Ever since I can remember, I have loved dressing up.

I remember watching Star Wars and wrapping a white towel around as a scarf to be Attack of the Clones Padme. I remember my grandma sewing me the most perfect Cinderella dress. I remember putting on little plays for my mom and dad so that I could dress up in different dresses and wigs.

And it didn’t stop at childhood. I loved to dress up so much that drama and theater quickly became my favorite elective from 9th grade until high school graduation.

While I have not continued a dramatic career, my love for costuming has still not been suppressed.

Now I work a 9 to 5 from home, and I am often found doing “adventurous” things like hiking, biking, and skiing. But there is still a side to me that loves getting into costume (even if it’s just sitting around at home).

So this year, I decided to do a month long challenge… dressing up every day in October. Just to see if I could use some creative thinking to nail down a costume for every single day leading up to Halloween.

And the catch? To use only what I already had.

I had to use only what was in my closet to recreate 31 different looks.

Not only is this fun for me, but it also demonstrates aspects of sustainability. Instead of going out and buying a brand new polyester costume in a plastic bag (textile waste is absolutely insane…), I am able to create unique and fun characters without the extra purchases and clothing waste.

Honestly, when I started it, it was mostly for me. I wanted to spice up my work day, and it grew bigger than I ever thought.

I had more consistent engagement on my Instagram stories than I have ever had before.

So many people responded saying they look forward to my costumes. Or that they are so impressed with all the different ways I could spin my closet. I even had several people ask how big my closet is… (which I don’t think is all that big, but it does help that I have double the outfits with Nic’s clothes as well)

So what went through my mind ever day?

To start out, I wrote down costumes that I already knew I had.

I needed to get a list rolling, and every day, I added new costumes that I had thought of, but I definitely spent some time perusing through Pinterest.

The day of, I would wake up, and decide what I wanted to be that day. Simple as that. Towards the end of the month, I had to plan out what I wanted to do for the rest of the week because the days were limited and I honestly still have costume ideas that maybe I will save for next year….

Can you tell that I used many pieces multiple times to cerate different costumes? I think I wore that white dress 3 different times in the last week, but it made such different looks.

Thanks for following along, and I hope that this can give you a creative idea for next time you want to dress up (whether for Halloween or not!).

Your costumed nacforadventurer,

AJ