Cheap Fancy Dress Ideas Under a Tenner

5 min read · The Costume Rack

The best cheap fancy dress ideas cost under a tenner because you only buy one thing: the piece that makes the costume recognisable. Build the rest from your own clothes, grab that hero piece from a charity shop, supermarket or pound shop (thrift store or dollar store in the US and Canada), and you've got a vampire, witch, cowboy or devil for less than a takeaway.

If you're trying to do fancy dress on a budget and don't know which one piece is worth spending on, The Costume Rack splits your costume into pieces and shows where to find each one. Start my costume

Fancy dress for under a tenner

Here's the maths. A packaged costume often costs more than you want to spend and looks like a packaged costume. A cheap costume that looks good is usually:

• £0 base outfit from your wardrobe
• £3 to £6 hero piece
• £0 to £4 for tape, card, or a second small extra

That's it. Under £10 (about $10 to $15 in the US or Canada at a dollar store).

Cheap costume ideas by budget

Prices vary by shop and season, so treat these as a guide, not a promise.

Charity shop finds

Charity shops (thrift stores in the US and Canada) are the cheat code for cheap fancy dress ideas. You're not looking for a costume; you're looking for costume-able clothes.

What to look for in a charity shop

• A long black coat or cardigan: vampire cape, witch cloak, Victorian goth.
• A frilly or ruffled white blouse: pirate, vampire, coquette ghost.
• A check or flannel shirt: cowboy, scarecrow, grunge werewolf.
• An old white sheet or tablecloth: ghost, toga, mummy base.
• A tulle skirt or bridesmaid dress: fairy, angel.
• A men's suit jacket: Dracula, zombie office worker.

Charity shop fancy dress tips

1. Go to the women's and men's sections both; sizes don't matter much for costumes.
2. Check the bric-a-brac shelf for hats, belts and jewelry.
3. Go early in October before everyone else has the same idea.

Supermarket and pound shop builds

In autumn, UK supermarkets and pound shops (dollar stores in North America) stock seasonal Halloween bits. This is where you get the hero piece.

Pound shop fancy dress hauls

• Plastic fangs + black clothes = vampire
• Horns headband + red top = devil
• Cat ears + black outfit = black cat
• Witch hat + black dress = witch
• Eye patch + stripy top = pirate
• Bandages or crepe paper + white clothes = mummy

Supermarket fancy dress without the costume aisle

Even the normal aisles work:

• Tinfoil: halos, crowns, silver trim
• Orange bin bags or tissue paper: pumpkin
• Crepe paper: mummy wraps that don't fall apart like loo roll
• Face wipes: you'll need them later, trust

Here's where most people go wrong: they buy three or four small things, and suddenly it's £20 and still doesn't look like anything. The skill is knowing which single piece does the heavy lifting.

Know what to actually buy. The Costume Rack splits your matched costume into pieces, tells you where to find each one, and gives a version made from things you already own. You see what you've got covered before you spend anything. Start my costume

One cheap piece that makes the costume

If you only buy one thing, make it the thing people see first. For each classic costume, here's the piece that does 80% of the work (that's a rough rule of thumb, not a stat):

• Vampire: fangs or a high collar
• Witch: the hat
• Cowboy: the hat, or a big belt buckle if the hat's out of budget
• Devil: horns
• Angel: halo
• Black cat: ears
• Pirate: eye patch
• Fairy: wings
• Skeleton: printed or drawn bones on a black top
• Bat: wings

Everything else can come from your wardrobe or be made at home. Our easy homemade fancy dress ideas post covers the free side of it.

Reuse it for three parties

Cheap fancy dress ideas for students get even cheaper when one piece works for several events. Freshers, Halloween and an 18th can easily fall in the same autumn.

One piece, three costumes

• Black cat ears: black cat, a "goth cat", a coquette cat with a bow added
• Horns headband: devil, a "heaven vs hell" party, a goth demon
• Witch hat: witch, a grunge witch, a World Book Day Macbeth witch
• Cowboy hat: cowboy, a Wild West group theme, a country-themed night
• Fangs: vampire, a goth vampire, a zombie-vampire hybrid

Planning freshers week? Pair this with freshers fancy dress ideas and you're sorted for every social.

Cheap group costume ideas

Split the cost: one bag of cat ears, one set of horns and halos, or one face paint set shared between the whole flat. Group costumes are cheaper per person than solo ones.

Find the one piece you need in two minutes

The Costume Rack asks your vibe, what's in your wardrobe and how you feel about face paint, then matches you to a classic costume split into pieces, with where to find each one, a from-your-own-stuff version and a no-makeup version. It turns cheap fancy dress ideas into a plan that doesn't blow your budget.

Start my costume

FAQ

What are the best cheap fancy dress ideas?

Vampire, witch, devil, angel, black cat, pirate and zombie are the cheapest because they're built on clothes you own plus one small prop. Most come in under £10.

Where can I get cheap fancy dress in the UK?

Charity shops for clothes, supermarkets and pound shops for seasonal props like fangs, horns and hats. In the US and Canada, thrift stores and dollar stores do the same job.

How do I make a cheap costume look expensive?

Buy one good hero piece, keep the base outfit in one or two colors, and make sure everything fits well. A tidy, clear look reads more expensive than lots of cheap extras.

What are cheap fancy dress ideas for students?

Anything built from a black outfit or white tee: vampire, black cat, witch, skeleton or ghost. Share props with flatmates and reuse one piece across several socials.

What's a good last minute cheap costume?

A bedsheet ghost, a cowboy from jeans and a check shirt, or a devil from a red top and paper horns. All cost next to nothing and take minutes.