Last-minute Halloween costumes: 3 quick and easy options for delightful frights

Halloween may be less than a week away, but a last-minute party invitation may call for a costume to be conjured with scary speed.

While pre-packaged costumes are an easy solution, they often end up in the back of the closet or in the waste bin once spooky season passes. Researchers at Boston University estimated that Americans threw out 34 billion pounds of textiles in 2022.

Using either items already found in your closet or garments that are easily added to your collection can help cut down on the waste and make the holiday more unique.

Here are three easy last-minute costumes for Halloween.

Witch

Pulling a witch costume out of the wardrobe at the last moment is a classic Halloween move as all it requires is a combination of black garments.

With black jeans, a black band t-shirt and boots, you can take a punk rock approach to the supernatural. Want to make your witch a mid-century modern sophisticate? Throw on a pencil dress and carry a cylindrical item and call it a Bauhaus wand.

The costume did not appear on Google's list of most popular costumes this year after being fourth in 2023 .

Waldo

Waldo from the "Where's Waldo" picture books is an ideal last minuet costume as it only requires one identifiable garment to pull off

The character's red and white striped shirt is available at multiple retailers and the jeans and sneakers that round out the outfit are wardrobe staples.

One can bring a wide array of attitudes to the costume as Waldo does not have a defined character outside of his appearance.

Hippie

Hippie fashion is a groovy way to make casual staples into a Halloween statement.

Finding, or making, a tie-dye t-shirt shirt will make what the wearer is going for clear but a denim vest or jacket and unkempt hair will accentuate the character.

Jeans are the primary option for bottoms, though if time allows a wide-legged , wide-wale corduroy pant would work both for the costume and be a fashionable option for the remainder of the fall.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Last-minute Halloween costumes: 3 quick and easy options for delightful frights