Great Halloween costumes that will save you money

MODESTO -- Things that are scary about Halloween:

• Haunted houses that take a little too much glee in their gore.

• Getting lost in a corn maze as the sun's setting and you realize you forgot a flashlight.

• Having to drive in a neighborhood full of trick-or-treaters.

• Mystery candy in your goodie bag.

• Trying to come up with a costume that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and hasn't been done to death.

You're on your own with the first four, but for that final one, we're here to help. For that matter, so is the Internet — it's full of sites offering creative, inexpensive, easy-to-make costume ideas. Here, then, are 10 ideas scared up from Bee staffers and contributors, and a few Web sites:

MAD SCIENTIST AND VICTIMS — This is a fun one for parents and kids, or older and younger siblings. The mad scientist wears a lab jacket and crazies up his or her hair with, perhaps, some hairspray and flour. Or just buy a mad scientist wig, like the one Target carries for $8. The villain should have a shrink ray gun; you can get cheapie space guns in pretty much any toy department, or just doctor up a TV remote to read "Shrink Ray." The little kids are the shrink ray victims. They just wear clothes way too big for them. If you want to heighten the effect of them being shrunken grown-ups, apply fake mustaches or beards.

SUPERMAN BLOWS HIS COVER — Dress as Clark Kent, in a suit and tie, plus black-frame glasses (maybe cheap sunglasses with the lenses popped out). Beneath the dress shirt, wear a blue T-shirt with the Superman "S" on the chest, but loosen the tie and collar and unbutton the shirt so it appears Clark forgot to re-dress after his last outing as the Man of Steel. A more subtle and even easier alternative way to make this costume: Keep the suit and glasses, but wear a red cape and "forget" to tuck it in, so that it's hanging down below the suit jacket. Or just stitch a length of red fabric to the inside of the jacket to create the hanging-cape illusion.

CASUAL-FRIDAY STORMTROOPER — Dressing as a Stormtrooper from "Star Wars"? Expensive. Dressing as a Stormtrooper on casual Friday? Not so much. Lots of kids have "Star Wars" toy helmets lying about: Stormtrooper, Boba Fett, Darth Vader, Clone Trooper. They've been flying off store shelves for years now. Any of these can be paired with a button shirt or a polo shirt, some jeans or khaki pants and — voila — it's casual Friday in the "Star Wars" universe!

RUBIK'S CUBE — Simply find or buy a square storage box, cut holes for your head and arms, cut out the bottom, then glue appropriately sized and colored construction paper squares all over it. Use electrical tape to create the black lines between squares.

JACK IN THE BOX — Decorate a square box to look like a Jack in the box, cut a hinged lid, add straps so that the box hangs from your little trick-or-treater's shoulders, then dress "Jack" as a clown or anything else you want popping out from the box.

SMARTY PANTS — On a pair of pants, use washable craft paint (but pick pants you can part with, as it still may stain) to write smart-sounding stuff like "e = mc2," "pi = 3.14159265359," "A = pi x r2," elements from the period table, that sort of thing.

BAG OF JELLY BEANS — Get a big, clear plastic garbage bag. Cut holes for arms and legs. Step in and fill with small inflated balloons of many colors. Gently secure around neck. You're a bag of jelly beans.

CAPTAIN DEPENDABLE — From Teens in the Newsroom member Shelby Sutter comes this idea: Find a long- or short-sleeved shirt and a pair of pants that are the same color to wear. Use a blanket as a cape. Attach to your shirt and pants pencils, pens, erasers, tissues, paper, a juice box, etc. Buy or make a simple Lone Ranger-style mask to hide your identity. Write "CD" on a piece of felt and attach it to the cape. You're the superhero everyone needs.

HOBO CLOWN OF YESTERYEAR — From Teens in the Newsroom member Mark Borges: Choose an old black, brown, or dark-green coat to capture the hobo image. For best results, try tearing or ripping the coat, along with gloves cut off at the knuckles. Use a Halloween makeup kit to paint your face in vintage sad-clown style. Search "Emmett Kelly" online for a visual reference. Trashy shoes and pants complete the image. To go the extra mile, your trick-or-treat bag could be a pillow case on a stick. Ta dah!

LEGO MINIFIGURE — Find a plastic bucket or some other cylinder large enough to fit over your head. Cut out eye holes, glue some smaller cylinder to the top, like it's a Lego peg. Paint it all yellow, then paint a bit of black around the eye holes and paint on a smile! For extra effect, wear yellow oven mitts, dish gloves or gardening gloves.