6 Last Minute Halloween Costume Ideas for Women

6 Last Minute Halloween Costume Ideas – [Updated for 2025]

With Halloween fast approaching, you may be scrambling to get those last minute costume ideas sorted.

Maybe you have been invited to a party, or you’ve made plans but you don’t have a costume ready to go! (I’ve been there and it’s super stressful, I know)

---

*Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links which means I earn a small commission if you make a qualifying purchase through these links or codes. But don’t worry, there is never any extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my Privacy Policy here for more info. Thank you!*

---

But, fear not as I have 6 amazing last minute Halloween costume ideas for you. All of them are easy, don’t require you to fork out lots of money and will make an impact.

So get your brain ready to take in these ideas and find yourself that costume that speaks to you.

Let’s dive in, shall we?

Halloween Costume Ideas

Idea 1: A Witch

Going as a witch for Halloween is one of those costumes that converts so well regardless of budget.

What I love most is that it doesn’t take a whole host of fancy and expensive items to throw the look together.

There’s so many different ways that you can go with a witch. You can go gruesome, scary, dark, light, and more.

It’s perfect if you want a classic with your own twist on it.

For the witch costume you will need:

• A pointy hat
• Black eyeliner
• Dark make-up
• Black dress
• Black or red lipstick
• Dark nail polish
• Black heeled boots
• Black tights
• Broom prop
• Dry shampoo/white or grey hair spray
• Hair curlers

To start, think about what route you want to go in, but for the purpose of this costume how to, I’ll be sticking with the most popular.

The simple go to.

You’ll need a black dress for your witch look, something flowy and majestic looking.

Or, a little black dress will do the trick!

I found some amazing dresses perfect for a witch costume and I have completely fallen in love, I couldn’t not share them with you for your witch looks.

Dresses for witch costume:

• 1st Dress
• 2nd Dress
• 3rd Dress
• 4th Dress

I absolutely loved the look of each of these for a witch look and if you are wanting to go all out, then I just want to be that devil on your shoulder saying “do it” haha.

Next steps

Once you have your dress sorted, think about what tights you want to go for, if any at all.

Stockings, or long socks or no tights, it’s up to you.

But, consider pairing some heeled boots with your look or some flat black boots.

Oh! or even some black platform boots to mix things up.

Can you tell I love the whole witch look and vibe?

Make-up

Once your outfit is under control, it’s time to think about what sort of make-up you want to go for.

For a simple look try a Smokey eye with some lashes and a black lip.

I loved this YouTube video I saw of a Witchy Glam Look by Jade The Libra.

Think about your nails as well, I love the look of the long witch nails but I understand that’s not exactly simple so opt for a sparkly black false nail set or paint your nails black.

After focusing on your outfit, make-up and settling on your vibe, consider bringing it all together with some accessories.

Witch Accessories:

• Birthstone Celtic Knot Ring for Women
• Witches Bells
• Witches Broom
• Moon Pentagram Necklace

Hair time!

So, you’ve got your outfit, you have your make-up, you even have your accessories, now what?

Well, it’s time to focus on your hair and what you want to do with it.

A great tip I learned a few years back was using dry shampoo in my hair and just not brushing it out.

It adds as a sort of colourant and keeps your hair fresh.

But, you could also do the hair spray that colours your hair grey or white, or any colour really.

Curling your hair in random parts, messing it up and maybe even adding in a few crimped areas to give your hair dimension and more shape, making for something interesting to look at.

Finalising the look

And what tops off a witches look?

A HAT!

So, get yourself a pointy witch hat, opt for a hair band mini one or go the full road with a stunning traditional black pointy hat.

Idea 2: A Clown

Now admittedly, clowns aren’t my cup of tea, but I would definitely dress up as a creepy one given the chance.

I think because I get the ick from them that it would be a great costume idea, especially if you’re looking to create a dark sided clown.

I know I know, it sounds strange doesn’t it?

Wanting to dress up as one but absolutely hating them?

Yeah I don’t understand it myself but I love the make-up looks you see on social media around Halloween of the amazing clown looks.

A clown is one of those looks that you don’t need extreme make-up skill to achieve it, especially if you just want to go the simple route.

You can essentially do a make-up look how you want and build your costume around it.

