Trick-free crafts are real treats

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This article was published 25/10/2011 (5426 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Has Halloween crept up on you?

Maybe you’ve already bought the candy and figured out the kids’ costumes, but have you put an iota of thought into your own costume, or how to decorate — at least a little — for the holiday?

Fortunately, some magazine editors work throughout the year to add fright and fantasy to our spookiest holiday, including ideas that can be done on the fly.

(Want to go as a fly? That probably can be figured out, too.)

What’s most important? The costume. For adults, that means coming up with something witty and easy to pull together. Thank you, Real Simple magazine. The October issue includes 13 costumes that play on puns.

“These are for the trick-or-treaters who are up for a quick costume, and for the adults who want to join in on the fun,” says Mary Kate McGrath, a Real Simple senior editor.

A few of the ideas: Wear a white chef’s hat and apron, and carry an iron (real or toy). What are you? An iron chef.

On a black T-shirt and pants, make a line of dashes with white duct tape, starting at a bottom pant leg and ending at the shirt neckline, to simulate highway-lane dividing lines. Fasten a plastic fork across the dashes on the shirt to be a “fork in the road.”

For children, attach small stuffed cats and dogs to the outside of an open umbrella for it to “rain cats and dogs.” Or dress the entire family in athletic clothes and sneakers and hand everyone a musical instrument to become a “band on the run.”

“I like that one because you get to stay cosy,” says McGrath.

For more elaborate but still quick-to-make costuming, turn to the pages of Martha Stewart Halloween, which this year features Stewart decked out as a giant moth. Hers and other costumes, such as The Vanishing Man and a Teen Werewolf, pay tribute to classic B movies.

While each costume comes with instructions, Marci McGoldrick, editorial director of Holiday & Crafts for Martha Stewart Living, says details can be used separately or for inspiration.

These costumes use clip art and templates downloaded from the Martha Stewart Living website.

For some, it’s not Halloween without a carved pumpkin, but McGrath suggests sticking silver bulletin-board tacks into a pumpkin to design a face, house numbers or any abstract shape.

“It’s very glisten-y and fancy,” say McGrath. “And it takes about three minutes.”

Dina Manzo, a former cast member of the TV show Real Housewives of New Jersey and host of HGTV’s new Dina’s Party, likes her pumpkins to sparkle. She combines real pumpkins with faux, decorating them similarly with crafting rhinestones, studs and spikes. Crafting stores sell these supplies in kits.

“You don’t have to carve anymore,” says Manzo.

— The Associated Press