot glue gun 

This creative and witty DIY costume can be created in 30 3 minutes and perhaps make a “bloody” mess. You will need to first take your mini cereal boxes and create slits in them with your plastic knives. The next step is to take your hot glue gun and glue as many cereal boxes as you would like to the shirt, but remember to leave enough room at the top of your shirt to stick on your black letters. 

Once you have glued down the cereal boxes, you will then take your black adhesive letters and label the word “Cereal Killer” at the top. The final step is to take your red fabric paint and a paint brush and splatter the shirt with red paint to create a bloody illusion. 

Smarty Pants Costume 

Don’t only be the smartest person out the group this Halloween but actually look like it. 

This Halloween costume literally cost under 5 dollars and can be done within 10 minutes. 

You will need: 

• A pair of blue jeans or khaki pants 
• Pack of smarties
• Nerd glasses
• Button down shirt
• Suspenders
• A hot glue gun. 

This DIY costume can really be done the night before. All you will need to do is take your smarties still in the wrapper and glue them with your hot glue gun randomly over the pants. Let the smarties dry for a good 30 minutes before wearing the pants. 

Eleven Stranger Things Costume

Why not make Halloween even stranger than it already is with this DIY “Stranger Things” costume. If your not really into arts and crafts then here is a costume idea you can recreate on your own.

You will need: a blue jacket, an eggos waffles box, white knee-high socks, fake blood and a pink skater dress. 

Who doesn’t like to dress up as their  favorite TV characters for Halloween? If you are a fan of Eleven from the TV show “Stranger Things,” then you will be sure to love this costume idea. This costume doesn’t necessarily require any arts or craft work, but you will need to buy the materials from your local store to complete the look.  

Hanging Torso Costume 

This costume might take a little more time and need more materials, but it is well worth it. Create an optical illusion this Halloween with this cut-in-half costume idea. 

You will need: 

• Scissors
• Duck tape
• A pair of long jeans that come up to your chest
• A long sleeve shirt twice your size
• Cardboard
• Toilet paper
• Old batteries
• Balloons
• Red cloth
• Multipurpose glue
•  Fake blood. 

The first step you will need to do is cut an opening in the shape of a T on the back of your long sleeve shirt that is big enough for your body to fit into. You will then need to take your long pair of jeans and cut a slit in the back of the pants around the back of the knee area. This is where you will step into the back of the jeans. 

Next, you will take your cardboard and measure the circumference of the waist of your pants, making sure that the cardboard is a little bigger than the waist, so that way it can hold the pants up and not fall through the waist area. The cardboard should look like a circle by the time you have cut it so that way it can fit in the waist of the jeans. 

Once you have measured the cardboard, you will tape the sides  of the cardboard to the jeans. Then you will cover the top of the cardboard with the red cloth by gluing the cloth on top. This will create a fake severed leg look. The next step is to take your batteries and tape them to the bottom of the shirt with your duck tape just so it can hold the shirt down. 

Finally, you will blow the balloons up big enough so that it will fill out the size of your pants. Once you fill your balloon up you will put them inside both pants legs and step into the pant slits that you created. 

Operation Costume 

There was nothing more nerve-wracking than hearing the sound of the buzzer go off from hitting the surrounding cavity in the board game Operation. Recreate a live version of the game with this DIY halloween costume. 

You will need: 

• Grey long sleeve t-shirt 
• Red felt, grey sweatpants,
• Fabric glue
• Scrap paper
• Sharpie marker
• Clown nose 
• Scissors. 

The first step you will need to do is cut out eleven Operation game pieces out of scrap paper to use as a stencil. You will then take the scrap paper stencils to use as tracers for your red felt. Once you have traced the white stencils onto the red felt you will then proceed to cut the red felt with scissors into the eleven Operation game pieces. 

The next step you will do is to glue the red operation pieces that you previously cute and glue them to your grey sweatpants and grey long sleeve t-shirt with fabric glue. Allow the red pieces to dry for 3 hours. After you have glued down the Operation pieces, you will then take your white pieces of scrap paper on top of your red felt Operation game pieces. 

Your last step is optional, as you will then take your sharpie marker and write the name of each game piece on the side. The clown nose is to be used as an accessory that is apart of the board game for your nose but is also optional.