Katie Koncilya Romero went to college for apparel design and fell in love with theater. Naturally, this Seattle mom makes her daughter amazing Halloween costumes. Friends are desperate for her help every October.

“They’re so intimidated because they want it to be perfect. But it doesn’t have to be perfect,” Koncilya Romero said. “There’s a phrase in theater, ‘smoke and mirrors.’ Who cares what it looks like inside? It just needs to last through Halloween.

“Do you have a hot glue gun? Safety pins? Double-sided tape? Do it!”

Before you hit up Amazon or even Value Village, Koncilya Romero suggests looking around your house first to see if there’s something you can repurpose into a fun costume. Hint: Check your recycling bin. You can create anything with cardboard and makeup. Koncilya Romero skips yucky face paint, and uses regular makeup with a little water instead.

“Just make it happen. Make it creative and make it different, and that’s what makes a Halloween costume,” she added. “You can do this.”

Esther Ansari grew up in Texas, but for trick-or-treating in Seattle, she starts her kids’ costumes off with a warm base layer. 

“You have to consider what makes sense for the weather,” Ansari said. “It bums me out if I have to put a jacket over. I try to incorporate sweatpants and sweatshirts instead of leotards to be warm.”

She buys solid color clothes from kids store Primary, and adds removable costume parts so the kids can still wear the clothes after Halloween. You can add ears and a tail to become any animal, or antennae and wings to become any insect. This year, her family is dressing up in a jungle theme, so she’s buying orange clothes for a tiger, red for a parrot.

“‘We’re all wearing solid color clothing and just adding onto that for the costume,” she said.

Pressed for time? (Who isn’t.) It’s perfectly OK to cheat!

Buying fabric at a fabric store is usually way more expensive than buying a “base” costume, so don’t feel bad taking the shortcut. Start with a store-bought costume, then zhush it up with accessories and makeup to make yours special.

“You can buy these cheap things and add fake leather, beads, feathers, so it looks like you didn’t just buy it off Amazon,” Koncilya Romero said. “That’s where the fun last-minute cheating comes in.”

When her daughter told her she wanted to be a Na’vi, from the movie “Avatar,” Koncilya Romero ordered a bodysuit off Amazon, and added jewelry and feathers to her daughter’s hair. She wrapped fake leather on a spear, and used her eye shadow palette for her daughter’s face.

The effect was stunning — and empowering.

“It channeled that powerful character in her,” Koncilya Romero said. “It’s awesome to see a shy kid turn into this superhero.”

Here are some ideas for last-minute (partially) DIY costumes.

Everything is possible with a glue gun.

The base of this rose is a round bowler hat (from Amazon). Ansari cut petals out of red felt (from Michael’s) and hot-glued them on. She added a wide ribbon tie for an adjustable chinstrap. For the leaf mitts, she cut out green felt and hot-glued on green pipe cleaners. The green sweatsuit is from Primary. For faux thorns, she used command hooks spray-painted green.

Her daughters loved watering their garden, so Ansari turned herself into a giant watering can.

For her costume, she started with a laundry hamper and cut off the handles and the bottom. She made a spout from a wrapping paper tube and a cardboard bowl. She glued and duct-taped the parts together, then spray-painted the whole thing.

When her daughter asked to be a robot last year, Ansari found the materials right on her porch.

She saved two boxes from her Amazon and Target shipments, one to fit her daughter’s body and one for her head. She cut out arm holes, bottom holes, eyes and mouth holes. She primed the boxes with a wall primer so the paint wouldn’t just seep into the cardboard. Once the primer dried, she painted over it with metallic silver tempera paint. Finishing touches include cardboard knobs and buttons, and a temperature meter secured with a brad.

Koncilya Romero made this woodland fairy/Tinkerbell costume using a fake plant she got at Value Village. She cut all the leaves off and hot glued them into a bodice. For the wings, she ironed plastic film (the kind typically used to wrap gift baskets), sandwiched inside wax paper so the plastic didn’t stick to the iron. Then she melted the edges with a lighter.

For the dress, Koncilya Romero took a piece of elastic for a waistband, and cut out panels of fabric to look like leaves. She sewed fairy lights into the tulle for an extra magical touch. The prosthetic ears are from Amazon.

Ansari’s daughter needed a costume that she could wear to school, so she came up with a super simple black cat. The ears are made from a headband with triangles taped on. She used eyeliner to draw on whiskers, and lipstick for a pink nose. Her daughter wore all black, and added white socks over her hands as paws.

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