For the clown costume you will need:

• Red face paint/red make-up
• Glitter make-up (not a must)
• White face paint/make-up
• Red nails/nail polish
• Black eyeliner
• White clothing/Clown outfit
• Balloon prop

Let’s put the costume together!

So first you are going to want to think about your outfit, what sort of vibe are you going for?

Do you want to do a traditional clown costume or build your own creative look?

For the purpose of this costume walkthrough, I’m going to go with white clothing, specifically a dress.

In my head I see a lovely tutu white dress or off cream dress with some tights and heels.

Oh and a lovely Neck Ruffle to complete the look.

Make-up

From there it’s time to think about make-up and I just love this look I found on YouTube, IT- Glam Pennywise Look by Abby Roberts.

It’s so easy to follow along and doesn’t look overly complicated.

The make-up can really bring the whole look together and elevate it in which ever way you like.

You can go the glam route or the horror one, it’s up to you!

Props

After you have settled on your make-up look, consider adding in a prop like a balloon, even better if it’s got helium and tied to your wrist with a string to complete the look.

Props are a great way to make the whole outfit stand out so have a think about what you could use to complete your look.

I like the idea of balloons as I always associate them with clowns. You could have a single balloon, balloon animal, deflated balloon, so many choices!

Idea 3: A Demon

As demons go, you’ve pretty much got full creative control of what direction you want to take it in.

There are so many different depictions of them that it’s hard to say they have that “one look”.

That’s why it’s the perfect idea if you are stuck on what to do. It’s quick, easy and you can do what you like.

You can go as simple or as extravagant as you like with this costume and make it your own.

There are no rules!

For the purpose of this post though I will be going with a simple, all black look with the added touch of contact lenses.

For the demon costume you will need:

• A Black dress
• Some Black eyeliner
• Black body paint/spray
• Black or white lipstick
• Some Black tights
• White contacts

Putting the look together

First, start with your look and figure out what you are going to wear.

I suggest a plain black dress, this way you can dress it up or down to suit the theme of demon you are going for.

You could also opt for a suit if you’re feeling more creative and create an upper level demon that does business dealings.

Or, maybe you could go the biker chick route with leather pants/black jeans, biker jacket, black strappy top and black boots.

I’m thinking along the lines of Maze from Lucifer.

Make-up

After you have chosen your dress or outfit, get creative with your make-up.

Opt for black eyeliner and create dark eyes, maybe have some black coming down as if it’s dripping.

From there you could use some body paint or body spray paint to make your hands black.

Also think about doing your nails black and long as well to add to the creepy feel.

Hair

With your hair, do what ever you like!

Create your own look here and do what feels best for you.

You could even add in some hair accessories or a black crown, you could be the demon princess from hell.

Finalising the look

To bring your look together, why not consider using some all white or all black contact lenses to make your eyes look like a void, pulling those innocent souls in.

I think this would look absolutely amazing, maybe I’ll be a demon this year?

Idea 4: Undead Bride

In 2015 I went as an undead bride and I had so much fun creating the look that I just had to give this costume idea a mention.

For my look I went for a more zombie with rotten flesh and fake blood everywhere vibe, but there are a few variations that you can do.

It’s all about creating a look you’re comfortable and able to do.

In this walkthrough I’ll be focusing on the skeleton bride.

For the undead bride costume you will need:

• White and black face paint or make-up
• White dress/White wedding dress
• Fake blood
• Clear fake nails
• Black nail polish
• Grey hair spray
• A veil
• Black roses

Putting the look together

As always, start with your outfit.

I find it’s easier to bring the whole look together once you have your outfit ready to go as you will know if you are using blood or ripping the dress up.

I found some fantastic Zombie dresses on Amazon that could be used for a zombie bride outfit.

If you can’t find one you like though, you could always just go with a white dress of any kind and add a veil to it, to make it more bridal like.

Make-up

So, you have your outfit sorted, what next?

If you are going the skeleton make-up route and you aren’t sure where to start, there are loads of tutorials on YouTube if you search “Skeleton Make-up Tutorial”.

Make a point to have a practice run or two so you can get familiar with doing it to your face shape.

Outfit, check! Make-up, check! Now onto accessories and other little bits.

Accessories

Getting a bouquet of black roses is a great prop to add in, especially if you are a bride so maybe get yourself one of them.

The are cheap enough, especially around Halloween as pound shops/dollar stores or craft store tend to have them in stock.

