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Homemade Costume Ideas for a School Play

Most schools don’t have large budgets for school play costumes. Because of this, school drama instructors and parents often have to get creative and come up with homemade costume ideas for school plays. The good news is that a little creativity and a trip to your local Goodwill or Salvation Army store can go a long way toward creating convincing costumes for a school play.
  1. Farmer

    • You’ll find farms from sea to shining sea, and plays about spring, nutrition and American history may all feature farmers. You can adorn your farmer in a flannel shirt and overalls or jeans. To seal the deal, though, fashion a tractor from cardboard and construction paper to drape over your farmer so it looks like he’s out working the land.

    Detective

    • Detective costumes can be as simple or as elaborate as you want, because most of the clues in a detective costume are in the details like a magnifying glass, hat and notepad. From there, you can actually go two ways with a detective costume. You can do the American trench coat and fedora look a la Humphrey Bogart or you could go with the classic Sherlock Holmes look of a plaid cape and two-billed cap.

    Tourist

    • Have you ever noticed how easily you can spot the tourist in a crowd? It’s because they usually have some very identifiable and easy-to-replicate features. You can whip up a tourist costume with Bermuda shorts, a loud Hawaiian shirt, socks with sandals, a camera around the neck and a map. Depending on the nature and the actions of the character, you may be able to go even further with glasses and/or a shoulder bag.

    Scientist

    • Like the detective costume, the secret to the scientist costume is in the details, such as a lab coat and pens in the breast pocket. Because science embodies such a large scope, however, you really have room to run with this type of costume. You can go for the nerdy scientist and add thick-rimmed glasses and a calculator. You could go for the mad scientist and rat out your child’s hair or get a crazy wig. You could even go more modern with a CSI look for a forensic scientist, which, if the show is too be believed, usually has tattoos, latex gloves and very thin-lens spectacles.

Theater Costumes

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