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It was going to be the BEST costume ever. I was 9 or 10 years old, and after years of my mom making Halloween costumes for me – or reusing dance recital costumes – I was finally going to make my own. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to be. Finally, I decided.
A black bat. ?
I worked hard pulling together my all-black outfit, making a bat ear headband and creating wings out of a black cape.
On Halloween night that year, I proudly donned my costume I had made myself, grabbed my pumpkin pail and headed off for a night trick-or-treating.

(That’s my little brother as the devil. These days he wears dresses to my Halloween parties: exhibit A & exhibit B…)
At the first house, a neighbor opened the door and oohed and aahed over our costumes. “What a cute black cat!” she said when she looked at me.
I frowned. Clearly, she hadn’t seen my stellar wings. So at the next house when someone started to proclaim what an adorable black cat I was, I quickly stuck out my arms to show off my wings.
“I’m a bat!” I cried.
“Oh. Um, okay…” the neighbor said.
And, my friends, it was all downhill from there. At house after house, when someone acknowledged my costume and called me a cat, I became more and more annoyed.
By the last street, I was angrily sticking out my arms, muttering, “I’m a bat,” then taking my candy and stomping off to the next house. And by the time I got home? I was totally deflated. This costume I had worked on all October had totally fallen flat.
The next year, I vowed to make sure my costume was awesome. (Pretty sure that ended up being a group costume of roller skating waitresses with my besties. Not sure it was awesome, but at least everyone knew what I was…)
The initial execution of my bat costume may not have worked, but my recreation of it for my niece’s Halloween-themed third birthday party last year was pretty great.
And I pulled the entire thing from my closet in the days before the party after it was moved to the morning after Halloweenie Roast.

Butterflies and bats are besties, didn’t you know?

Me with the birthday girl, who was dressed as Elsa…with Anna braids.
Black Bat Costume in my Closet:
For my blog post, I did a little remix of my base outfit, but my accessories remained the same for both looks. Here’s my remixed bat costume:

Haha, sorry! I couldn’t help myself with flipping this photo so I’d be hanging upside down like a true bat.

My black bat! Okay, so I know I’m not totally black…but I couldn’t help throwing on those vampire and bat Halloween leggings. (Sources with links listed at the end of the post.)

To build my costume, I pulled some basics from my closet: a black tunic and a pair of Halloween leggings. I did add to it with a cape and black bat ears I found at Spirit Halloween last year, but I scored both for less than $15 after using 20% off coupons.

And look at how perfectly those bat ears match the purple bats on my leggings! I love it.

Much like my childhood costume, I wanted to make sure my bat wings were on point. Using fabric scissors (I love these), I cut the bottom of my cape to create points like bat wings. I also cut small slits at the ends so I could slip a finger through and hold up my bat wings for all to see!

The wings took me less than 10 minutes to cut up, and the results were perfect.

A view from the back.


And, of course, my ears! I have a pretty large head, so headbands are always tricky for me…but this one fit perfectly and didn’t become uncomfortable. Plus…they look a heck of a lot MORE like bat ears than my childhood costume did. I even love the little tilt in my left ear that happened naturally.

I couldn’t not include some killer jewelry in my costume, so I added my favorite bat necklace and earrings from Murderous Jewels. (Be sure to read my Halloween jewelry idea post using Lynn’s creations too!)


The perfect addition to a quick costume!

Costume sources:
- Leggings – Chloe Palethrope LuLaRoe (join her group here, she still has Halloween leggings and ships!)
- Black tunic – Ross
- Black cape – Spirit Halloween (get it here)
- Bat ear headband – Spirit Halloween (no longer available, but these are similar
)
- Black bat necklace and earrings – Murderous Jewels (get the necklace here and earrings here)
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What Halloween costume could you make using items in your closet?
Or better yet, what costumes have you made in the past? Share your stories in the comments and photos with me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook!
You can also check out my other costumes from my closet: Rita Skeeter from Harry Potter and Zoe Benson from American Horror Story: Coven.
Happy haunting,

Thank you to Sheila from redshoesredwine.com for being my photographer!
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Candace Jedrowicz
I love the adorable bat that you are! The sleepy bat photo is just perfect!
The year my mom promised to make my bf and me matching bat costumes went all wrong when she decided all black costumes would be too dangerous. She ended up making white bat costumes with pillow case hoods, rubber banding the corners for ears. We tried telling people we were ghost bats, but (and I realized this as an adult) we appeared to be members of an infamous hate group. Retro-cringe!
Miranda | Spooky Little Halloween
OMG! That would definitely be a costume to remember…and never repeat.
Chelsea Celaya
I’ve missed your costume in the closet segments! Happy to see it back! :D The bat turned out great! And no one will blame you for the upside down photo. It was perfect. Who wouldn’t try to pull that off in a bat costume?
This last Halloween, I totally did the same by making my costume out of things I had in my closet. I had made a long bell skirt for a spider queen costume from a previous Halloween, which I repurposed with a velvet top I had to dress as Morticia Addams. My friend knitted me a three legged baby onesie and I bought some wood knitting needles from Joanns for 50% off and a cheap black wig and voila!
Malissa Hyatt
I made a Grim Reaper costume out of black trash bags and duct tape one year the day before Halloween.
Went thru about 3 different versions of my original idea but in the end it came out great.
Paired it w simple black and white make up.
Scared a good friend and a waitress.
I’d call it a win.
Miranda | Spooky Little Halloween
That’s awesome, Malissa!