And voila, you are sorted.

oh, don’t forget to make your hair look a little weathered and dead like the rest of you, it helps with the look a lot.

I used extra long hair extensions I bought from a shop for £5 and they were perfect for making my hair look “ratty” and dishevelled.

Idea 5: Zombie

What a classic! The zombie costume.

I adore the zombie look for those quick and thrown together looks because you can wear whatever you want and go to town creating your own perfect zombie.

There are so many directions you could take it from minimal make up to full on decaying body with SFX make-up.

For the zombie costume you will need:

• Clothes you can rip/fray
• Fake blood
• SFX make-up if you want to create wounds
• Dark/black eyeliner
• Dry shampoo or Grey hair spray
• Red eyeliner/eye shadow
• Grey/black face paint or make-up

If you are looking for a last minute Halloween costume Idea, this one is perfect because you most likely won’t have to buy anything other than fake blood.

It’s a super easy look to achieve!

Find an outfit you want to go with, it could be dressy or casual, the decision is yours.

Just make sure that you are ok with the clothes getting ripped and fake blood on them as you don’t want to ruin clothes you are going to wear over and over.

I found that using a pumice stone worked amazingly for scuffing clothes up as well as cutting parts and rubbing the stone across the edges to fray them.

Once you have ripped and frayed your clothes, it’s time to get creative and dirty those babies up!

Creating the aged and dead look

I found using tea bags with hot water and dabbing the tea bags over the garments made them look aged a bit.

I also used some black eyeshadow that was out of date to rub on parts, especially around the rips.

Once I had aged the garments a little, I used fake blood to splatter around the place, let it drip and just got messy.

Do rub some fake blood around the rips as well as this helps to tie the zombie look together with your clothes.

Next:

From there you will want to do your hair and make-up to reflect you are a zombie.

Again, there are plenty of make-up tutorials on YouTube for all kinds of looks, it just depends on what you are going for.

I kept it simple and used some grey face paint to cover my face, rubbed some eyeliner here and there, made little veins with eyeliner and made my lips black.

This turned out so much better than I imagined, I just wish I got a photo of how good it looked so I could show you all just how effective it looked.

Don’t be afraid to dirty your hair

If you are going for a dishevelled zombie the last thing you want is pristine looking hair, so get creative and go wild.

Use volume dry shampoo to create lift and height, use hair spray to clump bits together and even use sea salt texturizing spray to give you that crisp texture.

Idea 6: A Ghost

I couldn’t not mention a ghost, especially when they are quite popular at the moment for photoshoots in particular.

It’s the easiest and simplest costume on the list but it can pack a punch if done right.

We all know what the ghost look consists of so it’s not one of those costumes you have to explain and there’s also something nostalgic about a sheet and some eye holes.

For the ghost costume you will need:

• A white sheet
• Scissors to cut the eye holes
• Black leggings or jeans
• A white or black top to wear under the sheet
• Black Eyeliner to colour your eyes
• Sunglasses if you would prefer

Creating the ghost costume is super simple!

First, take your white sheet, put it over you and ask someone if they can help you map out where the eye holes will be.

If you don’t have someone to help, take a pen and dab it on the sheet to mark where your eye holes are whilst wearing it.

Once you have your eye holes mapped out, go ahead and cut two circles where your eyes will be.

And that’s it, your costume is complete!

Extra steps

Now it’s completely up to you what you wear under the sheet but I suggest black leggings or jeans, or even a skirt with tights if you want to dress it up a bit.

I suggest also blacking out your eyes so that no skin is visible through the eye holes and you could even go full out by getting black contacts.

If that’s not your thing and you want to jazz it up and have the “cool” look, opt for sunglasses.

Some extra props may be a great idea as well such as faux chains or a faux lantern to take with you.

Or, if you are feeling extra fancy, why not treat yourself to a themed bag such as a Pumpkin Design one.

Final Thoughts

And there you have it, 6 Last Minute Halloween Costume Ideas that are perfect for any budget or skill set.

I really enjoyed talking about all of these and now I’m hoping there is a family party this year because I’m definitely dressing up.

What’s your favourite go to Halloween Costume?

Posts you may like

• Last Minute Couples Halloween Costumes That Stand Out
• Scary Movies That Make the Perfect October Marathon

Follow me on: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | KoFi | Etsy | Subscribe on Substack