A homemade costume is a Halloween outfit built by hand rather than bought, often from craft supplies and household items. Jenna Ortega’s childhood rock — spray-painted styrofoam plus a labelled headband — is now a canonical example, thanks to her October 2026 retelling on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Meyers countered with his own homemade costume, a father-made bag of trash mistaken for leaves. Together the stories celebrate a tradition where commitment matters more than recognisability, and labels are a legitimate design choice.
(Harald Krichel / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0))
Mentioned in: A Block of Styrofoam and a Headband: The DIY Halloween Costume Jenna Ortega Will Never Live Down