SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
It's only the first week of October, but the countdown to Halloween is definitely on. I can confirm the very first wave of decorations went up yesterday at my house, with much more to come. So maybe on that theme, you might have started pondering Halloween's most important question. What am I going to dress up as this year? Coming up with a perfect Halloween costume could be a lot of pressure, and it could be even more pressure to execute that idea, especially if you are making your costume yourself. Jen Markham is a cosplayer and costume designer, and she joins us now to talk about all the tips she has for making your own Halloween costume. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
JEN MARKHAM: Hi. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you, Scott.
DETROW: Before we get into it, what's your all-time favorite Halloween costume?
MARKHAM: Oh, my gosh. My all-time favorite that I've worn or that...
DETROW: Yeah.
MARKHAM: Oh, man. Maybe the first one I've ever made. It was 2012, and I had just taken a class in learning how to sew, and I'd never made a costume before. So I made pirates for myself and my husband. And I think they just turned out way better than I imagined, even though I made a lot of mistakes, but I was able to correct them. And yeah, that's - those are still kind of close to my heart.
DETROW: I feel like there is a satisfaction with making your own Halloween costume. It's also, like, a daunting, intimidating task for a lot of people. Like, what items around the house do you recommend people start with if they really want to make a costume themselves?
MARKHAM: Right, well, I mean, cardboard boxes. You can make so much with cardboard, and we've probably never had more cardboard boxes in our life now than we have right now with people ordering stuff online, right?
DETROW: That is true.
MARKHAM: So you take a box - right? - and you get maybe six plastic bowls, like, reusable bowls from a party, and you glue them on, and you spray paint it, and it's a Lego brick, and it looks amazing. Or balloons - you can cover yourself in balloons, and you're grapes or you're bubbles. Pool noodles can be pencils. Or I've seen people do things with, like, a giant kind of flower planter-shaped bucket, and then they fill themselves with cut-up pool noodles, and they're Fruit Loops. There's a lot you can do with things around your house or the things that are fairly inexpensive at the dollar store or at your hardware store, you know, to make something really creative.
DETROW: I started by asking you favorite costume, but I'm wondering if you could tell us about a couple really - ones that you were really proud of from more recently. Just in the vein of inspiration, maybe somebody'll hear that and go on a riff.
MARKHAM: Went to Disney World for a Disney Halloween party, and, you know, "Inside Out 2" was a big movie this year.
DETROW: Oh, yeah.
MARKHAM: So we did Riley's parents. So you know, the emotions were a lot. Everyone does the emotions. We're like, we'll do the parents, and we'll dress up as hockey fans and paint our faces, and I made jerseys that said Riley's mom and Riley's dad. And people just, like, got really happy because, you know, just the warmth of that movie and maybe the little bit unexpected take that you picked characters that weren't, like, the main crew, you know?
DETROW: Yeah. So you had the whole Fog Horns face paint and everything.
MARKHAM: We yelled go Fog Horns many times that night, yeah - had foam fingers and flags. It was really fun.
DETROW: What's your favorite thing about a really well-done costume and wearing it? Is it the looks you get from other people?
MARKHAM: When someone says, I love your costume, and getting to reply, thanks, I made it - I mean, that is a high I ride (laughter). It's just so gratifying. I mean, I've had jobs, as I imagine, you have, Scott, where I make things that exist in time. You know, you make music, or you make news. But I make a costume, I can hold it in my hands; I can wear it on my body. And, you know, it's something I made. It's really gratifying.
DETROW: As the host of a radio show that flies through the air and then disappears forever, I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know.
MARKHAM: (Laughter).
DETROW: Jen Markham is a costume creator. You can find her costumes and tutorials on YouTube. Thanks so much, and it's October, so it's not too early to say happy Halloween.
MARKHAM: Happy Halloween.
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