Homemade Carrot Costumes

If you love orange, make a carrot costume for a woman, man or a child using everyday clothing, a few craft supplies -- and little-to-no sewing. Get extra mileage out of a Halloween carrot costume at a health fair, school program or at an event promoting small farms or organic foods. While carrots grow in a variety of shapes, from round to cylindrical to tapered, the latter is the most recognizable, making it a good choice for your carrot costume.

Attach the seed packet to the stick to make the kind of garden marker many gardeners use to mark a row of planted seeds. First, open the bottom of the seed packet and empty out the seeds.

• Put white glue on the top of the stick and slip it into the packet; press it down and allow to dry.  
• Snip two slits, about an inch apart from each other and the top and bottoms of the packet. Insert the stick into the bottom slip and bring it out through the top stick.
• Tape the top of the stick to the back of the packet.         

Next, attach the bottom end of the stick to the hat by snugly tucking the bottom of the stick under a tight hatband. Or, using a hot glue gun, attach the bottom end of the stick to a green strip of cloth. Let it dry, and then tie the strips around the base of the hat's crown where a hatband would go.

Your hair can become part of the carrot's fernlike top:

• Wear it under your hat, and pull down tiny, soft tendrils. Color these green. 
• If you have light red hair, make a play on the moniker "carrot top" by leaving the color alone and wearing it as you please. 
• Or, wrap and tie your hair with a bright green scarf before putting on the hat. 

Use face paint to make your face become part of the carrot's green top or orange root, if you like. But you needn't paint your face -- the costume won't leave any doubt that you are a carrot.

Use clothing from your closet or a thrift store, and perhaps orange dye, to create the body of the carrot. If you can't find a solid orange in an item you want to wear, choose white or yellow and color it with orange fabric dye. Choose from various costume ideas, some requiring sewing skills, others not.

• Modify a long, skirt or maxi that is already a solid orange or dyed orange: Take in both side seams, tapering gradually to form a V shape.
• Wear an orange, fitted skirt, such as a pencil skirt, or a long, somewhat fitted dress, such as a maxi beach dress. Depending on your figure, this may achieve the bottom of the V shape you need for the carrot.
• Alternatively, wear orange slacks, sweatpants, leggings or tights to become a "forked" carrot that was grown in less than ideal conditions.

If you are wearing leggings or tights and want to be modest, choose a thigh-length top, such as a tunic, mini-dress or an oversized T-shirt or sweatshirt. If you're wearing a skirt or pants, the length of the top won't matter, which means you have more options, such as those mentioned or others, such as a blousy peasant-style top or an orange, padded football jersey. Search thrift stores for '80s-style tops, which often have shoulder pads.

Since carrots are root vegetables, wear orange shoes, or, to suggest the soil, brown ones. If you have neither, color an inexpensive pair of sneakers.

Wear green sticky labels on which you've written phrases such as "Got Vitamin A?" "Organic Certified," "Feel Free to Stare -- I'm Good for Your Eyes," "Eat Your Carrots" and "Juice Me."