Wizard of Oz Homemade Costume Ideas

Dorothy: simple blue shirt & denim skirt. Use red spray paint & glitter for the shoes. Carry a basket with a Toto dog in it.

TinMan: gray shirt & pants. use cardboard covered with foil to make a funnel-shaped hat. Spray paint shoes to match. Carry an oil can if you have one.

Cowardly Lion: yellow/brown/gold-toned sweats. Use loops of yarn on the shirt/pants cuffs to mimic hair. Use the same yarn to make a mane for the head/neck.

Scarecrow: bib overalls, flannel shirt, yellow yarn for the straw.

All of these props can be found at most clothing resale shops.

& one more thought: as others have said, you could just pick one element from the storyline! All witches & try to out "bad" each other.... OR you could be Dorothy & her family "back in Kansas"! Nice, normal people!

Have fun.....

Scarecrow: Wear overalls, take yellow yarn and loop it onto some duct tape. Cut the ends to get rid of the loops. Put this inside the cuff of your plaid shirt and at the ends of your overalls, out your pockets or wherever "straw" may be hanging out. Then just add a straw hat and paint your face and your done.

Tin man: Paint your face using silver face paint, cover a funnel with foil for your hat, make a vest out of cardboard and cover that with foil or silver paint. You can do the same for the pants, use sections of cardboard fastened together with large brads to recreate the hinged legs and paint silver or cover in foil.

That's all my brain can conjure up right now, but if I think of anything else I will update my post. Good luck!!

I would go Munchkin. Figure out an easy way to make the curly extensions for shoes and hats...make the grumpy Lollipop Guild boys (knicker type short pants snugged in at the knee with rubber bands or velcro straps...funky hair, cranky face..and foamboard/dowel or paint sticks for the lollipops..but the curled shoes and such are key to munchkins) And the Ballerina ones..again, need those curls!

Or dress all in GOLD (like sweats..easier to get gold here with MN Gopher colors)...and use fabric paint to evenly make a brick pattern all over front and back. BE the yellow brick road!

If you have access to band uniforms any of you....be a soldier at the castle...

Watch the movie for some inspiration..but like I said..I would go MUNCHKIN!!

Have fun!!!!

Glinda - Wedding dress or poofy dress and bubbles. Would be fun and easy for a little girl.

Toto - Wear all black and a little face paint.

An apple tree - Get creative with this one. My daughter was mother nature one year for halloween. She wore brown clothes and we wrapped vines around her that we got from Michaels. Bring along an apple and your good to go.

The emerald city - wear all green and some glitter.

A crow - wear all black and throw a black boa around your neck. A little face paint and there you go.

the great and powerful oz - a business suit

The rainbow - flashy clothes and some facepaint.

Good luck and have fun!

Costume patterns are available now. Go to a fabric store and look through the pattern books.

I would definitely stay away from really BEING the main characters... with this being a Wizard of Oz party, you will see mostly main characters.

I actually had the same idea about "being" the yellow brick road. Each person being a brick, just by wearing all gold, but realize how hard it might be to find gold outfits for everyone.

You could do a variation of the main characters, like Sue H. said. Instead of really trying to replicate the actual costumes of those characters, just shoot for the essence of each character... like for Dorothy, you could just wear jeans and a blue shirt, wear your hair in braids with blue bows, and slather some shoes with red gitter. For the lion, wear jeans and a tan shirt, and craft a lion's tail and mane out of felt or yarn. For the scarecrow, wear jeans and a plaid shirt, or overalls, and attach some raffia coming out the sleeves and pant legs. For the tin man, wear jeans and a gray shirt, with a funnel on your head. For the wicked witch, you could do jeans and a black shirt, a broom, witches hat, and roll up the jeans to reveal striped stockings. For Glinda, the good witch, jeans, a pink shirt, a large crown like head piece (see movie for details), and a fairy wand. You could basically do any character in the movie this way, the munchkins, the wizard, the flying monkeys, etc.

I actually think it would be really adorable to do it this way, not actually replicating the characters costumes exactly, but trying to capture their essences, just with jeans and a few *key* aspects of each character. And as Sue said, if you can't find these things at home, you can most probably find them at a resale shop, and the craft items can be found inexpensively pretty much anywhere.

I also like the idea of doing the Kansas characters, Auntie Em, Uncle Henry, Dorothy, and maybe Toto, if you need 4 costumes. Auntie Em, a house dress and a gray sprayed bun. Uncle Henry, just jeans, a button up shirt, and suspenders. Dorothy, dress, braids, blue bows. Toto, dog ears, tail.

OR, all be tornados!!!! That would be adorable! Get everyone a white t-shirt, draw black circles around the shirt to give the impression of circular wind, and attach things to the shirts! Like little toy houses, animals, bicycles, trees, etc... So funny!

Good luck, and have fun! Let us know what you decide on!