Help, I need a no-sew Haloween costume.

How will I ever get his/her Halloween costume finished in time for the school party?

"I wanna be a fairy princess," your little princess states proudly.

"I want to be something scary." replied your macho young son as he forms his hands into claws.

Here are a few painlessly easy Halloween costumes that you will succeed with at the eleventh hour. You can be the "Hero Mom," to the rescue.

A scarecrow (It must be scary, the name even says so!) can be made with a flannel or other old plaid shirt and an old worn and ripped pair of blue jeans. Take few inches of elastic cord, the kind used for waist bands, tie it into wrist-let and anklet circles. Do not make them too tight or it will be scratchy and might slow or stop the blood circulation. Cut pieces of rafia into six or seven inch pieces. Tie the raffia strips around the elastic so that each strip that you tie onto the elastic has two hanging tails. Tie many raffia strips on each wrist-let and anklet to form a fringed circle all the way around the wrist and ankle. Add an old straw hat and some non-toxic washable marker or lipstick freckles. (Set lipstick with trahslucent powder so that it will not smudge.) Add a red bandanna at the neck and few strategically placed small safety pins with raffia tied to them. Place these pins at stress points on the elbows and knees and at the torn spots of the bluejeans for a finished, leaking stuffing look. This costume is a good quick fix for Mom or Dad too if needed.

If your child would rather be a fairy princess or an elf you can use a similar technique by starting with a leotard. You can use a white, pink or pale green leotard and tights. Tie either pink or green ribbons (or both if you can not decide) and slightly shorter strips of a sheer filmy fabric to those elastic wrist and ankle circles. Add a hair decoration of hairpins with the ribbons and sheer fabric strips tied on; the ribbons will look cute in bows. Some super sparkle makeup and simple matching girls Sunday shoes complete the look. You could declare it finished, or you could make a ribbon belt to match by just tying a yard of the same ribbon around the waist and at the knot add a few longer strips of the sheer filmy fabric. You could go a step further by tying the strips on all the way around the belt to make it a sheer wispy fairy skirt. Wrap a dowel with white ribbon, glued in place. Tip it with some rhinestones and ribbon streamers for a wand.

If you do not want to use her good Sunday shoes you could adorn a pair of plain white sneakers by tying very short strips of filmy fabric and ribbons to the shoelaces. Be careful not to leave them long enough to trip on. Fairy princesses with torn tights and scraped knees are not having fun.

There are another variations that can be done with the same system. A witch can be done with dark gray or black fabric, a black leotard and a square of fabric folded into a triangle for a shawl, tie a circle of elastic for a crown base for your fabric strip wig and skip the wrist and ankle elastics. A belt with strips of black/dark gray fabric at the waist and some ghoulish green and black makeup completes your spooky little witch look. This costume works well for Mom too.

The beauty of these costumes is that you probably already have the basics for the costume in your sewing box and the child's closet. You just need to find either the raffia or the ribbons and sheer fabric. They are also great for a non-sewing Mom as they require the 'non-seamstress' to tie only simple knots.

Happy Halloween and Safe Trick or Treating.

Learn more about this author, A. C. O'Brien.
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